Jack Smith: The teen who nailed The Last Post at Katikati's Dawn Service

For Katikati College deputy head student Jack Smith, playing The Last Post on Anzac Day is the most nerve-wracking performance imaginable. The 17-year-old stepped up to play the bugle at this year's Katikati Anzac Dawn Service on 25 April, and delivered a flawless rendition in front of hundreds of silent onlookers just after 6am.

Smith admitted that in the days leading up to the service he was terrified, and that even while playing he could feel a slight tremor in his sound from the nerves. He had a practice run the day before at Ōmokoroa Point School's Anzac service — where he hit a bung note — making the perfect performance at Katikati all the more satisfying. He stepped in after the band's regular bugler, Dennis Wilks, was unavailable. Smith has previously played the bugle at Tuapiro Marae and at the Ōmokoroa Anzac Day service over the past two years.

Music has been a big part of Smith's life since Year 7, when he signed up almost on a whim and quickly got hooked. Since then he has taken up trumpet, French horn, tenor horn, trombone, flute, saxophone and clarinet, and recently competed at the New Zealand Brass Band Championships in Wellington in April, playing double B-flat tuba with Tauranga City Brass Band's B-grade entry.

Despite his passion for music, Smith says his first career path will be in physics — though he'd love to return one day and become a music teacher.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).