“There’s a lot of musical talent among the CNMI students but there’s a dearth of music teachers to train and nurture these talents,” said DeWitt, who was guest speaker of the Saipan Rotary Club which met at the Hyatt Regency yesterday.
He said he would have loved to extend his commitment to develop the musical ability of students in the CNMI but with over 120 members in his band, he can only do so much.
“I want the opportunity to be available to all public school students on Saipan,” DeWitt said.
The CNMI also lacks musical instruments to cater to the students’ needs, DeWitt said. For the Manta Band alone, he said their first priority is to purchase a drum set which cost up to $8,000. They also need more woodwind instruments.
As proof of the CNMI’s local talents, Dewitt said two of Manta Band’s members passed the audition for the U.S. Army Band.
David Bautista now plays for the Army Band, the first CNMI resident to do so.
Michio Nagata also passed the audition but he is not a U.S. citizen. He is now pursuing his love for music in a conservatory school in Japan.
DeWitt said eight members including Bautista and Nagata of the Manta Band made it to the Beijing Olympics official orchestra and played with 2,000 musicians from all over the world.
“We would have loved to send more of our band members but there just wasn’t enough time to come up with the needed funds for airfare and other expenses,” DeWitt said.
He added that each member needed at least $5,000 for the trip and had less than two months to prepare for it.
The other six members who played in Beijing were Anthony Gomez, Trini MacDuff, Raegina Castro, Ray MacDuff, Gayle Martin and Ted Parker.
Gomez and McDuff, who were also guests at the Rotary Club meeting, said they enjoyed the chance of performing during the Beijing Olympics.
“We had to practice much for it but it was a rare chance for us to be there,” Gomez said.
The Manta Band won the prestigious Gold Award in the 2008 Tumon Bay Music Festival in Guam last March.
