‘ELE‘ELE — Aunty Janet Kahalekomo’s friend is named “uku-lele” and provided music when John Cruz and Jason O’Rourke arrived at ‘Ele‘ele School yesterday. There was a tune for students leaving for the day, there was a tune for round singing.
‘ELE‘ELE — Aunty Janet Kahalekomo’s friend is named “uku-lele” and provided music when John Cruz and Jason O’Rourke arrived at ‘Ele‘ele School yesterday.
There was a tune for students leaving for the day, there was a tune for round singing. There was an English tune and there was a Hawaiian tune.
Cruz, a Na Hoku award-winning musician, appeared as the spokesman for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation which, along with Sprint Hawai‘i, represented by O’Rourke, provided 20 premium Tangi ‘ukulele to the school.
An impromptu concert by Cruz had students mesmerized with the slack key style of guitar playing and the words of some familiar tunes like “Opihi Man” had the students following along.
The ‘ukulele presentation is part of a program to promote Hawaiian music education in public elementary schools, and the presentation by Sprint is the first one to be done on Kaua‘i.
Dr. Leila Nitta, principal of ‘Ele‘ele School, said the 20 ‘ukulele will be under the direction of Kahalekomo who heads up the Hawaiiana instruction at the school and is one of the spearheads for the cultural programs such as May Day.
“We’ve done presentations to schools on O‘ahu and Maui, but this is the first one on Kaua‘i, and we’re currently working with a school on the Big Island,” O’Rourke said.
The program is part of a larger community relations initiative launched in May 2008 by Sprint Hawai‘i and Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to donate instruments to music education programs in Hawai‘i.
“There is a need-based
portion of the program,” O’Rourke said. “And, the school needs to have a music program in order to qualify.”
‘Ele‘ele School has a two-stage music program where Kahalekomo works with students in the lower grades and another music instructor works with students in the upper grades, Nitta said.
Funding for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation is based on a portion of the profit from every Sprint activation and phone upgrade of a qualified music phone.
Additionally, O’Rourke said when customers download music from the Mountain Apple catalog, a portion of the profit will be donated to the program.
The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation donates new and refurbished musical instruments to underserved schools, community music programs and individual students nationwide in an effort to give youngsters the many benefits of music education, help them to be better students and inspire creativity and expression through music.
This is made possible because of the financial and in-kind support of concerned and motivated music lovers, and to date, more than 500,000 young students have new opportunities and experiences available to them, states a press release from Hawai‘i Pacific Entertainment.
In 11 years, the MHO Foundation has helped 807 music programs and many individual students in addition to 103 schools in six states affected by Hurricane Katrina.
