Day Two

Our first show today was for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at Wilcox Elementary School. You can see it was quite a crowd, filling the entire cafeteria. We were able to find 5 adult-sized chairs and a microphone and that's all we needed to get the show going. An introduction by the school's very helpful and friendly Vice-Principal helped too.

When we perform for this age group we really try to emphasize the fun of playing an instrument and remind the students that they will soon have the opportunity to be in the middle school band. This kind of interaction can have an great impact on the numbers of students who enroll in band and that, in turn, will have an impact on them for many years to come.



Our second stop was at Kauai High School where we took time for this photo op. We had visited Kauai HS last spring and were delighted to have a student wind quintet perform for us! Those students have since graduated, but hopefully some others will also decide to give chamber music a shot. We always suggest it to band students. It's a great way for them to have some fun making music with their friends and develop their ensemble skills at the same time.



With our two school visits out of the way early we stopped by a local landmark for some lunch. Gaylord's Restaurant is located at the historic Kilohana Plantation, just outside of Lihue. It is a lovely place to enjoy a relaxing lunch. It was so relaxing we realized our plan to return to the hotel to rehearse for the afternoon was in jeopardy. With the permission of the manager and the owner, who was lunching at the same time, we set up in the enormous living room next to the restaurant and got some rehearsing done right there. it was a great room for chamber music, complete with grand piano. Maybe we'll be back to play there for a more formal event sometime.



Also on the plantation is an old sugar cane train and a horse and carriage that offer rides to visitors. We met the horse, Buddy, a sturdy Clysdale who had a taste for raw sugar from Jim's hand. The driver turned out to be a horn player from the community band that we had met Thursday night! Small world, huh?

Our evening had a little excitement too. Just as we were leaving the hotel to go to dinner the power went out. Hoping it was a local outage we headed up the road to Kapa'a only to find out that most of Kapa'a had power, except for Blossoming Lotus, the restaurant we really wanted to try. We tried to wait it outt, but ended up settling for something else. When we returned to the hotel the power was still off. Luckily there are lots of gas tiki torches around the grounds, so we hung out by the pool until the power was restored just in time for bedtime.

The Long, Arduous Journey

A twenty minute drive to Honolulu International Airport and less than 30 minutes flying time and we arrived on the beautiful "Garden Isle" of Kauai. Neighbor island travel is the best! No jet lag is one of the positives, but the fun of visiting an entirely different Hawaii island is the best part. Each island has it's own personality and feel and the vibe on Kauai is very relaxed and friendly.

We stopped in at the Tip Top Restaurant for a quick breakfast and then headed straight to our first engagement at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. It has to be one of the nicest school campuses in the state with palm trees in the courtyards and beautiful new classrooms. The band room is immaculate and ably staffed by Jon Stern and Nina Saraos. We performed a variety of pieces for the band students including our new piece by Keola Beamer Nani Ha'upu. Marsha gets chicken skin when we play it so close to the Ha'upu mountain range that looms over Lihue. Ha'upu peak is visible from just about anywhere in town. It is a dramatic formation and you can see it is thought of as a very sacred and spiritual place. We really hope our audience on Saturday night will feel the magic as well.


The Ha'upu mountain range and Ha'upu Peak

On the way to Kapa'a High School we stopped at Blossoming Lotus for lunch. It's a fairly new vegan restaurant in Kapa'a and is Hawaii's first and only certified "green" restaurant. Our timing was not so good though. The main restaurant was closed for a speech by the wife of Dennis Kucinich. Who knew we were going to run into the Presidental campaign in Kapa'a? Luckily, Blossoming Lotus also has a coffee shop down the street where we had a very tasty and healthy lunch.

The Kapa'a High School kids were another group of very friendly and interesting students. We really enjoy interacting with these young musicians who are really just starting out on what could become a lifelong involvement in music. We always encourage them to attend our concerts and to try forming their own chamber music ensembles. Both are a great way to enhance their band experience and love of music.

Preparations

We are busy rehearsing our concert program and finalizing travel details. The preparations are always exciting, whether we are going around the world or to a neighbor island.

Last Spring the SWQ visited Kauai for one day to perform at some schools in the Lihue area, but it's been a long time since we performed a concert on Kauai and we are looking forward to renewing friendships and making new ones. Two of us (Marsha and Jim) last performed on Kauai when the Honolulu Symphony visited immediately after Hurricane Iniki. It was a memorable time and all of us have visited for vacation many times since.

We are especially excited about performing a few pieces by Hawaii composers. Allen Trubitt's Spring Wind was written for us about 20 years ago and we programmed it on our New York and Norway Tour in 2005. We will also perform a portion of a piece Keola Beamer wrote for kiho alu (slack key guitar) and wind quintet. Keola can't join us for this concert, but we have a version we can do with the five winds. The movement we will do is called Nani Ha`upu after a mountain near Lihue. So we're looking forward to playing it for our Kauai audience within sight of Ha`upu itself.

Stay tuned for more about our tour to Kauai!