Aiea Elementary School - Oahu, Hawaii
May 08, 2009Aiea Elementary School, “where dreams begin”, had two sessions set up for Jake. Thank you to Jo-Ann Ishida (Aiea Elementary School’s librarian) for arranging this school visit and your hospitality. The first group that came in were the 5th graders who were certainly energetic and all introduced themselves to Jake when they entered. Jake took a survey of how music makes them feel and most replied that music makes them feel happy. He told them that when one person is happy, others around that person will feel that happy energy and they in turn will also be happy. Your emotions are like a ripple effect and others are able to feel what you are feeling so it is important to always stay positive.
Jake then played “Let’s Dance” and then got a flood of requests from the students. One of the requests was for Jason Mraz’s song “I’m Yours”, which needs a singing accompaniment and Jake doesn’t usually sing. Therefore he asked some volunteers to come up and lead the group in the song. Two boys came up to sing and subsequently the rest of the students joined in, singing, clapping and swaying to the beat. When the assembly ended, the kids all wanted to talk to Jake but the next group was about to enter and the teachers had to drag the kids out.
For the second group that consisted of 6th graders, Jake played “Orange World”. Once again this opened the doors for a swamp of requests. The students again wanted to hear “I’m Yours” so Jake demonstrated how to arrange the song. He started out with the basic chords, next added the appropriate rhythm, and then added the melody, which he again needed volunteer for. Three girls were volunteered for the role and led the class in an immense sing-a-long session.
The children kept shouting out requests but Jake only had time for one more. The students were torn between whether they wanted a fast or slow song so Jake compromised and ended with “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which starts slow then is fast at the end. Jake reminded all the kids to serve their community and stay away from drugs because they don’t need them for any reason whatsoever. Again, mahalo Jo-Ann for this opportunity!
