They are only in Year 5 and Year 6, but Arthur Langmead and Ruby Rowland did the Ridge proud on a winter visit to the coast, playing superb sax and trumpet on ABC Statewide.

Keeping the brass section honest on the snare drums were talented Year 8 student Jaymee Lohse and music teacher Lucas Schembri.

The Lightning Ridge Central School band delighted ABC Newcastle studio staff, who recorded them performing the Lipps Inc track Funkytown.

Back home in the Ridge, the whole school listened to the broadcast on the PA system.

Mr Schembri told presenter Paul Turton and listeners his students had enjoyed a visit last year from the Hunter School of the Performing Arts and wanted to return the favour.

“The most important thing for music in Lightning Ridge is how it is connected to the community,” Mr Schembri told ABC listeners.

“We perform at functions and street fairs in the Ridge and have a comprehensive music program from within the classroom, Kinder to Year 12, to outside the classroom, with our extra-curricular program.”

Three music ensembles also attended a performance in Newcastle of the Starstruck spectacular and performed at the performing arts school on Monday.

On their way to the coast, they also stopped to perform in Tamworth.

Trumpeter Levi Benjamin and trombonist Ryder Fernando loved watching “friends perform in the PEP** band” and was excited to see Starstruck.

“Their (PEP band) songs are really catchy,” he said.

Drummer Jaymee Lohse will never forget performing Seven Nation Army in the PEP band and visiting Hunter Performing Arts High School.

Mary Boehm enjoyed playing glockenspiel on Pirates of the Caribbean in the concert band, snare drum in the PEP band, and performing at the high school.

Ava McBride relished the chance to perform in her first concert, playing flute and singing, and also loved visiting the high school.

June Langmead enjoyed playing flute in Pirates of the Caribbean.

“It was our first proper concert away from Lightning Ridge,” she said.

Principal Richard Finter thanked Mr Schembri and teachers Rebecca Carter and Damien Flaherty, who accompanied the tour, for their efforts and said the music program at Lightning Ridge had been “transformative for many of our students”.

**A pep band is a musical ensemble, often composed of students from a larger marching or concert band, that performs at sporting events and pep rallies to create energy and enthusiasm. They typically play upbeat, popular music and are known for their high-energy performances.