Students at Punahou School inspired by alumnus and President-elect Barack Obama's success hope to show their appreciation with a song.

    Punahou Band Prepares For Inauguration  

 

 

Students of the Punahou Band have been preparing for President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony.

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“;We want to do him proud,”; said Calla Chang, a sophomore with the Punahou School marching band.

Chang, a drum major, will conduct the band as it performs in the Presidential Inaugural Parade Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.

“;Having a person like that who actually grew up in Hawaii and came from our school is quite an inspiration to us,”; Chang said. “;You can be whatever you want to be and it doesn't matter what your background is as long as you have a lot of heart.”;

Obama is a 1979 graduate of Punahou.

Darin Au, Academy Music Department head, said the band will play “;Aloha Oe”; and two other songs in the parade.

“;It's Hawaii's way of saying 'farewell to thee until we meet again, Mr. Obama,'”; he said. “;We're truly honored that he is entering this new phase in his life.”;

The band also will play “;Men of Punahou”; and Brahms' Symphony No. 1.

Most of Punahou's marching band - 133 members - along with 17 Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps members and six varsity cheerleaders from the school will march in the parade.

They will depart Jan. 15 and spend six days in Washington - where it was 38 degrees yesterday - taking tours of museums and monuments before Inauguration Day.

Senior Tyler Matayoshi said he expects the band to be under the spotlight in the ceremony.

“;We're not only representing the school and the state, but to a certain extent, we're also representing Obama because he came from Punahou,”; he said.

Matayoshi, 18, a drum major, said he's looking forward to the sightseeing.

“;It's just awesome,”; said Jessica Yoshimi, 18, a senior drum major who also was with the school band when it marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade in 2007.

“;The veterans are all relieved that we don't have a 5-1/2-mile parade to march,”; she said, referring to the Rose Bowl parade. The inaugural parade is about 2 miles long.

“;We're all a little nervous because it's the inaugural parade, the president-elect is from our state,”; she said. “;It's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.”;

Dozens of band members were on the field yesterday working on “;wheel turns”; for the parade route. Most of Hawaii's parades are straight, so the band hasn't used the technique since the Rose Bowl parade in 2007, said Brent Nagamine, 17, a senior and trombone player.

Nagamine, the horn sergeant who wore a white cowboy hat, watched his band members run through the drill.

Students seemed to worry most about the cold.

“;We're just talking to them about layering under their uniform,”; Au said. Some students bought plastic mouthpieces so their lips wouldn't stick to the brass ones in the cold, he said.

Punahou's marching band was selected to be in the parade out of nearly 1,400 applicants, Au said.

“;This is definitely huge,”; he said. “;It's on the national stage, maybe even international stage.”;