Gregory’s Blog

Hi again,

Earlier this week I played my Trumpet in the band festival representing my school, Te Awamutu Intermediate. My school entered in two of the available categories. Jazz Band and Symphonic band. I was not in the Jazz Band but I was in the Symphonic Band. Te Awamutu’s Jazz Band played first. It sounded great. It was a long nervous wait for the Symphonic Band because we were playing last. It was very hot in the music room because we had to wear our warm tops. Finally we performed our six songs. I had a great time playing my trumpet. We did very well while we were performing and were confident we would get a good result. We were disappointed that we didn’t come first in either of the events we participated in but we were very proud of coming second! We won some prize money to put towards new school band instruments. I’m proud of how well I did in this event and how much I’ve improved my trumpet playing.

Bye for now, Gregory

Hi again,

This term I will be playing trumpet again for the opening of the new Tech Arts block, bigger than last time and for a festival that my school is competing in. My school will be competing against many different schools. My school has done well in this competition in previous years. I will be having more school practices this week leading up to these two events. I can play a lot of different songs on the trumpet and I’m proud of how well I have done this year.

In the holidays I had my 12th birthday. I had three of my friends over and went to McDonalds and the movies. We went to see an awesome movie called Hancock, I recommend it. I also had a Birthday with my family on a different day. I got mainly money  ($290 which I’ve spent most of already) but still some presents. I had a great few days of my birthday and I can’t wait until next year!

Bye for now, Gregory

Hi again,

On the weekend I played a game of soccer against a team from Cambridge. Unfortunately we lost 4 – 1. We played very well but they were the top of the table in my division so it was always going to be a hard game. We had an awesome first half with the score 1 – 1 at half time. My team was winning 1 – 0 until one of the players in my team got the ball kicked into their hand and gave the other team a penalty inside the box which they took advantage of just before half time. In the second half Cambridge played much better than us and scored 3 goals.

At my school we will be getting a new tech arts block to replace the old one. At the opening that’s coming up I will be playing in the band. I’m excited about this because I will be able to play some of my favourite pieces with the band in front of lots of others. I’m getting much better now and I can play many different notes and songs. I’m glad I have chosen to play the trumpet.

Bye for now,

Gregory

Hi again,

Earlier this week I went on a three day band camp at Totara springs with my school and Matamata school. We arrived on Monday after about an hour bus trip and had our first practice as a group. There were three groups of children – Choir, Senior band and Junior band. That’s my group. It was one and a half hours long! My lips were really sore after that. We had another three practices the same length that day, having food and playing outside in between. There was a heated pool and we had a great time in it but we couldn’t put our heads under because there was a chance we could get sick.

On Tuesday after a long night we woke up ready for the concert later that night. We had two more practices and then a dress rehearsal. We practiced all the songs we would play and presented them to the other groups in the order we would play them that night. When the time of the concert came we were all dressed in our good clothes. We walked into the hall and performed our songs. Some of our songs were difficult but we played them almost perfectly. The concert was great and we all had a great time.

On Wednesday we didn’t have any practices. It was all fun and games. There was an awesome waterslide that you could go really fast on. I had a great time on the waterslide.

I had a great time at band camp and I’m looking forward to going there again.

Soccer!

I played another game of soccer today and our team had another win 9-1. I got player of the day for scoring one goal and setting up a few. A striker on my team scored 4 goals and was put back in defence. He then scored a goal from half way! I played much better than last week and I was pleased with how I played.

Bye for now, Gregory.

Hi Everyone,

I am learning to play the trumpet. When I first started I found blowing into the trumpet and making sound hard to do. I am much better at this now and I get the right sound most of the time. I have lessons on Mondays after school and on Thursday in the morning during school hours. I practice for at least half an hour at home each day. I’m looking forward to going on band camp in May. We will be performing in front of a large crowd on the second day there. I am enjoying learning the trumpet.

Bye for now, Gregory