The Marlborough Girls' College jazz band was the first to perform for Big Band leader Rodger Fox in a masterclass as part of the Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival, which starts in Blenheim today.
Twenty bands, from 15 schools around the South Island, are in Blenheim for the four-day festival, which involves an inter-school competition and free public performances around Marlborough and ends with a gala concert on Saturday night.
Girls' college music teacher Robin Randall said the experience of competition and seeing their counterparts from other schools was invaluable.
"They don't get a lot of opportunities to compete and perform with other schools.
"It gives them a lot of inspiration to continue and carry on with music."
The youngest members of the 15-strong band could find the festival "quite daunting" because some had started playing music within the last couple of years, he said.
Mr Fox – who has judged the competition for several years and works for the New Zealand School of Music – said jazz music at secondary schools was developing and the level of performance was getting better.
More students were thinking of taking their music studies further and looking at careers in music.
Secondary schools were a good environment to foster jazz music, he said.
SOURCE The Marlborough Express
