From the Executive Director

Aloha mai kakou,

What a busy 2009!  The Friends take great pride in the presentation  of our gift of two new musical arrangements to the City and County of Honolulu and the Royal Hawaiian Band.   Late in 2008, Mike Baker, RHB trumpet section leader, approached me and asked if the Friends would be interested in commissioning some new music for the band, as there had not been any new commissions in more than a decade.  Mike sold me on the idea. When I presented the idea to the board, the directors approved it without hesitation, provide funding for the commissioning, and selected one of  Hawaii’s great musicians, Matt Catingub, to do the work. We truly hope you will be in town for the premiere performances. I will keep you up-to-date on the FRHB website about performance dates of these fantastic new works!

     We are also quite excited about our next project, Bring Back the Music, which continues our mission of supporting the Royal Hawaiian Band a well as the band programs of our schools. During the Martin Luther King holiday weekend of January 2010, the Friends with the enthusiastic support of the Hawaii Music Educators Association, will be collecting musical instruments across the island of Oahu for redistribution to needy music departments in our state’s Department of Education. Many people have musical instruments sitting around collecting dust in their closets and attics, and we have many music departments throughout our islands that do not have enough instruments for their students, who desperately want to make music. Our plan is to gather these instruments, collect enough donations to have the instruments repaired at our local music stores, and distribute these instruments on a need basis. The project is not intended to take away business from our local music stores that sell instruments. Instead, we are looking to stimulate business through instrument repairs and sales of music books and accessories for the instruments we collect. In the near future, we hope to see an increase of students who will one day purchase brand-new instruments , maintain strong band programs, and produce musicians  who will be good enough to be a member of the RHB.. In an effort to spotlight this initiative, a group of bikers and I will be undertaking a three day bicycle tour of Oahu to raise awareness of this project and advocate the continued support of the Royal Hawaiian Band and the band program in our state.  Although the final route has yet to be determined, we hope to visit each major residential area of the island the weekend of January 16th, 17th, and 18th.  We will be stopping at a convenient location in each area, collecting donations, meeting with local band directors, talking to local politicians, and encouraging people to Bring Back the Music!

     As always, we can  only be successful  through  your continuing support. Being the optimist that I am, I think we are rounding the corner of this latest financial crisis. With our optimism, let us continue to support our visions and goals, and have the fortitude to proudly march through hard times, knowing that there is always “ light at the end of the tunnel.”       

Mahalo nui loa for your enduring kokua!

Musically yours,

Joseph M. Ruszkowski, Ph.D.