Kalani High School senior Nickolas Ha is one of 16 trumpet players in the nation chosen to play in a select marching band at the Army All-American Bowl's halftime show in Texas on Jan. 3.

But he is not one to toot his own horn.

”;I didn't think my audition tape was that good,”; he said. “;It's pretty thrilling 'cause when you think about the chances (of being selected) ... I've never played on the mainland before. I'm excited. It puts me in a different environment, where I play with people from all over the nation of the same caliber—people who enjoy doing it and who want to do it.”;

The All-American Bowl, the Army's largest outreach program, honors 90 top senior football players and 97 outstanding musicians. The annual showdown between East and West teams, initiated in 2001, will be televised live on NBC from the San Antonio Alamodome at noon CST. Ha was presented with an official Army hat and jacket at a Kalani school assembly yesterday with local Army representatives, who are holding similar ceremonies at 160 schools.

Band director Dennis Kaneshiro nominated Ha, saying he was one of the best music students he has ever had in his 16 years of teaching at Kalani.

”;He really loves music and composes his own concert band music,”; Kaneshiro said. “;He's naturally talented and does a lot of hard work on his own. He takes private lessons on the side.”;

Ha said, “;It's a lot of work. Practice, practice, practice makes perfect.”;

Ha has been playing the trumpet since the sixth grade and is in Kalani's select Wind Ensemble and the marching band. He has been in the Hawaii Youth Symphony for four years, and credits in particular its director/conductor, Henry Miyamura, a music professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, with helping him “;to feel the music”; and inject emotion into his playing.

The multifaceted trumpeter wants to be a civil engineer, is president of the school's Interact Club (a community service group that helps the needy) and finds the time to golf.

Ha will be in Texas five days before the game for rehearsals because “;it takes that much work”; to synchronize so many people into a marching band.