The Maui High School Saber Marching Band and Color Guard picked up five first-place wins but not the top prize in a prestigious competition held Saturday on Oahu.
"I am very happy with the way they did," band director Kerry Wasano said Sunday in a telephone interview from Honolulu. "It was their best performance of the season by far."
In 2007, as the only Neighbor Island team at the Kamehameha Schools Tournament of Bands held on at the Kapalama Campus, Maui High was crowned the overall winner of the AA Division.
The team returned again as the only Neighbor Island entry, challenging groups from Kalani (the eventual AA Division winner), Roosevelt, Leilehua and Farrington high schools.
Saturday's competition featured just under 20 high school marching bands in three divisions divided by band size. One division is for small bands with as many as 30 musicians. Another takes in bands with as many as 100 members, and the third division is for large bands with contingents of as many as 220 players.
The 2008 Maui High group had 89 students competing.
Their first-place wins included:
* Drum Major led by senior Marvin Rumbaua and junior Megan Wakayama.
* Percussion led by captains James Sato, a senior, and Preston Jones, a junior.
* Color Guard led by captains Hannah Simmons, a senior, and Kairi Hanta, a junior.
* Marching and Maneuvering.
* General Effect.
Kalani High School took the overall division prize as well as first place for Music Performance. Maui High was second in Music Performance.
Maui High also improved its overall festival rating from "excellent" in 2007 to "superior" in 2008.
Wasano said his students had to stand to attention as category wins were announced, but they were so ecstatic about all of their achievements, "They could barely contain themselves."
Today the band remains on Oahu to participate in an exhibition at the University of Hawaii Rainbow Invitational Marching Band Festival at Aloha Stadium.
They had been rehearsing for Saturday's competition since June with weekly practices and then two marching camps in July.
Regular rehearsals were scheduled when school opened in late July. First, band players met twice a week, and by September the musicians were meeting up to 10 hours a week.
Their 81/2-minute show piece was titled "Ichi-Go, Ichi-E: One Encounter, One Opportunity." The Japanese-themed music featured a compilation of modern music written by Japanese composers and based on the folk song "Sunayama."
Wasano collaborated with music writer Todd Schultz of the Chicago area for months to come up with the music they eventually chose for the students to perform. Financial support from the Maui High School Band Booster club helped to bring Schultz to the island in July to work as a brass clinician with the students.
Wasano also collaborated with drill and visual designer Myron Rosander, a Drum Corps International writer for marching bands. Rosander's design comprised 50-plus drill sets with Wasano relaying it to his band and color guard via computer.
In regard to the Color Guard, Wasano had five instructors from Oahu including Robert King, Naomi Morita, Edlyn Watabayashi, Elizabeth Taka-mori and Marisa Toro. The instructors visited Maui once a month beginning in May to teach choreography and equipment. They also taught the Kamehameha School Kapalama Color Guard.
The Maui High Color Guard adviser is Dayle Hanta, a Waihee Elementary School counselor, who has been with the program since 2003.
Percussion has been practicing once a week since February. Maui High alumni Ryan Howe, Allan Failano and James Nagata have been coaching the group.
* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@ mauinews.com.
