They may be called Music Overdose for a reason.
The nine Taupō Intermediate School students who make up Music Overdose spent most of one Saturday in May rehearsing individually with visiting tutors before getting together to run through a set of songs and finishing with a performance to parents.
Long serving teacher and guide Jon Wood had put together a who’s who of local musicians – John Curtis (bass), Julian Harris (keyboards), Keri Harper (vocals), Chris Martin (guitar) and Paris Takarangi (drums) – to help the mix of Year 7s and 8s with some specific one on one assistance.
While Music Overdose was looking ahead to participating in Bandquest in August where groups perform for six minutes, Wood said he wanted to broaden the scope for the students.
“It will be good to get an independent set of music together rather than just focus on Bandquest for six months and done.”
He was looking for other avenues of performance, he said, such as a tour of local primary schools in the town, sometime during term three.
“Ideally before Bandquest – then it will just become a welcome by-product.”
And having some expert help was far from overdoing it for Overdose.
“The standard of Bandquest is really going up and up. It’s getting harder and harder to compete with other schools that have plenty of money to spend on music teachers and arrangers.”
A band’s performance was judged on several criteria, Wood said, with considerable weight given to both the onstage performance as well as the musicality.
“Sometimes school bands have been burnt by their stage craft not being at a high enough level. You’ve got to have both stage presence and sound good to win the competition. But I am pleased with this band, most of them have that natural sense of movement.”
The students themselves felt the day had been well worth it.
“I learned a lot,” said bass player Marnu Jacobs, “before I didn’t even know ‘Valerie’ (by Amy Winehouse).”
Bianca Condon also now felt more confident singing harmonies following the morning with Harper, she said.
The day was also an opportunity for technical assistant Benji Farrar to get more familiar with sound and lighting for the group.
Music Overdose’s regional Bandquest heat is in Hamilton on August 29 – one of over 20 nationwide.
Regional winners are invited to submit a video for the online national final with the overall winner then announced in September.
