It is impossible to pigeon-hole musician Tyna Keelan; he's too big - in stature and scope.
The man has written, played, sung, produced and mentored his way through more albums than possibly any other current New Zealand musician.
Scribe, P Money, Nesian Mystik, Native Sons and DJ Recloose are just some of
the musicians on whose albums he appears in some role or other.
In recent years, Tyna has been focusing on his solo career, with his latest album Overjoyed getting plenty of airplay and good reviews. He has also toured Germany and Japan during the past year.
Less widely recognised is his passion for all genres of contemporary and classic music, including a big love of jazz, and his "other career" as a guitar teacher and lecturer at Whitireia Polytechnic.
That teaching role brought him to Te Kura o Otangarei (Primary School) yesterday.
The school was one of many to tap into New Zealand Music Month's popular Music Mentoring Programme - and wasted no time asking if Tyna Keelan could be its maestro.
Tyna joked with the keen pupils in his first guitar lesson of the day that he had taught in "hundreds ... well, maybe tens ... of schools" under the mentoring scheme.
Each school taking part asks for a specific mentor who focuses on a key area, such as vocal performance or songwriting. The programme also offers professional development opportunities for teachers.
