College mini-tour: Beethoven, jazz, pop rock

Hundreds of junior pupils were treated to the genius of Beethoven blended with jazz band magic and pop rock beats during a musical Wairarapa College mini-tour to South Wairarapa yesterday.

Wairarapa College music teacher Ivan Patterson said about 50 pupils from the school comprised the tour entourage and included about 25 pupils in the orchestra, the college jazz band, and school bands Cast A Shadow, Style Band, Prop, Tempt, Front Back and Sides and Back To the Remedy.

Last year, the latter two bands won selection as national semi-finalists in the Smokefreerockquest competition, he said, and the Style band featured players from South Wairarapa.

The touring musicians yesterday morning played to about 400 pupils at Masterton Intermediate School before heading to Anzac Hall in Featherston for a noon performance for about 150 pupils from St Teresa's School and Featherston School.

Mr Patterson said the almost hour-long performance was to be repeated for the public at 1pm.

The orchestra opened the concert with a rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and this was followed with the Foo Fighter song Everlong.

The song was arranged for the orchestra by trombonist Edward Kerr, who also plays drums in the jazz band and is singer guitarist with Front Back and Sides.

Mr Patterson said it was the first mini-tour for the college musicians this year and the first to South Wairarapa.

The chorists had been left out "only because there was no room on the bus", he said.

He said the jazz band had been particularly eager about playing at the ANZAC Hall, which had been a dance hall in the heyday of the genre.