Another year, another music camp: Music Camp 2024. Students from Years 9-13 gathered on a Sunday morning eager to get on the bus. Suitcases and duffel bags were “gently placed” on their “comfortable” seat at the bottom of the bus. Students cheerfully hopped onto the bus, ready for the two hour drive. Parents gathered around; phones appeared before our eyes as smiles shown upon our faces for the last-minute photos before the doors closed. Finally, the bus started its engine, seatbelts clicked and many waved goodbyes, ready for the adventure ahead. What would we do? What would we eat? What memories would we create together?
~ Rachel Ly 10J5
Over the course of our three day trip to Campbell Park in Mangawhai Heads, the Orchestra and Jazz Band had many rehearsals, with each slowly improving. On the first day of music camp, members of the orchestra assembled in the hall as nerves floated around in the air. We all felt a little anxious and vigilant (though some a lot more than others), but after a few words of encouragement from Ms Treneman and more time to practice both together and by ourselves, we began to play more confidently as an ensemble. The orchestra broadened their musical tastes with a diverse range of repertoire from a variety of romantic and classical composers such as Tchaikovsky, Schubert and Vaughan Williams as well as modern film music composers like Howard Shore and Monty Norman. By the end of the three days, despite the many challenges we had and soon overcame, the orchestra managed to play with gratifying grace and harmony. The remnants of our music still lingered around us as hums of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 echoed in the wind.
~ Wei En Huang 10J5
After we had afternoon tea on the first day, we had a rehearsal session where all the students in the orchestra went to orchestra first. After the first rehearsal, dinner arrived, and we filled our stomachs with delicious food. Students that were in the jazz band then migrated from orchestra to jazz band practice. Mr Arthur ran the jazz band and it was energetic! It was funny how the jazz band was so loud; even the orchestra could hear them! During the jazz band rehearsals, we practiced and played songs from passing the hot sauce to spreading the gospel. We learnt a new song called Chalupa. We got to play Coral Reef at a fast tempo and worked mostly on Uptown Throwdown. We also learnt the background and added more solos. Overall, we improved our co-ordination in playing jazz and it was fun. At the end, there were still improvements needing to be made, but we had made so much progress!
~ Jacob Wu 10D3
Just because the camp’s purpose was centered on rehearsal did not mean that we just rehearsed. On our last night, we all came together to indulge ourselves in some fun: a quiz! Once split up into teams, we began the quiz which covered several topics, ranging from music to sport, along with listening and labelling songs from a variety of eras plus solving anagrams. This creative test of knowledge was crafted and hosted by Mr Arthur. It was one of the many times the students had a chance to lay back from the hours of rehearsals we had and were to experience.
~ Tanvi Lad 10S4
On our last day, our third attempt to visit the beach finally succeeded, resulting in a satisfying conclusion to our trip. We wandered down the path until we reached the wet sand. The next few minutes were comprised of drawing pictures in the sand and recreating past music camp photos despite the sometimes-irritating rays of the glaring sun. Our short beach trip ended with a photo of the whole camp on the shore. We then returned to rehearsal and filled rolls provided by the caterers to satisfy our appetites. They provided many delicious meals for us over our stay including burgers, nachos, and chocolate mousse.
~ Jonathan O’Connor 10J5
Though we all had fun making new friends, exploring the camp, and growing together as a group, it was time to depart. Time flew by so fast that it felt as if it was only a few minutes instead of three days. Music camp was an enjoyable experience allowing us to make new friends and precious memories together but before our departure, we were able to eat one last meal together with our cabin crew. We were excited to go back home to our family and to our warm comfortable bed. On the bus everyone was occupied either playing games, doing work, sleeping, talking, or just enjoying the beautiful scenery. We were able to experience this trip and have fun thanks to Ms Treneman, Mr Arthur, and Mrs Bottom.
~ Paige Lim 10D3