Maui High School color guard, band members and even band director Kerry Wasano were surprised when they took first place in their division at the Kamehameha Schools Tournament of Bands competition Saturday night at Kamehameha's Kapalama campus on Oahu.
This is Maui High's second division win, the first coming in 2007. Maui High periodically enters the competition. No other Maui County high schools entered this year.
Contacted via phone on Oahu on Sunday afternoon, Wasano said that freshmen and sophomores make up half of his 113-member group. Considering their "lack of competition experience," he said he thought the contest would be more of a chance for them to learn.
"I expected it just to be more of a building block and a steppingstone. I didn't expect them to win their division," he said. "They are a very tough group. They fight."
The win comes with no monetary award, but the band received trophies and now has bragging rights as the best marching band and color guard in the state, among bands in the 73- to 120-student range. There also was a smaller and a larger division in Saturday's competition. A total of 18 bands participated.
In Maui High's division, the competition came from Radford, Iolani, Leilehua, Mililani and Kalani high schools. The Sabers received a score of 85.18 out of a possible 100.
"It's just amazing," said senior Lindsey Oyama, the band's drum line captain and band president. "I'm so glad we accomplished this much."
The Kihei resident said the group had its ups and downs, from dealing with personality differences to learning all the marching steps, which was hard with so many marchers.
"We ended up pulling through at the end," she said.
Oyama, who plays the snare drum, said her drum line began practicing for the competition last school year, and the color guard and other band members also spent countless hours practicing during the summer.
Oyama said she puts the time and effort into band because she likes being part of a "family."
"I wanted to do something in my high school years. I wanted to make something of myself. I think this is a great program to dedicate myself to. I just love music," she said.
For their entry, members of the group put on a show called "From Dusk to Dawn," which featured symphonic- and orchestral-type music, such as "New World" from the movie "Dancer in the Dark."
Wasano said the performance consisted of four parts: nightfall, darkness, moonlight and first light.
Those parts included flag color and some costume changes, said Junior Tarryn Nascimento, one of the color guard captains.
The Pukalani resident and the 18 other girls played night creatures and wore black capes during parts of the performance, swinging yellow flags at the end in the "first light" part of the presentation.
The color guard, too, practiced over the summer and for countless hours once school began.
Like Oyama, Nascimento loves what she does.
"The first time I joined the color guard, I just thought it would be something different and something fun. Then you put on the uniform and go into a show. Then you get a rush of adrenaline. You don't know how to handle it. You could laugh all night. It's such a natural high. It makes you proud. You are doing it with 19 other girls and the band. You folks are working on this one show," she said via phone from Oahu.
Wasano said the band was evaluated on seven criteria, which are listed below, followed by the band's placement, if any:
General effect (whole package), first.
Visual performance, (marching and maneuvering) first.
Color guard, first.
Music performance, second.
Drum major, third (drum majors: sophomore Lavinia Sagario and junior Jed Doronio).
Percussion, third.
Soloist.
Even though he, too, has devoted much of his time to practice and rehearsals with the band, Wasano said that as long as the students are happy to work, he's happy to help them.
He thanked his band boosters, including nine chaperones along with his five coaches.
"It's not a one-man show," he said. "We have people that help me out, to help the students."
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.
