All-state band going all-out

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Everything is big about Hawai'i's first all-state band.

All-state band managing director John Riggle leads a Kamehameha Schools practice session for the Tournament of Roses Parade scheduled for New Year's Day in Pasadena, Calif. Front row, from left, Joshua Huihui, Sam Apuna, Blaine Cockett and Samson Souza. In back row, drum major Rickey Badua and Elizabeth Takamori, holding flag. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The band also has a big job ahead, not just coordinating practice sessions for that many students statewide, but raising money.

The idea for the band was hatched last year. The call for members went out in April so they could start practicing this month.

The student musicians, chosen from 40 schools, are geared up for the challenge. Several high schools are not represented, but John Riggle, managing director of the all-state band, hopes to remedy that.

The band members so far "have their music memorized, their spirits are up and they're doing very well," Riggle said.

They marched a solid mile at the first practice, he said, and "there were no whiners and no one dropped out."

The students are practicing and conditioning themselves for the 114th edition of the parade on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif. They'll march 5.5 miles before 1 million people along the route while as many as 300 million people watch the parade on television.

Schools not represented in the band include those on Lana'i and Moloka'i, but Riggle said he thinks he can still draft students from there to fill the spots and have almost all of Hawai'i's schools participating in the parade.

The band will have 173 woodwinds, 97 brass instruments, 55 drummers, and 60 dancers and flag color guards.

The O'ahu students held their first official practice two weeks ago, impressing Riggle with their commitment to the performance.

Students were practicing on their own during the summer, meeting in groups of up to 40 at a time, he said.

Band teachers are helping students during their lunch hour.

The only problem facing the band's members is that they don't have their uniforms yet. With each member responsible for raising the $1,040 necessary for his or her trip, Riggle hopes to persuade sponsors to step forward to pay for the uniform — aloha shirt and trousers estimated to cost $70 a set.

Applications for grants and letters of request have been sent out, but so far no one has responded, said Riggle, who is also the band director at Kamehameha Schools.

In the meantime, students are working hard to meet their obligations and they are excited.

They realize that without this statewide band, most would not have the opportunity to march in the Rose Parade because their schools are too small. Bands must have at least 150 members to qualify for the parade.

With 385 members, the Hawai'i band will be one of the parade's largest, said Jeannette Collier, parade participant coordinator. Another band will have 400 members, Collier said, but most bands average about 250. The largest bands in Rose Parade history had 500 members.

Elizabeth Tavares, a 15-year-old sophomore at Hilo High School, said she is excited about the opportunity to be part of something new and she's counting on the camaraderie of the four other Hilo band members who will join her in California.

Having never marched for five miles while playing her clarinet, Tavares said she knows she must get in condition and increase her breathing capacity. She started walking with her father and practices regularly with the other band members who are going to Pasadena.

"The hardest part will be getting synchronized as a group," she said. "Just getting in step with everyone, feeling the beat as a group and being able to match your volume and match your rhythm — it sounds easy, but it's not."

Tavares so far has raised about $400 at a jog-a-thon for her trip. Her family will also attend the parade but they will go early and spend Christmas with her grandmother in Las Vegas.

Judy Vincent of Kailua said her whole family will also travel to California to see son Peter march in the parade.

The students also will go to Disneyland and march there.

Peter Vincent, a sophomore at Damien Memorial High School who plays the French horn, will have to learn three songs for the parade. The school's band director is working with the five Damien players who are in the all-state band.

The Vincents and others on the trip will be taking pieces of Hawai'i to present as gifts to people on the Mainland. Pineapple, Lion Coffee and macadamia nuts are on the Vincents' list.

Riggle said he hopes to take items also to give away and will accept any donations from the community.

Vincent said she appreciates what Riggle has done for the band students of Hawai'i, who would never have had the opportunity if he and the other band directors had not volunteered to organize and raise funds to make this happen.

"Band teachers are like saints on earth," Vincent said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.