The Kamehameha Schools Maui concert band participated in an immersive performance when they traveled to Anaheim, California, last week to attend an instrumental workshop at the Disney Imagination Campus.
Inside the recording studio, they worked with world-renowned industry experts to gain firsthand experience of what being a professional musician entails, as well as to learn about career opportunities in the field of studio music.
At the start of the session, students used official movie scores from Disney soundtracks and a pair of headphones. Working directly with professional musicians, they practiced working as an ensemble, gained insight into film and recording careers and improved their overall musical technique.
They were tasked with learning and playing “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Never Smile at a Crocodile,” and “Flight to Wakanda.”
Because they were sight-reading the pieces for the first time, students struggled to play at first, but the instructor provided excellent feedback, and they made immense progress in a short amount of time, improving their dynamic control, articulation, breath support and phrasing.
One of their first lessons was that all sounds derive from air, and using air correctly can lead to success. With wind instruments, for instance, musician can ease into the sound rather than blasting through the mouthpiece.
To help students overcome their fears of sight-reading, the instructor said to imagine themselves as someone they look up to. Musicians who wouldn’t consider themselves to be loud, for instance, should try to embody what it’s like to be loud
Students also deepened their understanding of dynamics when they were challenged with dynamic exercises. Later, these concepts were used in the songs they played, such as in “Never Smile at a Crocodile,” which is quiet at first but gradually gets louder to create a mood of suspense.
When it was time to record, students wore the headphones that acted as a metronome, playing a ticking sound to keep time. In the industry, this is known as a click track.
After it was all recorded, students watched movie scenes with their recordings inserted over the professional track.
“We got to see our own music in the movie, like it was us in the movie,” said junior trumpet player Kamahoi Manaois. “It was pretty cool.”
Seeing what it’s like to work behind the scenes on movies showed how the musician’s job is to convey emotion and create sound to make a movie come alive.
“I want to major in sound production, so this experience was very inspiring,” said Charlene Vierra, a senior at Kamehameha Schools and the band president. “It was interesting to be able to be there at the recording studio and see what my job would maybe be like in the future.”
On Wednesday, prior to the studio workshop session on Thursday, students checked out the grounds of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, lunched at the Original Farmers Market and shopped at Universal City Walk. To finish the night, no visit to SoCal would be complete without a meal at In-N-Out Burger.
On that same day, they also went on an educational tour of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the organization that awards the Oscars, and students pretended to accept Oscars of their own in addition to exploring the many informative exhibits about film and Hollywood history.
One favorite activity was forming shapes and shadows with color at the Color Arcade, part of the current Chromatic Explorations of Cinema exhibit.
On Saturday, the group went on the Warner Brothers Studio VIP tour to learn about film and sound production. A highlight for everyone was posing on the Central Perk sofa from the television series Friends, but there were also lots of wow moments as students saw animation favorites, like Bugs Bunny, and got to peek behind the scenes at how the magic is made.
After that, it was off to the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater to see how their feet and hands matched with those of famous artists whose footprints and handprints are preserved in the cement slabs outside. This was followed by a stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame to the Dolby Theater.
Dinner that night at Fire + Ice was an exciting all-you-can-eat, create-your-own experience.
Between everything else, students squeezed in cold and rainy visits to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure theme parks.
On Sunday, the group packed up and flew back home, having learned a lot about sound production, movie making, and the importance of music in the industry and in their lives.
Accompanying them were their weary but proud chaperones.
“Music will always be a part of your life,” band teacher Mrs. Jess Eimen said. “It’s literally everywhere.”
