But yesterday there was a jaw-dropping moment when about 400 pupils from nine Dunedin primary and intermediate schools turned up for inaugural The Kids Sing choral festival at the University of Otago College of Education Auditorium and there was not enough room to fit them all on the stage.
It meant they had to sing from where the audience sits and the planned evening concert was cancelled.
Event co-ordinator Carole Randall said it was the first time the event had been held in Dunedin and, initially, the event was supposed to consist of a morning rehearsal followed by an evening concert for family members to watch.
"Because we were just beginning to create this Kids Sing, we had no idea what the buy-in was going to be from schools.
"So we booked this lovely auditorium, thinking it would be fine.
"But we had so many schools buy into it that there was no room for an audience."
"We’re hoping that this has generated enough interest that next year we could be in the Dunedin Town Hall and open to the public for an evening concert."
Ms Randall said The Kids Sing was a New Zealand Choral Federation event for primary and intermediate school pupils that had grown out of the Big Sing annual choir competition for secondary schools.
"We decided that we needed to get primary school children singing.
"This is not competitive at all. It’s just getting children together and having the joy of singing."
Dunedin tenor and choral director Ben Madden led the choir while offering tips to the pupils about how to improve their singing.
The music consisted of a large range of New Zealand songs, from Māori waiata to celebrate Matariki this week to Pasifika songs.
