2025 Wrapped – The Puoro-Music Department Edition

Spotify Wrapped tells us we have listened to 248 genres this year so that demonstrates just how diverse and exciting the musicians at our school are! We have been a busy wee department so here is our final wrap up of the highlights…

Smokefree Rockquest
We had 11 bands and 2 solo acts enter SFRQ this year! The regional heats were an epic night and we loved cheering you all on.

Stand Up Stand Out
We had a record number of entries this year in the Auckland Council Stand Up Stand Out competition in solo vocal, solo instrumental, electronic music and band categories. Willow Epati-Manu stunned the judges with her rendition of Brown Girl and made it all the way through to perform in the semi-finals against students from all over Auckland. Fa’amālō atu!!

Play It Strange
We had success in the Play It Strange songwriting competitions again this year! Our students submitted their original songs to 3 of the 4 available competitions and we had an exciting visit from Mike Chunn, Evie Dwyer-Leech and REI himself! Play It Strange launched a new Waiata Māori competition this year and our Waiōrea music students claimed two finalist spots which meant they could spend a day in the studio recording their waiata with professionals – ka rawe!! Watch for these to be released on Spotify late December – just search Play It Strange Waiata.

The winning songs are:
Taku Whetū by Kaiaia Hawk, Rawinia Morehu, Devon McIntyre & Puna Shortland-Theodore (performed at Y11 Prizegiving)
Taku Tai Aroha – by Waimarama Kākā-Nesbit (performed at NPOW Prizegiving).

It’s a Musical!
This year we managed to put on our very first original musical!! This was a joint effort by Carmel and all the Little Weirdos (musical theatre ensemble) who wrote the entire show together. The DIY musical was about all the things we could perform a musical about if we had the money to put on a musical – and it worked! We are now working towards a full-length original musical to perform in 2027!! Watch this space for how you (students AND whānau) can get involved.

Lunchtime Concerts
Our lunchtime concerts were a triumph this year! Benaiah Su kicked us off in Term 1 with a courtyard gig, then we hosted student bands and soloists in Te Whare Puoro throughout the year. Flynn Russell and Maxine Allen were even filmed by the SFRQ video crew and made it onto the behind-the-scenes series on their website. Earforce were definitely a highlight of lunchtime performances, letting Marley Hicks out from behind the drums to crush some Rage Against the Machine. Term 4 saw the last of our canteen deck concerts with a Benaiah Su and Kael Watson gig, and then a final Earforce gig on the last day for Y13s which was a perfect farewell. If you want to do a canteen deck or Te Whare Puoro lunchtime gig in 2026 just ask one of the music teachers!!

Puoro Summer Concert Series
We had grand plans for a full music department concert that were completely scuppered by the sickness that claimed more than half of our performers, so we pivoted into a summer series in the first week of Term 4. Each of our musical groups got their moment to perform and showcase their hard work this year – Choir, Chamber Group, Baby Band and Jazz Band. Thank you so much to Victoria Chellew, Thea Doyle, Michelle Waring and Trudy Lile for their work with these groups!

NZ Music Commission Support & NZ Music Month
The NZ Music Commission supported our department in so many ways this year! They provided music mentoring with the legendary Mazbou Q who came in to talk to our students and then lead a workshop with students on rap and music production. They also organised a Matariki Waiata Māori Wānanga for free! We took 10 students to Q Theatre for the day to work with Troy Kingi, Rebel Reid, Laughton Kora, Arahi and Aro. This helped them workshop their songs to enter into Play It Strange!