I entered Junior High School in September 1966. Junior High
School at that time was Grades 7 to 9.
One reason I was excited was Junior High School had Band
which we didn’t have in Elementary School. I wanted to learn to play the
Trumpet. I was so excited when I signed up for Band and I was accepted.
Our instructor was Mister Ono. He went around the classroom
and asked each student what instrument they were interested in. Although I told
him I was interested in the Trumpet he didn’t seem interested. You know I’ve
mentioned before when teachers or sports coaches don’t care what you are
interested in it causes you to lose interest.
Mister Ono separated our class up into major groups such as
Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, and Percussion. He then had each of us in the Brass
section to come up to the podium. He had numerous mouthpieces of various sizes
and he asked us to blow into each of them to try to make a sound. When I did
that Mister Ono decided that I should play the French Horn instead of the
Trumpet.
I protested telling Mister Ono that my desire was to play
the Trumpet. He told me you cannot have a Band or an Orchestra that consists of
only Trumpets, or only Violins, or only Drums.
I was disappointed I couldn’t play the Trumpet so I told
Mister Ono to let me play drums instead. He told me we already had 8 to 10
students who are in the Percussion section and he will not add me to that
group.
I spent that entire school year hating Band and hating
playing the French Horn. I’m not saying Mister Ono was wrong in what he did as
he was the Music Teacher. What I’m saying is if a student is strongly
interested in something they should be encouraged and not discouraged.
Due to the treatment I received from Mister Ono I never took
Band class again and I never learned to play any musical instrument.
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