School blown away by reaction to 'Stairway to Heaven' cover

A school behind a viral performance of Led Zeppelin’s anthem Stairway to Heaven is "blown away" by all the support it’s received.

The cover version featuring more than 100 student musicians was the main event of the St Andrew’s College annual prize-giving in Christchurch last week.

The video has made local and international media, racking up 279,000 views and more than 8000 likes on the school’s Facebook page.

Lead guitarist Mia Fraser (Year 13) told AM Show it was an "incredible" and "humbling" experience but she was "really nervous".

"My brain was not functioning, so I kind of just let the muscle memory kick in," she told AM Show today.

At the helm of the performance were St Andrew’s College head of the music department Duncan Ferguson and music teacher Mark Hodgkinson.

Ferguson told TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning that the support has been a "little bit of a surprise at the moment".

"We never thought it would quite connect with people the way this has, which has been really gratifying."

Following all the online praise, the Christchurch school thanked all of those who shared, liked or commented on the video.

"We are truly overwhelmed and profoundly grateful for the incredible response that our video has garnered thus far," the school said in a Facebook post.

"It is an honour that you recognise the dedication and countless hours invested in creating this masterpiece."

Ferguson earlier told the New Zealand Herald that co-ordinating the band was "about a year-long process" but "wasn’t as hard as it seemed".

"The first time all the groups came together and heard it was just three days before the prize-giving where we had our final dress rehearsal," he said.

He admitted none of the students were that excited about the performance at the start of the year because "they were all quite young, and none of them listened to Led Zeppelin".

"But once they saw all the groups together, they suddenly caught the vision for it, and they then got quite excited," Ferguson said.

Stairway to Heaven was written in late 1971 by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and lead singer Robert Plant for their untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV).

The song is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.