Eighty-two young musicians had the unique opportunity to learn from some of Aotearoa’s leading artists during a weekend COMMOTION event in Nelson in August.

The music students, aged between 14 and 21, were tutored by 21 artists in a series of 90-minute workshops across two venues, the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) and the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts (NCM) on August 9 and 10.

Eighty-two young musicians enjoyed two days of expert tuition and music at COMMOTION
2025 in Nelson.

“COMMOTION gave me confidence to continue to write music,” said one participant.

“It was very inspiring and changed my view on music itself completely. It’s a great way to meet other musicians and it was so much fun learning new things,” said another.

The biennial event was run by volunteer organisers Scott Burnett and Emily Sanson. COMMOTION operates under the charitable umbrella of the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts (NCMA) and received support from a number of local organisations, including Top of the South Community Foundation which provided $4,000 in funding.

As part of the weekend programme, 22 acts involving more than two-thirds of the COMMOTION students took to the stage for a showcase gig watched by an audience of 250. Four ‘colab’ bands (including a jam space band), formed from youth attendees also performed at the showcase.

Since the first COMMOTION event in August 2022, 29 student acts who attended have gone on to release music on Spotify and several other acts are also planning to release music.

In addition, five COMMOTION student acts have made it to the Rockquest National Top 30, out of the 800+ entries from around the country.

A number of scholarships were provided for Māori and Pasifika students and 12 volunteer crew gained skills in running a music event. Twenty-five percent of the students and 40 per cent of tutors were of Māori, Pasifika, Asian and African ethnicity.

Shannon Chng, aka DJ Shan, the founder of Aoteaora DJ Academy, was among the tutors working with young people at COMMOTION 2025.

The workshop content and panel sessions included theoretical and practical components including creating, producing and recording contemporary music and learning new skills around music technology and studio demo recording sessions.

Musicians Rorie Harbinson (left) and Harry Reith perform during COMMOTION 2025.

The role of music industry organisations and how to get music out there; pathways into the wider music industry and artist/tutor feedback and mentoring on youth music in development were also a focus.

Opportunities were facilitated for youth and youth/tutor collaboration and performances. With an artist/tutor to youth ratio of one to four the quality of the artist/tutoring was personalised, with youth able to get one-to-one mentoring opportunities and individual feedback.

The next COMMOTION event will be in 2027.

To find out more about COMMOTION go to: https://commotion.nz/