Honorable Mention
Punahou student devoted to double bass

Punahou School student Shawn Conley, called a "phenomenal player" at age 18, performs at the Kailua Starbucks. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Shawn C. Conley Age: 18 Hometown: Nu‘uanu Position: senior at Punahou School and double bassist Accomplishment: named the Southwest Division winner in the Music Teachers National Association High School Strings Competition in January Quote: "I’m getting to cut my orchestra chops (playing with the Honolulu Symphony). It’s cool because not that many people get a chance to do that. I’m really lucky."

7:06 p.m. Saturday night.

Many 18-year-olds are standing in line for the 7:30 p.m. movie or wrapping up an afternoon at the mall.

Not Shawn Conley.

He’s studying. But not analytical geometry or 16th-century British literature.

Conley is perfecting his craft, one that he hopes he can swing into a career.

Sure, it seems as though he’s enjoying himself. And he is. But performing with a pick-up jazz band at Starbucks in Kailua is all about honing his skills on the double bass.

"It makes me improvise," said Conley about playing jazz, though he’s classically trained. "It forces me to use my ear a lot. In classical, I can get away with not knowing music theory. But in jazz, I need to know music theory and chord structure. So classical music makes so much more sense."

No doubt the extra experience has helped him.

In January, Conley was named the Southwest Division winner in the Music Teachers National Association High School Strings Competition. Next month, he will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete as a national finalist for money and the chance to perform on National Public Radio’s "From the Top," a program that showcases talented young musicians.

He will be the only representative from Hawai‘i, and the only participant on a double bass. A 30-minute bass solo - three pieces ranging from baroque to modern - will set him apart from the rest of the strings, drowning violins and cellos with the boom of his bass.

That’s why he chose the double bass in the first place.

"I liked its low sound, how big it was and how it vibrated like crazy," he said, grinning.

Love at first sight

Conley fell in love with the double bass in the fifth grade at Punahou.

Invited by the orchestra teacher to play with the instruments - and skip class - in an attempt to recruit students, Conley and his friends took up the offer.

"It was actually peer pressure," said Conley, who wanted to chase the romantic notion of playing the saxophone in a jazz band.

Instead, he wound up finding a fire that burned within, there, leaning against the back wall.

"He saw it and that was it," said his mother, Nancy. "Before that, he wasn’t really interested. And then I asked him what was it about the bass that he liked and how he knew right away. He said because it was so cool. That’s what he always said. There wasn’t anything else to say."

Beyond practicing all the time, without being reminded, Conley started listening to music, reading about music, talking about music.

"We hear him practicing at 2 a.m.," Nancy Conley said with a laugh. "I never thought I’d have a child who we’d have to tell, ‘Stop practicing and go to bed.’"

His desire to learn more made his parents realize this wasn’t just a hobby for him.

"The neatest thing about his progress is that he really thought about what he needed to do to get better and advance in this," said Nancy Conley, a 49-year-old librarian at The Contemporary Museum. "Not only does he practice a lot, but he listens to all kinds of music. That was something different and impressive. He didn’t discount anything. Classical, jazz, blues - anything he could learn from."

Supporting roles

Nancy and her husband, Herbert, allowed their son to chase his dream. It wasn’t easy, or cheap, but they did it.

They drove him to expensive private lessons, to concerts, to gigs. Everywhere they went, Shawn would talk with other musicians, ask questions, listen, learn.

"He’s a sponge," Nancy Conley said. "He asks good questions and soaks up information."

Now, 18 and armed with a driver’s license and a key to his dad’s Toyota Land Cruiser, Shawn Conley is able to drive himself to his usual gigs at Starbucks, Studio 6 and his latest stint with the Hono-lulu Symphony. Lugging around the 40-pound, $7,000 instrument to each job is well worth the effort. His connections and practice have made Conley a sought-after musician.

"He’s a phenomenal player," said Chris Yeh, a 30-year-old lawyer by day, saxophonist by night, who invited Conley to play in the pick-up gig at Starbucks. "He’s extremely mature. He’s got big ears. He listens well, and that’s the whole point of jazz."

A calling

Several coffee-toting patrons arranged themselves in viewing position in the dimly lit Starbucks.

As Conley, neatly dressed in a slate, collared shirt topped with a vest and finished in shiny shoes, tuned his double bass, it was hard to imagine he used to be hard-core about basketball and religiously surfed twice a day. No long bleached hair, no suntan, no sloppy duds.

Yeh nodded his head toward Conley, and the lively musical dialogue began. Conley plucked the strings with his long fingers, all the time feeling the music in his body.

His lean 6-foot frame made a smooth line with the instrument. He swayed as he played, holding the bass like a longtime dance partner.

All the years spent playing in Punahou’s school symphony orchestra or taking lessons from George Wellington Sr. or winning competitions could never have led Conley to this place in his music.

He has found what so many people have spent years searching for: passion.

"This is such a passion for him that I see no reason or way to dissuade him," Nancy Conley said. "It’s definitely his calling."

Do you know someone who has won an award, given of himself or herself, or accomplished other great things? The ‘Ohana section profiles remarkable people every week. Write: Honorable Mention, ‘Ohana Section, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; e-mail ohana@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 535-8170.

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