My brother Rodney was a great musician. He started playing the trombone at Hilo Intermediate School and joined the Hawaii County Band while he was still at Hilo High.
He was in County Band for over 50 years, taking a break only when he went to Oregon for college, graduated then taught on Kauai for a year. But once back in Hilo, he and his baroque instrument were fixtures in parades around the island and at concerts at Mo‘oheau Bandstand.
With fellow trombonist Wendell Leite, the two were not only the most senior members of the band but the most kolohe, entertaining one another and others with jokes and side comments.
Both esteemed trombonists are gone now, with the island and the world worse off for their absence.
With my brother’s innate ear for music and my lack thereof, our parents decided, wisely or not, that I should be the one to take piano lessons. Over time, I studied with Miss Yokoyama, Miss Tanaka and Mrs. Kunitomo, saintly teachers who patiently endured my musical ineptitude. I grudgingly put in the requisite practice every day and everyone was relieved when my half hour was up. Still, I’m glad I learned to read music, play an instrument and even today, I can pound out For Elise on my electronic Yamaha. Just don’t ask me to play at your wedding.
When I was growing up, students at Waiakea schools were taught ‘ukulele. Later, when arriving across town in Hilo, they wowed us non-Waiakea students with their plucking and strumming.
It was genius to build ‘ukulele into the curriculum. First of all, most families had one sitting around the house. Second, students could learn to read music with familiar songs so it quickly came together, unlike me and the Well-Tempered Clavichord. (What’s a clavichord?) And finally, practicing ‘ukulele is easy on the ears, whereas our hapless neighbors had to endure my daily haphazard piano stylings.
How many people can read music these days? Fewer and fewer is my guess, but allow me to remind school administrators and parents, of all that is gained by music and art instruction which in my opinion, is as important as reading, writing, math and science.
Take music. Teaching students to read notes promotes learning in immeasurable ways. First of all, musical passages are connected to an aural image or story, so learners are employing eyes, ears and brain. They are applying these notes to an instrument, so it is tactile, using fingers, mouth, arms and feet. And finally, music can move the heart, evoking a range of responses from electrifying excitement to unexpected tears.
What other learning involves emotions, the senses and the brain, all at the same time?
My brother knew this because he taught music in elementary and middle schools, later traveling around the island as a music resource teacher. But due to budget cuts, he was teaching other subjects by the time he retired after three decades. His classes were popular because of his hilarious joke- and story- telling and even years after his retirement, he often ran into former students who recounted back to him their favorite Mr. Wong story.
I lack musical talent but share my brother’s passion for music. He left our planet four years ago this month and I think of him every day. While I can neither play an instrument nor sing without the animals running for cover, I can advocate for more art and music instruction, especially in this day and age when kids are glued to small, flat screens.
He would agree.
Rochelle delaCruz was born in Hilo, graduated from Hilo High School, then left to go to college. After teaching for 30 years in Seattle, Wash., she retired and returned home to Hawaii. She welcomes your comments at rainysideview@gmail.com. Her column appears every other Monday.