We’re Big Fans of Joel Little Here in Music
It’s not everyday a Grammy winning former student comes to visit Te Whare Puoro/Music Department so we counted ourselves incredibly lucky to host Joel Little at the start of March. We gathered with our Year 12 and 13 music students to hear Joel and his team from his not-for-profit recording studio and live music venue, Big Fan, which offers numerous opportunities to local musicians to help them into the industry. This visit was to launch their latest opportunity Fan Camp – a free songwriting camp for rangatahi aged 14-18.
Joel was reunited with and introduced to the crowd by his Springs music teacher, Margaret Robertson, who he has often mentioned in interviews because of her support during his time at school. He was also accompanied by the manager Big Fan, Savina Fountain, who interviewed him and managed the student questions, and Leauanae Laulu Mac, CEO of the Ministry for Culture & Heritage who are the main funding source for the camp.
Our students represented WSCW Puoro-Music incredibly well, providing a strong welcome with the school waiata and asking insightful questions about a range of topics including songwriting, career paths and, most importantly, working with Taylor Swift (yes, she is just as nice and fun as she seems). Joel was then treated to a thank you waiata from our own award winning musicians, the music students who are Ngā Puna o Waiōrea kapa haka champions. The whole visit was filmed by Newshub News at 6 and remains featured on their website if you want to watch the cameos of Margaret and our students. Come back any time Joel, Savina and the whole Big Fan crew!
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