E koekoe te tūī, E ketekete te kākā, E kūkū te kererū, Tihei mauri ora!

Last week an enthusiastic group of new students was welcomed to the New Zealand School of Music with the above words, voiced by Deputy Head of School Associate Professor Dugal McKinnon and especially penned as our Te Kōkī whaikōrero by Ruby Maehinepunui Solly (Kāi Tahu Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) NZSM alumna, writer, musician, and music therapist.  These words talk of the sounds made by the manu (birds) while the sun starts to shine on a new day, fitting words for new students filling the School of Music courtyard on a stunning summer orientation day.  Taonga pūoro musician Rob Thorne (Ngāti Tumutu) used the pūkaea to call to the students and signal their arrival, Dugal spoke on behalf of the NZSM whanui (wider family), and staff joined together to sing our gifted NZSM waiata, Aio Mauritau.  After a paramanawa (light snack) in our sunny courtyard, NZSM staff and current students gave great advice to the newcomers in our Adam Concert Room. Student mentoring sessions were then facilitated by Dr. Mo Zareei from Sonic Arts.  Such a welcoming and exciting way to start our academic year, filled with anticipation for Te Kōkī’s ever-renewed promise! 

As this edition confirms, our NZSM staff have been busy during the break preparing new events, composer workshops, and forums, so read on to hear about our early 2020's fantastic line-up!

NZSM NEWS

We now have a new story to tell....

This year we are excited to engage increasingly with Social Media platforms, and will use the above Facebook/Instagram/Twitter channels to visually tell a weekly story that brings together all events and activities scheduled for NZSM students and staff - and of course for our friends beyond the School - throughout that week. 

Our NZSM website is being updated with all events, news, forums, and workshops as well as links for readers to join Vic Voices, register for Jazz Project 2020, Queens Birthday Chamber Music Weekend, and where you can notify us of any events via our 'promotion portal'.

If you would like to follow us on social media our handles are:

Facebook: @NZSMusic

Instagram: nzsm_events

Twitter: @NZSMusic

NZSM staff and students stand in solidarity with Radio New Zealand Concert

On Monday 24th February many of our students and staff headed down to Parliament to stand in solidarity with Radio New Zealand Concert FM. 

It was a perfect Wellington day: voices sang out together in protest and song, as young and old joined forces to show the importance of this program to future generations. 

Like many of our readers, NZSM shares in supporting RNZ Concert. We are providing updates about 'Save RNZ Concert FM' through this link, which features information about upcoming support events and on-going conversations regarding the future of this important cultural asset.

For now Ka whawhai tonu mātou (we battle on)

Photo credit: Nicola Willis MP top and Sarah Chesney bottom

School of Music grounding drives Drax Project

Photo left to right: Ben O'Leary - Guitar (Whitireia), Matt Beachen (NZSM) - Drums, Sally Jane Norman - NZSM Director, Lance Philp Program Director Jazz, Sam Thomson (NZSM) - Bass | Synth | Vocals,  Shaan Singh (NZSM) - Saxophone | Lead Vocals | Synth

It’s fair to say Drax Project is a Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington success story.

Shaan Singh, Matt Beachen, and Sam Thomson of Drax Project are all alumni of the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī at the University.

The band performed last week at Orientation Week in the Kelburn Hub, bringing their signature blend of jazz, rhythm and blues and pop to their alma mater. With five compilations and one studio album to their name, as well as a raft of stadium performances in support of big names, they are fast becoming New Zealand’s biggest music export to the United States since Lorde.

Asked for his advice to current School of Music students, Shaan says, “I would say take everything that gets taught to you with a grain of salt. Listen and understand and learn, but do your own thing. Because the path that’s laid out to you by other people is 99 percent of the time not your path. Take the information and use it to do your own thing.”

Shaan and his bandmate Matt Beachen became buskers while at the School of Music, playing saxophone and drum covers on the street in Courtenay Place. The name of the band is a portmanteau of ‘drums’ and ‘sax’, and was invented on the spot when someone wanted to put a recording of them playing onto YouTube in 2015.

Shaan and Matt originally met at the Young Musicians Programme (YMP) run by the School of Music—Te Kōkī for talented young musicians.

“Me and my younger brother did it,” says Shaan. “Vaughn Roberts was our tutor, and he was really inspiring. I just like getting better at stuff, and I was already playing sax. I went on to Jazz School at the School of Music because I was young and it seemed the right thing to do.”

Shaan is the lead singer of Drax Project, but he attended the School of Music for saxophone, after being advised, “Go for the saxophone. You’ll sing anyway,” by his singing teacher Charles Humphreys.

“The YMP was so good. My brother started younger than me, and at age 12 it was the right information for him at the age where you’re most affected. The later you start the harder it is.”

Shaan and Matt were joined by Sam Thomson, whom they met at the School of Music, and the fourth member of their band Ben O’Leary joined them as they began performing their own compositions.

“The best part of the School of Music was playing my own compositions for our third-year recital. The tutors had faith in it and I got good marks for my compositions, so I figured why not play them?”

Shaan was impressed by the teachers at the School of Music, saying, “It is always difficult to be taught such a complex thing and know what to do with the information. Do your best to learn it really well and adapt on it as you work on doing it your own way.”

Finally, some good news if you’re finding it hard to carve out some time for practising. “Some people say ‘practise however many hours a day to get good,’ but I think it’s truer that an hour of good practice is better than six hours of bad. I can practise for 10 minutes a day and if it’s really good and structured, it will be much better than doing eight hours of trash.

“It’s important to make sure that what you are doing is actually making you better—don’t just practise the bits you are already really good at.”

Te Rerenga Wairua - Resonance Tour

Over the summer break, NZSM Jazz students went on a tour of the far North and its schools. The goal was to spend time working with students and promoting Jazz pathways. A brainchild of Jonathan Pirini, a third-year Jazz performance student, this journey has been in the making since he left teaching to study full time to follow his dream of taking his passion for Jazz back to the schools he loves so much. Our NZSM students who traveled with Jon are; Akash Dutta, James Feekes, Jack Harre, James MacEwan, Nicholas Baucke-Maunsell & Shay Wright.  Kei runga noa atu koutou! (Exceptional work!

COMING SOON

NZSM Queen's Birthday Chamber Music Weekend

30 May–1 June 2020
New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington

Immerse yourself in a whole weekend of music

Coaching with professional musicians: members of the New Zealand String Quartet and other New Zealand School of Music staff.

 Secondary School students: ideal final preparation for NZCT Chamber Music Contest

 Develop new chamber music skills through coaching and masterclasses

 Meet and learn with other committed chamber musicians

 Individual instrumental tuition may be available, time permitting.

This course will offer expert, professional coaching to existing chamber music groups of any instrumentation, including voice, which are already rehearsing a work or works.

APPLICATIONS DUE BY 9 APRIL
Apply here

FEES: 
$150 per student

Jazz Project 2020

3-5 June 2020, For secondary school jazz bands, combos, and jazz students

Presented by the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington, alongside the Wellington Jazz Festival. 

Entry criteria

There are two performance categories for groups:

1.        Jazz Combo – a minimum of 3 musicians, maximum of 9 musicians

Each jazz combo will be given a 20-minute performance slot including entering and exiting the stage followed by a 20-minute workshop with one of the adjudicators.

2.       Big Band – a minimum of 10 musicians, maximum of 22 musicians

Each big band will be given a 20-minute performance slot including entering and exiting the stage followed by a 20-minute workshop with one of the adjudicators.

To be eligible for group prizes, all students in participating ensembles must be attending a New Zealand High School at the time of the event.  Individual prizes will only be awarded to high school students.

Ensembles should perform four selections and include the following styles:

swing

ballad

Latin or rock and another selection of their own choice.

If you are a secondary school music teacher and would like to participate please email events@vuw.ac.nz for an info pack coming out soon.

EVENTS

CubaDupa - CubaSonic

29 March, 2.15 pm–4.00 pm 

Victoria University and NZSM friends and family, of course including our wonderful alumni, are warmly to a very special edition of CubaSonic, an ambitious and immersive electronic sound experience conceived by John Psathas, Emeritus Professor at the University and one of New Zealand’s leading composers. We are delighted to quote directly from the richly documented Cubadupa Press Release:

Imagine almost 500 musicians lined from one end of Cuba Street to the other. Add to them a dozen conductors and an overhead array of speakers that will direct surround sound across the site. Throw in a locally-invented Tesla coil that can be played like a keyboard and shoots lightning into its surroundings. Add major support from Creative New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington, and local arts supporters. Finally, add a bespoke score written for this CubaDupa mass performance zone by leading New Zealand composer John Psathas, and that begins to describe the CubaSonic experience.

“The inspiration for this mass musical disruption came a few years ago when John Psathas was exploring the festival environments, contemplating the possibility of uniting the entire site through one big beautiful music performance,” says CubaDupa Director Gerry Paul. “He wondered what it would be like to unify everybody through a creative performance and give the audience an experience that spanned the entire festival—and the idea for CubaSonic was born.” 

The immense scale of this event, and Psathas’s unprecedented vision, will become reality thanks to some of Aotearoa’s leading music institutions, including Orchestra Wellington, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal New Zealand Air Force Band, The Nudge, Boat, synthesizer genius Leo Coghini, and 250 Batucada drummers from across the country. 

Register and more information

The Collaborative Pianist; 2020 Recital Series

Series curated by David Barnard, Head Accompanist, New Zealand School of Music-Te Kōkī.

Where: Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University of Wellington, Gate 2, Kelburn Parade.

When: Thursdays - FREE 6 pm 9th April | 28th May | 6th August | 1st October

9th April: Fragment

with guests: Shannon Pittaway, Leonard Sakofsky & Matthew Allison

Works by Schnyder, Martin & Psathas

28th May: Soliloquy for the Gods

with guests: Bridget Douglas & Kirstin Eade

Works by Jolivet & Liebermann

6th August: The Lost Ideals of Youth

with guests: Jian Liu & Hamish Robb

Works for 4-6 hands. Works by Mozart, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff & Young

1st October: Outer Worlds of Inner Thought

with guests: Inbal Megiddo, Gillian Ansell & Martin Riseley

Works by Glinka, Prokofiev, Khachaturian & Nock

2020 NZ Festival: Secrets of Sea and Space

When: 10 March 6 pm

Where: St Mary of the Angels, 17 Boulcott St, Wellington

Ticket Prices: $59 General Admission, Book here

As part of the 2020 NZ Festival of the Arts programme, the NZSQ is joined by soprano Jenny Wollerman to present Secrets of Sea and Space.  Adventurous spirits will be rewarded with this exquisite programme.  View the program here

Canti di Consolazione

When: 21 March, 6 pm

Where: Adam Concert Room

The Italian Embassy in Wellington is proud to present “Canti di Consolazione”, a series of 4 concerts bringing together first-class New Zealand and Italian classical musicians, who will play the compositions of Monteverdi, Mortari, Berio, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Dylan Lardelli, and Chris Gendall.

This encounter of musical expressions will be arranged by the trio composed of Tessa Romano (mezzo-soprano), Luca Manghi (flute), and Dylan Lardelli (Guitar), playing in 4 dates across the whole length of the country from Auckland to Dunedin.

Feel Like you need to break out in song? 

JOIN VICTORIA VOICES TODAY!

REHEARSALS START 11 MARCH 7:15–8:45 PM

Victoria Voices is a non-auditioned choir that is open to all members of the wider University community and participation is free of charge. The choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings in the Adam Concert Room at the New Zealand School of Music from 7:15 pm to 8:45 pm.

Click the link here to join in!

YOUNG MUSICIANS CONCERTS

Young Musicians Programme Classical Concerts

 When: 19 May 2020, 6:30 pm

Where: Hunter Council Chamber 

Students of NZSM’s pre-tertiary Young Musicians Programme piano, wind, string, voice, and chamber classes perform in their final concert for the year. Participants range from 9–18 years of age, and Grade 3 to diploma level.

Young Musicians Programme Jazz Concert

When:  21 September 2020, 6 pm

Where: SU310, Student Union Building, Kelburn campus

Students of NZSM’s pre-tertiary Young Musicians Programme Jazz Class perform jazz standards in three combos. Participants range from 9–18 years of age.

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

MUSIC FORUM

Music Forum – Trimester 1 2020

On selected Wednesdays during the trimester: 12:00–1:00 pm, Room 006, 86 Fairlie Terrace (unless otherwise noted).

Music Forum is a seminar series hosted by the NZSM Music Studies Programme. Staff, graduate students and distinguished visiting speakers present recently completed research or discuss work in progress. Topics range across historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory and analysis and jazz studies, among other subdisciplines of music studies.

Music Forum is open to all members of the University community and the public. Admission is free.

18 March
Professor Cat Hope (Monash University)
Stepping Aside: Gender Equality and Privilege in Australian Music Culture

8 April
Professor Sally Jane Norman (NZSM – Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington)
Performance Technologies, Their Ghosts and Their Progeny

29 April
Dr David R. M. Irving (ICREA & Institució Milà i Fontanals–CSIC, Barcelona)
Global Materials and Labour in the Construction of Early Modern European Music

COMPOSER WORKSHOPS

Composer Workshops – Trimester 1 2020

COMPOSER WORKSHOP | WEDNESDAY 3:10 – 4:10pm | ADAM CONCERT ROOM

11 March
Associate Professor Dugal McKinnon (NZSM) Artist Talk about recent projects

18 March
Artist and scholar Professor Cat Hope (Monash University) discusses the Summers Night Project: a collaborative effort to foster gender diversity within music programmers across Australia.

25 March
NZSM PhD candidate Paul Dunham talks about intersecting media archaeology and sound installation, and his research on establishing a narrative between the past and present through the convergence of obsolete and current media technologies.

1 April
Alison Isadora - Together#5.2 (audience participation)

MASTERCLASS 

30 March, 6.30 pm – Jennifer Davis Masterclass Hunter Council Chamber

This international Irish soprano is with us thanks to an exciting engagement with the NZSO Podium Series featuring Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, where she will share the stage with Jonathan Lemalu under the baton of Donald Runnicles. 

Do you have an event you would like to notify us about?

If you do please click on the link here and fill out the NZSM Promotion form. 

Jack body Memorial Fund

Support the future of New Zealand music through the composer residency here.

SUPPORT THE MUSICIANS, COMPOSERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE FUTURE

For some of New Zealand's most talented musicians, the only thing that stands in the way of their dreams is the lack of funds to make them real. For further information on how you can provide support for students at the New Zealand School of Music, please contact either: