Oregon-Japan HS band exchange turns 20 in Bend

Over 20 years ago, a Rotary exchange student returning from a year of schooling in Matsudo, Japan proposed to his band teacher that he invite the school band from the high school he attended in Japan to come to Oregon and perform a joint concert. After two years of communications, the invitation was accepted and a program of friendship and music began. That was in 1996 in Molalla, Oregon.

Today, the program continues now hosted by Mt. View High School in Bend. This year marks the 20 th year of concerts between high school bands from Oregon (Molalla High School; Summit and Mt. View high schools in Bend) and Japan, from 1996 through 2015.

In all of that time, the program was only canceled once – due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, which damaged the concert hall and forced the postponement of the Mt. View High School Band’s trip to Japan until 2012. With the trip canceled, the Mt. View Band performed a benefit concert to raise money for disaster relief.

More than 1,000 band students from both countries and their families have benefited from this program over the past 20 years. The students travel, in alternating years, to be hosted by the families of their counterparts in Oregon or Matsudo, Japan.

The friendships that have formed between the students have lasted a lifetime. Indeed, this summer two alumni of this program from the early 2000s (one from Japan and one from Oregon) will be married in Bend.

The 20 th Exchange Joint Concert will be held at Mt. View High School on Saturday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free. The concert will feature the Mt. View High School Wind Ensemble and the Kogane High School Wind Ensemble from Matsudo, Japan. The final portion of the concert will feature the two groups combined, along with alumni of the exchange program that have participated over the past 20 years. Some have come from as far away as Japan and Georgia to participate in this special event.

The band teacher that issued the original invitation is Bend native Brian Seed. Although he retired from teaching in 2005 due to rheumatoid arthritis, he has continued to assist annually with planning and cultural orientation sessions.

The exchange was hosted by Molalla High School in Molalla, Oregon from 1996 through 2001. Seed returned to Bend when he was hired as the original band director at Summit High School and brought the program with him. It was hosted there from 2002 through 2006.

When Seed retired, the program moved to Mt. View High School under the direction of Ted Burton, where it has continued to flourish.

2015 Exchange Schedule:

March 24, 2015: Kogane Band members arrive at Redmond Airport between 5:45 and 6:30 p.m. (on two flights), traveling to Mt. View High School by bus after arrival to meet host families.

March 25, 2015: A rehearsal and Welcome Party will be held at Mt. View High School

March 26, 2015: Band members will enjoy tubing at Mt. Bachelor in the morning, then spend the rest of the day with their host families.

March 27, 2015: The bands with alumni will rehearse during the day at Mt. View High School.

March 28, 2015: The bands with alumni will rehearse during the day at Mt. View High School. The 20 th Joint Concert will be held at Mt. View High School at 7:00 p.m.

March 29, 2015: Band members will spend this day with their host families. A party for exchange alumni will be held at Mr. Seed’s home in the afternoon.

March 30, 2015: The bands will perform a concert for Mt. View High School, spend the afternoon together and hold a Farewell Party in the evening.

March 31, 2015: The Kogane High School Band will depart from Redmond Airport in the early morning hours.

A complete listing of the Exchange by year follows:

1996 OREGON: Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed – Director; Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa, Mr. Hiroyuki Takenaka and Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Directors. Highlights: First exchange. Molalla severely damaged by flooding prior to the exchange taking place. Concert had to be held in a local church due to the lack of a performance facility.

1997 JAPAN: Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Directors; Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed – Director. Highlights: First exchange in Japan. Bands perform “The Stars and Stripes Forever” together for the first time – this would become the traditional closing piece for every exchange concert since. The “Hands Across The Sea” logo for the exchange is debuted, having been created by one of the Matsudo band students. The students and staff visit Kamakura, the ancient seat of the Japanese Shogun.

1998 OREGON: Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed – Director; Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa and Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Directors. Highlights: After performing the joint concert in Molalla, both bands traveled to Disneyland in California to perform there.

1999 JAPAN: Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa and Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Directors; Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed – Director. Highlights: Molalla and Matsudo Bands hold a joint performance in Tokyo Disneyland Park.

2000 OREGON: Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed – Director; Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa and Mrs Keiko Higurashi – Directors. Highlights: A special performance by the Mike Vax Quintet featuring alumni of the Stan Kenton Orchestra was featured on the evening prior to the Joint Concert. Mr. Mike Vax then served as guest soloist with the combined bands on the Joint Concert the following evening.

2001 JAPAN: Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa and Mrs. Keiko Higurashi, Directors; Molalla High School Band, Mr. Brian Seed, Director. Highlights: Last exchange for Molalla High School and Mr. Hirakawa. The Molalla High School Jazz Band performed several special concerts for Japanese music students from other schools marking the first time the school’s jazz band performed in Japan.

2002 OREGON: Summit High School Summit Winds, Mr. Brian Seed – Director; Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: First Joint Concert in Bend. Exchange nearly cancelled due to fallout from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Then-Governor John Kitzhaber wrote a personal letter to Matsudo Municipal High School stating Oregon was a safe place to visit.

2003 JAPAN: Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director; Summit High School Summit Winds, Mr. Brian Seed – Director. Highlights: Trip nearly cancelled due to outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Iraq just days before the trip began. Despite heightened security, the exchange was completed without incident. At the Joint Concert, the combined bands performed Carmen Dragon’s arrangement of “America The Beautiful.” First trip to Japan by the Summit Band.

2004 OREGON: Summit High School Summit Winds, Mr. Brian Seed – Director; Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: As a special event the night after the Joint Concert, the Summit Band in partnership with the Cascade Festival of Music hosted a concert by the World Famous Count Basie Orchestra to the delight of the students from both bands. The Japanese students got to experience Central Oregon snow for the first time as the groups enjoyed tubing at Mt. Bachelor, which has no become a tradition on every trip to Oregon.

2005 JAPAN: Matsudo Municipal High School Band, Mr. Yoichi Ito – Director (assisted by Mrs. Keiko Higurashi); Summit High School Summit Winds, Mr. Brian Seed – Director. Highlights: Summit Swing Orchestra performs “Sing Sing Sing” featuring hula hoop champion Vanessa Morell (a member of Summit Winds). The students and staff travel to Kamakura, the ancient seat of the Japanese Shogun. Mr. Seed’s last exchange as Summit director.

2006 OREGON: Summit High School Summit Winds, Mr. Tom Barber – Director (assisted by Mr. Brian Seed); Combined Matsudo Municipal and Kogane High School Bands, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: This 10 th Anniversary Joint Concert was the last for Summit High School and Matsudo Municipal High School students.

2007 JAPAN: Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director; Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director. Highlights: First exchange hosted exclusively by Kogane High School, first exchange for Mt. View High School. Joint Concert featured the bands “singing” the “William Tell Overture.” Several Mt. View students perform alongside a Kogane band student at a special live music event.

2008 OREGON: Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director; Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: First exchange hosted by Mt. View High School. An evening bonfire is adopted as a tradition for all future Oregon visits.

2009 JAPAN: Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director; Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director. Highlights: A visit to Tokyo Disneyland, which had been a tradition on every Japan exchange, is enhanced by a visit to new Tokyo Disney Sea park.

2010 OREGON: Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director; Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: American composer and conductor Robert W. Smith comes to Bend and conducts the combined bands performing his music at the Joint Concert.

2011 JAPAN: Exchange and Joint Concert canceled due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Mt. View High School Band directed by Mr. Ted Burton and with guest soloist Dr. Burnett Dylan, performs the music slated for the Joint Concert in Bend to raise money for disaster relief.

2012 JAPAN: Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director; Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director. Highlights: Mt. View students were able to see some of the destruction and restoration from the earthquake and tsunami that had cancelled the exchange the year before.

2013 OREGON: Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director; Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: The Farewell Party for the exchange featured a friendly American Barbecue competition!

2014 JAPAN: Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director; Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director. Highlights: Two of the original directors, Mr. Tadaichiro Hirakawa and Mr. Hiroyuki Takenaka, attend the Joint Concert. Last concert in Japan with Mr. Burton as Mt. View director.

UPCOMING:

2015 OREGON: Mt. View High School Band, Mr. Ted Burton – Director; Kogane High School Band, Mrs. Keiko Higurashi – Director. Highlights: 20 th Joint Concert. Joint Concert to feature alumni from past exchanges from Molalla, Summit, Matsudo Municipal, Kogane and Mt. View high schools. Combined bands will perform favorite selections from past joint concerts.