The Big Sing is an annual, nationwide secondary schools choral festival that takes place in 10 centres involving around 8,000 students from over 200 schools.
The festival is New Zealand’s largest choral event and has been going for well over 30 years, with singers entering regional competitions held in Auckland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, East Coast, Taranaki, Manawatu/Whanganui, Wellington, Marlborough/Nelson, Canterbury/West Coast, Otago and Southland.
It's Big Sing Finale time again, this year held in Dunedin over three days from 28 August.
RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump, MC for Saturday's Gala Concert, caught up with Shona Murray to talk about The Big Sing and its beginnings.
Murray (who's been described as 'a Tawa musical legend') is a music educator, pianist and choral conductor. She was Head of Music at Tawa College for many years, and set up numerous choirs at the school during that time.
Shona Murray and Bryan Crump Photo: RNZ
For Murray, music "goes with so many things".
"You don't just do music in isolation for a competition. You actually do music to touch people's lives and hearts, and tell stories."
"For me, that's the most important thing you do when you get onstage: to actually communicate."
