Rural school students get to play with national orchestra

Students from Tapora School got to play with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) last month, as part of an international musical education programme that pairs up professional musicians with schools.

Tapora was one of just 11 schools throughout Auckland that took part in the first Link Up programme to be run in New Zealand by New York City’s Carnegie Hall, which has been running the scheme for 30 years.

Link Up seeks to address what it says is an urgent need for music instruction by providing a free curriculum and resources, so teachers and students can learn to read and play music and learn about the orchestra, which they did in NZ throughout Term 4.

The APO team provided assistance throughout, including going out to each school to provide support and advice and to see how the students were progressing.

Students learnt five pieces to sing or play on the recorder before travelling to Auckland on November 26 for a concert, where they sat in the audience and played along with the orchestra to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and other classic pieces.

Tapora teacher Jill Jackson said the experience was an incredible opportunity for everyone involved.

“Seeing a live orchestra was a completely new experience for most children,” she said. “They were amazed at the carrying capacity of the sound of the triangle over the full volume of the orchestra!”

She added that Link Up had been good for her, too.

“The opportunity to play with the APO provided great motivation for me to teach the basics of music reading, and the programme gave us great resources to make it easier,” she said.

The APO is the first orchestra in Australasia to run the Link Up programme and it hopes to run it again next year, funding permitting. This year, Link Up has worked with around 450,000 students and teachers in China, Canada, Colombia, Spain, Kenya, Japan and New Zealand.