By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Pearl City High School's trombone section squeezed in a final
practice session yesterday before leaving this morning to perform
at the Music Educators National Conference in Phoenix.
Pearl City
band will play at
national confab
The symphonic band left early today
By Debra Barayuga
to perform for music educators
meeting in Phoenix
Star-BulletinA Pearl City High School band is on the road again.
The 97-member symphonic band was one of several chosen from hundreds of bands across the nation to perform Friday at the Music Educators National Conference in Phoenix.
The band left early today and will return Sunday.
The last time a Hawaii band was invited to a Music Educators conference was 31 years ago, when one performed at a Western division regional conference.
Concert band members have been practicing at least three hours a day, including weekends, for the past four months in anticipation of the event.
"It's such a great honor to represent our state in this," said trombone player and band president Kevin Hirano, whose father played for McKinley High School's band in 1967 -- the year McKinley was invited to the Western division conference.
Joining Pearl City in its one-hour performance will be Allen Vizzutti, considered one of the best trumpet soloists, and guest conductor Col. John Bourgeois, retired director of the president's U.S. Marine Band.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Big instrument for a big-time performance.
Pearl City band director Mike Nakasone has been giving the students more difficult music to practice, Hirano said. "It's saying something that Nakasone trusts us and feels we can handle it, and hopefully it shows."Parent Doreen Higa said Nakasone, one of three band directors at Pearl City High, drives band members to excel. "He has high expectations of what performers should do and I think they rise to the challenge," she said.
Nakasone attributes the Pearl City band's success to Highlands Intermediate School band director Boniface Leong, who he said prepares students before they go on to play for the high school.
Higa said pursuing excellence in music has encouraged her son, Brandon, to put in as much effort into his other classes.
To raise funds, parents and students sold chicken, candy, telephone cards and vegetables at the Momilani School open market on Saturdays.
This is the second trip a Pearl City band has taken this year. In December, the marching band flew to Montgomery, Ala., to play during half-time at the Blue and Gray Classic, a nationally televised post-season football game.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Pearl City High School band takes a final
rehearsal before hitting the road.
