Congratulations to the Roosevelt High School Music Department, Mr. Gregg Abe, and Micah Masuno on receiving the 2014 Support Music Merit Award from the the NAMM Foundation.

CARLSBAD, Calif. , March 24, 2014--The NAMM Foundation awards school music education programs with the announcement of 2014’s Best Communities for Music Education (BCME).

This year, the NAMM Foundation designates 376 districts as Best Communities for Music Education and 96 individual schools as SupportMusic Merit Award winners. These districts and schools set the bar in offering students access to comprehensive music education.

The BCME program applauds the efforts of teachers, administrators, parents, students and community leaders working to assure that music education is part of the core curriculum. More than 2000 schools and school districts participated in this year’s survey resulting in a 21% increase in designations.

“These schools and districts make a strong commitment to music education in the core curriculum supporting its essential value to a well-rounded education for every child,” said Mary Luehrsen, NAMM Foundation executive director. “Strong, engaging programs that offer students access to music cannot thrive in a vacuum. The Best Communities designation and the SupportMusic Merit Award bring hard-won visibility to music classes, programs and departments that are keeping music education alive in our schools.”

FYI... Save the following dates.

Here are the dates for the upcoming marching band tournaments.

Nov. 1 - Kamehameha
Nov. 3 - Oahu Marching Festival
Nov. 8 - Kapolei
Nov. 10 - Rainbow (UH)
Nov. 15 - Mililani

The ALOHA Concert was simply MARVELOUS!!!! Everyone did a great job! Special thanks to the parents who donated the delicious baked goods!!! A shout out to the parent volunteers who worked the food booth, manned the doors, collected the money for the benefit concert, set up and cleaned up! We are lucky to have such dedicated parents!!! Thank you again to our super parents!!!

Thank you EVERYONE for a fantastic Aloha Concert! It was an awesome evening of spectacular music by the orchestras and bands! We also met Mr. Satoshi Yagisawa who flew in from Japan to hear the Symphonic Band play his piece, "Primavera." Also, our Carnegie Hall honors, Jamie Labrador and Sarah Wilson were featured soloists in the Symphony Orchestra. We will surely miss the 54 seniors who will be graduating!

If you missed purchasing a picture of the 2013-2014 orchestras and bands, you must turn in payment and your order form by tomorrow.

Video by Mel Labrador