Boys and Girls Club - Oahu, Hawaii
February 19, 2009The Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring Hawaii's youth to become responsible citizens. The Hawaii Youth Symphony organized this visit and several of the kids from the symphony itself attended this workshop. Thank you to Selena Ching (Executive Director at HYS) for this opportunity. HYS is Hawaii’s only statewide orchestra program for youth.
Each year, HYS serves approximately 600 students, ages 8-18, from nearly 100 schools on different islands. The kids ranged in ages as well as experience level, however, they were all able to learn a lot from Jake who talked to them about creating music and the components of a song.
Jake truly knows how to communicate with the kids and brought the necessary energy to keep up with all of them. As soon as he pulled out his ukulele, they were excited and already started shouting out requests. They really wanted a hana hou of his crazy fast “Crazy G” which he had played earlier for them. When Jake demonstrated the different styles of music that could be played on the ukulele, the kids were on the edge of their seats and giggling in awe. He even chose some volunteers who were thrilled to be able to play Jake’s ukulele. Jake also brought a metronome and taught them how to follow the tempo and rhythm. Then he educated them on melody. He would play random tunes and have them guess what he was playing.
The kids enjoyed being so involved and were able to learn the importance of melody in a musical piece. Then from the melody, Jake added chords to complete the song. Jake would joke around with the kids and was even able to make them laugh with his playing. He asked some of them what they did for fun and what their hobbies were and then encouraged all of them to find their passion and to focus all their energy into it and just do what they love.
All in all, his golden advice was to study hard, think about their passion, focus on that passion, and say no to drugs. Jake’s been completely drug free in his long 32 years of existence and is a genuine role model to these children. He ended with a request of “Going to California,” and while he was playing he mesmerized everyone; even the youngest of children were silent and stared in amazement.
Afterwards, he had sing-a-long and jam sessions with some of the kids who were ecstatic to be able to play alongside Jake. Everyone was so appreciative to him for coming out with his busy schedule and spending so much time with them. Mahalo again to Selena Ching from the HYS for coordinating this event.