St Mark's Secondary Music Tour to New Zealand: A Harmonious Adventure

The St Mark's Secondary Music Tour to New Zealand was a resounding success. It showcased our students' musical talents and provided them with unforgettable cultural experiences. From Year 7 to Year 12, plus some members of the Class of 2023, fifty of our talented musicians embarked on this exciting journey to participate in the Rhapsody Rotorua festival during the July school holidays. It was the first time the festival had been held since COVID.

The tour provided unique opportunities for our students to collaborate with peers from other Australian and New Zealand schools. They participated in Honours/Festival Ensembles, culminating in a live-streamed final concert on Friday night. Additionally, some of our staff members, Miss Guelfi, Mrs Grubb and Mr Martin, conducted well-attended clinics. Miss Guelfi's workshop focused on helping ATAR singers with contemporary and jazz styling, while Mrs Grubb led a session on acappella singing, specifically in the barbershop style, and Mr Martin's led sessions of rock band performance.

Musical Achievements

Our students demonstrated their musical prowess across various ensembles, earning impressive accolades:

• Concert Band: Silver Award
• Symphony Orchestra: Silver Award
• Jazz Band: Silver Award
• Tour Choir: Silver Award
• Rock Bands:
  • Naked Bandits: Gold Award
  • Riff Reverie: Gold Award

These awards reflect the dedication and skill of our young musicians, who performed admirably in official adjudications and public concerts alongside other participating schools.

Cultural Immersion and Adventure

Beyond the music, our students enjoyed a tapestry of cultural and adventurous experiences:

• Performances at local primary schools, where we were welcomed with traditional haka and regional songs
  
• A warm welcome at the Agrodome, featuring a farm show and buffet dinner
• A cultural night at Te Puia, including a hangi feast, Maori cultural performance, and a night visit to an erupting geyser
• Thrilling activities at Velocity Valley, such as the 40m Swoop swing and high-speed jet boat rides
• Scenic gondola rides and luge adventures at Skyline Rotorua
• A celebratory Presentation Night at the Skyline Restaurant
  
• A visit to Mt Ruapehu, where many students experienced snow for the first time

A massive thank you goes to the staff who made this tour happen, not only those who attended but also those here in Perth. The sheer organisation that goes into these types of trips is a mammoth undertaking and couldn't have occurred without the fabulous team.

This tour not only showcased our students' musical talents but also broadened their horizons through cultural exchange and exciting new experiences. We are immensely proud of their achievements and grateful for the memories created during this remarkable journey to New Zealand.

Click here for the snapshot of the Music Tour.

REFLECTIONS:

Taj Jayatilaka - Year 11 student

The New Zealand tour is definitely not something that can be summarized in a small paragraph it was truly amazing. But a few highlights from the performances were definitely the night our rock band performed "Themata" and "Pretender". The atmosphere was incredible, and we received compliments about it for so long. The workshops were also great, with Nick Tipping teaching the jazz rhythm section workshop; he was really awesome. The drama games where also so much fun and everyone there was really enjoying themselves. An absolute wow moment for me on the tour was definitely performing in the jazz and rock band. I play classical music, so it was out there for me to be playing rock and jazz, but the vibes on stage and the bands themselves were just incredible.

Hannah Rowland - Year 12 student

In the school holidays of term 3 I was lucky enough to go to New Zealand for a rhapsody Rotorua festival. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I am very grateful and thankful for the opportunity to go as a year 12 student. When we got to the airport (ready for our red-eye flight at 11:40 pm!), there was a rush of excitement-it had been a long time coming, and it was finally the night. After a long, tiring flight, we landed on the Gold Coast at 6:00 am Gold Coast time. We were starving for food and were disappointed to find that there was only one café in the terminal that we were in. After our flight had been delayed and a lot of sleeping in the airport, we finally boarded our second flight to Aukland. It was during the day, so I was excitedly looking out the window as we began to descend. We were here. We were all jet lagged and exhausted-but we still managed to go for a walk to the sky tower looking over the city of Aukland. After a meal in the hotel, we went up to our hotel rooms to have a well-deserved sleep- we were travelling to Rotorua the next day and we were all looking forward to a detour to Hobbiton. We woke up to a foggy morning and when we went downstairs for breakfast, we were welcomed with a delicious buffet waiting for us. As we travelled to Hobbiton there was a sense of excitement and exhaustion as we all did things to pass the time quickly. Talking and sleeping to catch up on the sleep lost from the flights. After a 2.5-hour bus ride, we made it to Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the movie set of the movie ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord Of The Rings.’ On Tuesday, before the festival officially started, we went to an Agrodome. This was a farm show where they showed us different types of sheep and what they are used for. They also showed two dogs who had been trained to jump on top of the sheep, which was fascinating. After a delicious meal, there was a dance party. We all went to bed that night exhausted after a fun night. As well as the many sightseeing activities and travels, we were there for 3 concerts at the Howard Morrison Centre. On Wednesday, we had a concert during the day for some of the school groups. This was a matinee concert during the day. Thursday and Friday were filled with rehearsals for combined performances with the other schools. All three days we also had adjudications by amazing conductors who helped us to improve before the night concert. This was on the Wednesday and Thursday morning for each of our ensembles. Then Friday was a combined ensembles concert where we were put into festival or honours (the higher group) ensembles. This was very challenging as we had to learn a combination of repertoire in a short amount of time. Friday, we had two electives where we could choose what we wanted to do. I went to a jazz styling workshop with our very own Miss Leah Guelfi, I enjoyed watching Miss Guelfi in her element of jazz. In the afternoon, I went to an acapella (singing without any instruments) workshop with Mrs Pamela Grubb, also a part of our amazing music department. At this workshop, we learnt about barbershop singing and how it differs from a normal choir. We sang a song called "Come to Australia", which we very much enjoyed singing. We also sang "Titanium". Even though it was about an hour-long workshop, it sounded amazing with all the schools coming together. On Saturday we went for a lovely walk in the redwood rainforest in the morning. Thanks to our very own local tour guide, Mr Andrews, we enjoyed the beautiful, luscious greenery of the trees in New Zealand. It was nice to start the day off a bit slower after having three busy days. On Saturday was our activity day, we went to Velocity Valley, where there were several different rides that the students and teachers enjoyed. Some of the highlights from this were watching Mr Martin, Mr Andrews and Miss Guelfi going on the ride together called the Swoop and watching them flying through the air. We then went up in the air on a gondola and made our way to spend the afternoon at the skyline Rotorua. There was a luge ride. As we rode down the different routes, there were some stunning sights. The good thing about the luge was that you could go as fast or as slow as you wanted. I am someone who doesn’t really like going fast, so I was able to enjoy the slow drive down and enjoying the scenery. Once we had lunch and a look around at the souvenir shops and jelly belly museum, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner at the restaurant and get ready for the drive to the snow. When we were all ready to go we made our way back to the skyline Rotorua to hop back on to the gondolas to take us to the restaurant for a presentation evening and dinner. We found out at the presentation evening that we were awarded a silver for our Concert band, Jazz Band, Orchestra and choir. And we won a gold award for both our rock bands. A huge effort was made by everyone who played and sang in these ensembles, and a huge thanks to the teachers who we wouldn’t have been able to do without them. After dinner, there was a dance party, and then we started to make our way back down to our hotel to bed. The next day we woke up to go to the snow. It was about a 2.5-hour drive, but we were exhausted, so we were able to pass the time quickly. We spent the day in the snow and then went to check in to our hotel and get to bed quickly as we had a massive day ahead of us. In the morning, 4:15am to be exact, we were woken up, and we packed up our things and headed to the bus for a departure at 5am. We stopped along the way to get a snack and then headed on our way to the airport. Our first flight was from Aukland to Brisbane. After we had landed in Brisbane, we had to go through customs, collect our bags and check them in for our final flight and time together for the week to Perth. It was a long flight, but soon enough, we landed and were greeted by our parents waiting to take us home for a well-deserved rest and holiday.

A huge thank you to the teachers: Miss Guelfi, Mrs Hodson, Mrs Grubb, Mr Andrews, Mr Martin, and, of course, Mrs van Reyk. We couldn’t have done any of this tour without you. Your effort and time, as well as the early mornings and late nights, were amazing.

I have made such good memories with some people that I wouldn’t have spoken to if I hadn’t gone on this trip with them. So, thank you to the other students- we will always be such a tight group, and I can’t express how much fun I had with everyone. I will always cherish the memories made as a group.

I feel like I have definitely improved in my singing, so thank you to the music department for helping me improve.

Mrs Grubb

The 2024 NZ Music Tour was an unforgettable experience for the 50 students and 5 staff who participated. Performing at Rhapsody Rotorua alongside nearly 200 students from Australia and New Zealand was an amazing experience, and receiving four Silver and two Gold Awards for our ensembles was very exciting. We loved learning more about the Maori culture, and a highlight of the tour was having a haka performed for us by primary school children and seeing how unselfconsciously they sang and danced as a group. The scenery in New Zealand was spectacular, and visiting Hobbiton, Velocity Valley, and the snow in Mt Ruapehu were just a few of the incredible experiences we had. The wonderful group of staff and students on the tour were the icing on the cake, and I will treasure the memories created on this tour forever.

Mr Andrews

After attending the New Zealand Music Tour (as a Science Teacher), I have to say that I was blown away by the talent, organisation and conduct of the St Mark’s students on the trip. It was such a privilege to not only share my cultural roots and showcase my hometown of Rotorua with the St Mark’s community but also to see the enrichment, growth and application of our students abroad. Our students clearly showed, after the acquisition of Gold and Silver awards, that they are ease on an international platform. I believe that this is largely due to the tireless amount of hours, tutelage and planning that is invested into our students by the incredible Music Team here at St Mark’s! The students have undoubtedly walked away from this trip with incredible memories, new friendships and a thirst to pursue more musical adventures – a tour opportunity that I hope is available to our community for years to come!