Upcoming Hanasaki band homestays: A blend of music and culture
In late November, Aragon High School will be visited by students from Hanasaki High School in Tokyo, Japan. Hanasaki students will be joining Aragon band students in homestays and will be participating in a band exchange.
This has all been made possible by the Bravo Music publishing company of Florida. Both schools, though very different, are acquainted with the publishing company. Since Hanasaki High School periodically goes out advertising the company’s music on sponsored tours, Bravo Music contacted Aragon band director Troy Davis in order to organize a collaborative event.
Their tour will start in Seattle and they will work their way to to Aragon from November 22 through November 25. The Hanasaki musicians will meet their host family on the night of Monday, November 22. Hosting students are volunteers chosen from Aragon’s jazz ensemble, wind ensemble, and symphonic band. Each of Aragon’s 22 host families will be taking two Hanasaki students.
The host family will house the students and give them a taste of American culture until they depart on Thursday, November 25.
The band exchange will take place throughout the morning of Tuesday the 23. Musicians from all the bands will get to show off their music to one another. The Hanasaki band will visit and practice with concert band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, and jazz ensemble. Then, the Hanasaki students leave to visit San Francisco for the afternoon.
On Tuesday night after their return, the students from Hanasaki will be performing in a joint concert with Aragon’s wind ensemble. Aragon will start off the concert, playing music by composers Aaron Copland, Dmitri Shostakovich, Johannes Brahms, as well as some holiday tunes.
Junior Patrick Garcialuna understands the difficulty the students will have with their limited English because his dad is from a foreign country. To prepare, he has thought about how to help the students so that they understand what will be happening. “They learn from us and we learn from them. Both cultures can get together for a win-win situation,” says Garcialuna.
Junior Paul Chen volunteered in order to practice Japanese, his second language. Along with showing off his musical skills, he will get a chance to take his second language a step further by experiencing its culture firsthand. Chen says, “I want to talk to different people and learn something from watching them play.”
In the past, Aragon has participated in many events and competitions with bands locally and globally. In 2008, the music department toured China and had a performance exchange with another school, but has never participated in homestays. Davis says, “The China Tour was an enriched experience and made me realize why we did this: for social and musical benefits.”Davis also believes this is a great opportunity for his students to practice nonverbal communication. “Music is a foreign language,” reads a poster in the Aragon band room; students can use it to express themselves without words. Davis feels extremely excited about this first-time opportunity to share music and culture, saying, “It’s always great to experience new people and places through music to open your eyes.”
The music department has high hopes for this exchange and the benefits for Aragon as well. It will continue promoting new musical opportunities, including an international tour in 2012. The joint concert will be free of charge, featuring Aragon’s own Wind Ensemble and Hanasaki High School’s band at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 23 in the Aragon Theater.
