Year 5 and 6 students from Makaraka School in Gisborne took their marimbas on tour this month. They played for preschoolers at Ormond Kindergarten on 3 November 2026, then for the public at the HB Williams Memorial Library the next day.
The students from Room Tāwhirimātea had been practising all year. Each concert lasted about 40 minutes, and the class played 11 songs in total.
Their set included blues and tango tunes, a song called A Minor Walk, and one called Rainforest. Rainforest mixes marimbas with drums, recorders and rain sounds. The marimbas come in different sizes, from big bass ones to small soprano and alto ones that carry the tune.
The concerts started with songs like Blue Pantaloons. In these, each student made up a short tune on the spot, called improvising, as a way of introducing themselves.
At the kindergarten, the young tamariki danced along, and some were very interested in the drums and recorders. They also performed kapa haka for the older students and handed out ice blocks.
At the library, a man named Graeme was on his way to work when a student invited him in to listen. He stayed for about 30 minutes and later emailed the class to thank them. “The beautiful music put a zip in my step,” he said.
A library staff member told the students they were so good she would like them to come back and play again.
After all their hard work, the musicians enjoyed a well-earned treat.
In their own words
Makaraka Tāwhirimātea students in Year 5 and 6 went on tour playing marimbas!
Makaraka School went on tour to a few different places and played some songs we had been learning all year. Room Tāwhirimātea had been practising all year on different types of instruments like marimbas, recorders and drums. There was also a little bit of improvisation from every kid, introducing ourselves. Each child played a different tune when it was their turn to improvise. Some played tunes, some just hit some notes. That’s why our improvisation is like getting to know each child, because you can just play whatever you feel like playing.
Our teacher has been very patient teaching us all different kinds of tunes, for example blues and tango. We even have one called Rainforest, which has drums, a rain sound, recorder and marimbas. We also have different types of marimbas. We have bass, medium ones, metals and the small ones, which play the melody with the medium ones and one of the big ones. There are two different types of small marimbas: alto (deeper pitch) and soprano (higher pitch). They each make a very different sound, which you can notice in our song A Minor Walk, where the sopranos and altos have different parts.
The bracket of songs was 40 minutes long. Our first concert was at Ormond Kindy on Tuesday 3 November, and then we played at the HB Williams Memorial Library on Wednesday 4 November. Our Tāwhirimātea students played 11 songs in total. Our amazing musicians had an awesome time playing and even got a little treat at the end.
Overall, we really enjoyed getting to play both days. We were super happy when we got ice cream and a play at the park, but we also loved the playing. Afterwards, we got a lovely email from a member of the public saying how lovely it was to watch and how thankful he was. “The beautiful music put a zip in my step,” he said.
Written by Poppy Blair
Makaraka School Students on Tour!
Makaraka School kids went on tour to play their marimbas.
Makaraka students went on tour to a few places, like Ormond Kindy and the Gisborne library. A lot of people came to the Gisborne library to see us play.
We performed for the little kids at Ormond Kindy. We enjoyed it too, so hopefully they did as well. We started with two songs that introduced who we were, like Blue Pantaloons, which had improvisation to introduce us.
Our teacher has been very patient teaching us how to play different tunes, like Blues, A Minor Walk and Rainforest. These songs are very difficult to play because they have improvisation, and Rainforest has recorder and rain sounds too. We played at Ormond Kindy on 3 November and at the library on 4 November.
The Ormond Kindy kids danced to some of our songs. Some of the kids were interested in the drums, and some were interested in the recorders.
[Photo caption: Here we are playing at the kindy. MacKenzie Hayward introducing.]
Graeme, a member of the public, said the beautiful music put a zip in his day. He said that although he was busy, he still decided to come and listen, and he was glad he did. So we hope you can join us next time to sing along, or maybe even dance to the tunes. Graeme said he enjoyed the tunes, and of course we all sounded great! Both concerts took around 40 minutes, and after we finished our last concert we got a little treat because we were so good!
Written by MacKenzie Hayward, Year 5
Makaraka School plays at HB Williams Library
Audience shocked by how good the performance was!
Makaraka School performed at the HB Williams Library on Wednesday 4 November to an audience who were shocked by how good their performance was. They played on marimbas: there were sopranos, altos, metals and bass. One listener said the songs were “great and I enjoyed them enough to take a break from my work”.
On Wednesday 4 November, a member of the Gisborne council was on his way to work when one of the Makaraka School students asked him to come and watch the performance. He was busy but decided to come and have a look. “I was glad to come watch for 30 minutes and wished I could stay for the rest of the performance,” he said. He really enjoyed listening to our performance in the HB Williams Library’s youth room.
Makaraka School got bored of playing in their school hall, so they decided to play at the HB Williams Library and at Ormond Kindergarten. “At the end of the day, I was glad I came and glad they took the time to come out and play,” said Graeme.
Written by Buster Pyke, Year 6
Makaraka Marimba Touring Year 5 and 6
On Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 and 4 November, Room Tāwhirimātea went to Ormond Kindergarten and HB Williams Library to play marimbas in front of people. We played for about 40 minutes, and there were eleven songs to play. After we had finished packing up, we went to McDonald’s.
A member of the public said, “I was sad I could stay for only 30 minutes.” The day before that, we had gone to Ormond Kindergarten and played in front of them. The kids from Ormond Kindy gave us ice blocks and then performed kapa haka for us. Then we told them we were going to the HB Williams Library.
The lady at the library said we were so good she wanted us back to play again! When we went to Ormond Kindergarten we played with them. They had wagons, and we rode them, and one of my friends rolled theirs.
Written by Finley Bradnock, Year 6
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