Manurewa Wins Faculty Rocks 2017
Manurewa Wins Faculty Rocks 2017
On election night 2017 a slightly different band competition took place at Auckland’s Galatos – Faculty Rocks 2017.
The event gives staff bands from across educational institutions the chance to perform together in a tongue in cheek contest for a rock trophy – literally a rock mounted on a plinth.
The lineup on the night saw staff bands from four schools and one university competitively take the stage, with South Auckland’s Manurewa High School Staff Band beating The Professors from the University of Auckland, the St Kents Staff Band, the King’s Prep School Staff Band, and a group from Invercargill that had flown up in spite of the current aviation fuel crisis, arriving at the venue with 5 mins to spare.
The competition is the brainchild of Emma Featherstone, the director of music at King’s Prep School and a professional drummer.
While judging a number of school music competitions in and around Auckland, Emma noticed that at each school event, a staff band would perform while the judges deliberated on the student results.
“Being a music teacher you are constantly looking for ways to allow your students to shine, to grow and to explore their genre, but it is hard for teachers to have space to do that for themselves,” Emma tells us.
In talking with colleagues, she came up with the concept Faculty Rocks based loosely around the Construction Rocks international contest for engineers.
There are plans to make the competition an annual event, with space for expansion next year.
“We have room for more staff bands to take part, and if teachers want to represent from a number of institutions, this is of course allowed,” says Emma.
All money raised from the events will go to Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre.
