Sounds great: Musical evening a hit
Hilltop School puts its talent and all the hard work on stage
Hilltop School’s first ever musical soire´e evening struck a chord last week, with a large audience in attendance. The showcase displayed the talents of the school’s music students across a variety of disciplines.
They performed to a full house of whānau and community members, who were treated to a variety of classic and modern pieces.
The beginner ukulele group were the first to show their skills, led by music and classroom teacher Lachlan Mansell.
They shared three songs, including one learned with other ukulele groups across Taupō primary schools during a recent ukulele festival at Waipāhīhī-a-Tia School.
The audience also heard music from two students, cellist Niah Findlay and pianist Stanly Su, who bravely performed solo pieces.
Finishing the evening was the Hilltop School Merit Choir, led by choir teacher and conductor Glenda Drake, and accompanied by pianist
Emma Clarke, who is also a Taupō School of Music and independent piano teacher.
The choir tackled a range of songs, from pop classics like You Raise Me Up to sea shanty The Wellerman, which recently enjoyed a revival thanks to social media platform Tik Tok.
The school’s Merit Choir was devised by teacher Glenda Drake as
an offshoot of the school’s general entry choir. As the name suggests, students must audition for entry to the Merit Choir, and devote both lessons and free time to practise and perform with the group.
The Merit Choir recently participated in the regional The Kids Sing event at Southwell School in Hamilton, where they performed with more than 350 other children from
Waikato school choirs.
Events such as The Kids Sing and the Hilltop Soire´e are fantastic opportunities to show students where hard work in music can take them, Drake said. “It helps expose the children to building up performance skills.”
It was also an opportunity for families to see what their children were working on, and for students to see the results of the other school music groups’ endeavours, she said.
Drake also praised the “sound support from senior management” required to set up the event.
The evening ended with thanks from Hilltop principal Andrea Hunter to the teachers for the time and dedication that they have put into developing talent and appreciation for music in their students.