Totara Springs Band Camp!
Totara Springs is a band camp, which is pretty self explanatory. It is a camp where most of the band students go, it is combined with the choir. Matamata Intermediate band and choir also participate in it. We are there for two nights and on the last night we have a big concert where all our parents and friends are able to come along and watch. I play the trombone as part of the TAI (Te Awamutu Intermediate) Senior Band.
I definitely enjoyed Totara Springs. It was really fun but a lot of practice! So it was all practice practice practice on the first couple of days. But during each break we all relaxed, hung out with our friends and played on the playground. Many people also went on the lullaby, which is pretty much a long wooden swing that you can fit ten people on. Although with four boys pushing it and only a few others on, it can get really high and scary! (Trust me, I’ve tried it). There was a heap of music practice but each session had a good break in between them so I didn’t really mind.
Tuesday night came and we had the concert. All of the bands were tuning up our instruments and chatting to our friends in the lecture theatre. Everyone was so loud that we barely even heard the fire alarm going off. We all evacuated onto the field wondering what was happening and why it was going off. Mrs Germann, one of the music teachers, had to stand on the picnic table and call the roll, in her high heels! Luckily she had only called a few names when the camp caretaker came and told us it was only a towel on the heater. A sign of relief came over her face as she shouted out “Phew, at least I don’t have to stand on the table in my heels anymore!”
We all slowly moved back into the lecture theatre and carried on tuning up. Finally the time came to go into the auditorium for the concert, as I walked in I noticed how many people had come to watch, there were heaps. We played a few songs, some of them being- ‘Latin Fire’, ‘Mack the Knife’, ‘What a Wonderful World’ and ‘Surfin’ USA’. The junior band played and the choir sung a few songs. It was lots of fun. Also the ‘Salvation Army Band’ came and played a few songs. They were really good and after they played their songs we had a final song that the Senior Band and the Salvation Army Band played. This song was ‘Eye of the Tiger’. So overall I had lots of fun and would definitely go again if I had the chance.
