Hello! I am a year 9 student, and have volunteered to write a review.
Hello! I am a year 9 student, and have volunteered to write a review about Band camp at Karanga campgrounds.
I have been in the Rutherford band for just over 6 months now, and have enjoyed every second of it. You would think this would be a typical school camp, but it was much more than that.
The reason we had this camp scheduled was to get more practice in with the band, as we had two upcoming big concerts; one with the Air Force Band, and one within the school itself. I missed out on the first day of camp due to a sickness, but when I arrived at about 10:30 on the second morning, I dropped my stuff in my cabin and followed the sound of the music to the concert hall, where our wonderful conductor, Mrs Marriot, was leading the band.
I settled right in, unpacking my tenor saxophone and taking my allocated seat. We started off by practicing with the whole band for about an hour-and-a-half, we had lunch, then went to this really cool percussion workshop, where we had to make music using the various percussion instruments we were provided with. My group had boom sticks, (hollow plastic tubes that make sounds), 2 different types of drums, an empty biscuit tin, a tambourine, and some pairs of drumsticks. We had to make some ‘music’ that was a minute long, which is hard to do when none of your group knows what they’re doing. After that, we had another rehearsal. Time flew by and the music started to get less tricky.
After what seemed like an hour of rehearsals, the time had come for dinner. Lunch had been delicious, so I knew what to expect for dinner. What I didn’t expect was the mammoth amount of apple pie, jelly, and Ice cream they served me. It was so good, I went back for more. It was the same the next day, but with the addition of cleaning toilets and cabins.
Overall, it was a really good experience and I would 100% do it next year. Thanks to everyone who helped organise this camp - Mrs Marriott, Mrs Taula, Mrs Stanton, Miss Kim, Miss Liu, Mr Stanton, Mr Tagaloa and Mr Wills. I rate it 10/10.
by Ollie Gilbert 9GR
