{"id":287195,"date":"2018-10-23T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=287195"},"modified":"2018-10-23T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T20:00:00","slug":"teacher-nurtures-the-greening-of-mcs-music-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/teacher-nurtures-the-greening-of-mcs-music-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher nurtures the greening of MCS\u2019 music program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-287195 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/mcs-music-3\/'>MCS Music 3<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-287194'>\n\t\t\t\tMount Carmel School\u2019s Band gathers for a photo during one of their recent band practices. (MCS)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/mcs-music-2\/'>MCS Music 2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-287193'>\n\t\t\t\tMount Carmel School music program director Julian Greening, left, worked with the Saipan Winds Concert Band, conducted by Atsuko Eck, to put on the school\u2019s first public concert, the Spring Band Concert, which was held back in May.  (MCS)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/mcs-music-1\/'>MCS Music 1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-287192'>\n\t\t\t\tMount Carmel School music program director Julian Greening conducts the school\u2019s band during its first public concert, the Spring Band Concert, which was held back in May. (MCS)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>[embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pqPln_oKIg4&amp;width=500&amp;height=350[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n<p>When Julian Greening arrived on Saipan last year, he was eager to bring his passion for music to Mount Carmel School, which had committed to reviving its music program by hiring him.<\/p>\n<p>Greening came to the school with an extensive background in music\u2014a bachelor\u2019s degree in music education from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and the university\u2019s prestigious Music Talent Award. He went on to teach band and music at several schools throughout Japan, and has also performed around the world in dozens of musical productions, including Fiddler on the Roof, Singing in the Rain, and South Pacific. He also performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds, the principal conductor of the wind ensemble for the University of Southern California, and even performed with the alt-punk band Weezer during their 2008 North American tour.<\/p>\n<p>Greening said he was born and raised in Japan \u201cbut since music is a universal language, it helped connect with people when I studied in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since coming to the school, Greening has launched a rigorous program that includes classes and after-school practice almost every day of the week. The program includes students from the 5th grade to seniors, and even some faculty members. Through these classes and practices, Greening and the student musicians prepare for numerous performances, including the school\u2019s annual Christmas program and the Spring Band Concert. Greening is also working with the school\u2019s Theatre Club and local musicians to perform in the club\u2019s upcoming musical, Tasi.<\/p>\n<p>Greening\u2019s drive is having an impact on his students. Miyuki Takayama, currently a 7th grader at the school, began her music experiences last year after wanting to try something new. After joining the program, Takayama believes she gained insightful lessons such as learning to be committed to doing something you love. \u201cI learned to play something different even though it takes up a lot of my time, and I have fun with other members of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She recommends the music program for anyone interested in music and is patient enough to become committed.<\/p>\n<p>Another student of the music program, Eunkyu \u201cJoey\u201d Hong from 7th grade, is optimistic with expanding his musical skills. Though he had played the violin for years, Hong joined the program only last year to try woodwind instruments. \u201cIt was interesting to learn different kinds of music and exciting to play to get better at it.\u201d Hong looks forward to expanding his range of musical instruments by learning other types of music like percussion.<\/p>\n<p>Hong also is thankful that the program lets him bond with those of the same interest. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice that we can hang out with other groups of people with the same interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many look forward to the future of Mount Carmel School\u2019s music program. Jan Bobadilla, a senior and more experienced musician, is optimistic. \u201cI look forward to hearing the sound of our band develop, and I believe Mr. Greening can make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greening hopes to inspire more students to enjoy music and grow their talent. He hopes that students will receive the same exposure to music as he did, so that they may be inspired to delve into the study and practice of music. \u201cMusic is our universal language, so we can all learn how to speak it.\u201d <strong>(PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pqPln_oKIg4&amp;width=500&amp;height=350[\/embedyt] When Julian Greening arrived on Saipan last year, he was eager to bring&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[170,1181,1111,23081],"class_list":["post-287195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-life","tag-japan","tag-mcs","tag-mount-carmel-school","tag-music-talent-award"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}