The Manta Band and the Saipan Pacific Winds Concert Band are among the 2,008 musicians who will form the 2008 Beijing Olympic Orchestra.
Since Manta Band are high school students, they did not have enough money to pay their own travel expenses, until the Guam musicians’ generosity.
The Saipan Southern High Student now owe some people money, and their avid supporters are now calling those interested to help them pay their debt may contact Manta Band director, William Dewitt.
The Manta Band members are Anthony Gomez, Trini MacDuff, David Bautista, Michio Nagata and Raegina Castro and the Pacific Winds’ is composed of Ray MacDuff, Gayle Martin and Ted Parker.
The young band members have started practicing since early this year under the direction of Dewitt right at the SSHS.
The high school musicians showed enough amount confidence while they prepared in the past four months, for the rare opportunity.
In an interview during practice last May, Gomez who he plays either his trombone or euphonium said he was practicing like he was just doing something he does regularly.
“I just take a look at the music and spend at least 30 minutes practicing at home,” the second year high school said.
McDuff who plays the flute said she was excited not only about playing the theme itself but also about having the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play with famous musicians from all over the world.
Bautista, the trumpeter felt overwhelmed as he was very happy to go and vowed to make sure he will enjoy every minute of their time in Beijing.
“I hope everything goes well,”
The Manta Band, according to Dewitt was among those selected to be the best musicians from Ocenia region of “green zone”—one of the four different zones from which the Olympic’s orchestra committee picks musicians to play theme.
The NMI’s young musicians who started their band in 2002 found their path to the OIympics when they competed for the first time ever, and won the prestigious Gold Award in the 2008 Tumon Bay Music Festival in Guam two months ago.
Dewitt “was pretty sure” nobody expected them to win that day. The audience and the organizers he said were not really expecting a band to be that competitive.
That was how they caught the attention of Guam Territorial Band Society that sponsored the event. Its conductor, Max Ronquillo Jr., who is also a part of the Olympic committee that organizes the orchestra, approached the band and Dewitt after getting their award.
The only challenge they faced in order to achieve the historic opportunity not only for them but for the people of the CNMI, was fund for their travel and other expenses.
“Things kinda hard right now because while practicing really hard, we’re doing a lot of events including the fundraising,” says McDuff.
