Music: Standing Up and Standing Out at SUSO

SUSO (Stand Up Stand Out) is an Auckland Council programme for secondary school music students across Auckland and has been running for more than 30 years through the Ōtara Music Arts Centre (OMAC).

Dio sent nine bands to the competition, made up of 51 students from Years 9 to 13.

Kahlo Coulter-Lewis (Year 12) competed for the third year in a row at this year’s competition with her band MSPRINT. She reflects below on the growth of Dio’s band programme and what makes the SUSO competition worth returning to:

“Last week I had the opportunity to compete in the Stand Up Stand Out (SUSO) competition with my band MSPRINT. This was my third year coming to SUSO and every year I see how amazing this opportunity is for all the bands to get experience performing and gain valuable feedback.

The judges were all super experienced in the music industry including Che Fu, one of the most iconic artists of the 2000s in NZ, so getting feedback from them was very useful.

Watching all the younger bands perform was also awesome as the band program has expanded so much since I began playing with over 50 students playing.

The energy was so uplifting throughout the performances, with everyone cheering for each other and supporting each other, which helped create a positive experience. I am sure that all the bands had a great time, the performances were amazing and the self-expression from each band was great to see. Overall, SUSO was a great day and opportunity to improve our musicality and get real experience performing.”