Bandwagon Educational Program

By Tommy Noyes

Julie and Jeremy Hartshorn (second and fifth from left) manage the Bandwagon Music Center studio in Kukui Grove Center, a welcoming haven of creativity for budding musicians. Photo by Jeremy Hartshorn

Kaua‘i youth can now tap into a supportive community of fully engaged musical collaborators.

Jeremy Hartshorn taught private music lessons in students’ homes, but realized that isolated approach presents numerous roadblocks and can prevent students from blossoming as musicians. Kids are self-motivated learners when provided a reason, community, equipment and mentors’ guidance.

“Bandwagon Music Center is a safe, fun, supervised music studio for kids to explore music at their own pace,” said Hartshorn, the founder, board president and program director of Bandwagon Institute for the Arts. “This place is totally designed to eliminate so many of the roadblocks that keep kids from learning music. We’ve got space for them to be in, we’ve got equipment, we’ve got capable mentors walking the floor just helping the kids with whatever the challenge is that they’re working on at the time. Most importantly, we’ve got like-minded peers for them to hang out with and jam with. We’re working with music and the applied arts, public performance, and getting kids jamming with bands and just having a great time. We’re excited to have kids come in here and explore whatever they’re passionate about.”

The Bandwagon Music Center studio located between Ross and Long’s Drugs in Kukui Grove Center is the result. Students are practicing hard now to polish arrangements they will perform in a Battle of the Bands on the evening of May 16 at Kaua‘i Christian Fellowship in Koloa. Bands compete for islandwide supremacy. Last year the winning band members got to keep the instruments they were playing.

According to Derek Green, Kanuikapono Public Charter School board member, “Bandwagon provides our students with a safe, creative learning space where they can explore music and creativity in ways that would otherwise not be available in their daily life.”

Hartshorn cited numerous collateral benefits of getting kids actively engaged in a supportive community of dedicated musicians: forging lasting friendships, keeping them out of trouble, preventing drug abuse, avoiding teen pregnancy and reducing suicidal thoughts.

Bandwagon mentors convey the mentality of “I don’t know how to play this yet,” because that attitude opens the door to the future.

Bandwagon instructor John Enns said, “I think that’s one of my favorite parts about Bandwagon — there are some friendships that happen here that never would have taken place anywhere else.”

Kilauea Elementary School Principal Sherry Gonsalves added, “The mentors help the students build on their natural gifts and talents, they encourage them, and most importantly they believe in the student.”

Bandwagon strives to make curriculum available to all, whether or not they can afford tuition. Some 70 percent of active Bandwagon members are on full or partial scholarships. The Bandwagon provides students with free round-trip transportation from nine different schools — Hanalei to Waimea. This nonprofit organization could not exist without donors and community support, and special appreciation is extended to the Aloha Angels for their philanthropy through the Adopt a Band program.

Visit bandwagonstudios.com for more information.

• Tommy Noyes is Kaua‘i Path’s executive director, a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and active with the Kaua‘i Medical Reserve Corps.