Music students take charge: leading is their forte

As you skim through your Facebook feed, you find it littered with promotions. Everything from hot shoe deals to Starbucks discounts to spa weekend getaways pile up on the right-hand column of the screen. But towards the beginning of the school year, a new genre of advertisements make it to social media sites — ads promoting Samo music students running for office in one of our many music programs.In past years, Samo’s music program has conducted a wide variety of music genres. However, this is not a job for the music directors alone; students also contribute. While choir and orchestra traditionally bring out competitive campaigns among students, band elects its student board differently by selecting people who are specifically advanced in their music section and demonstrate citizenship with other colleagues in band. Students want to help others while also gaining respect from their peers. But whatever the attitude, Samo’s music programs provide students with more than just an outlet to showcase their musical talents; they allow students to lead and represent one another through the student-elected music boards.Many students who opt to run for a position take campaigning seriously. Choir co-presidents Talon Hadfield (’15) and Kate Crellin (’15) took creative routes in their campaigns. They crafted thoughtful slogans that were presented on colorful, eye-grabbing posters and social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.“We made really clever flyers with slogans that incorporated a famous composer as a pun,” Hadfield said. “I think that attracted a lot of the choir members’ attention.”Some of the slogans that Crellin and Hadfield constructed included music puns that were “It’s time to take a stand,” “Some candidates just don’t measure up, but leading is our forte” and“Can you Handel this?”Aside from catchy slogans, board candidates have integrated their musical talents into promoting their campaigns. Board members help organize while the vice president and president of the board are in charge of what to organize. Orchestra board member Thomas Lin (’15) and Orchestra Vice President Baiyu Li (’15) recorded a duet cello cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Lin then posted the cover on Youtube and Facebook with the caption “A President and Vice President with teen spirit, Vote for me and Baiyu Li to be your next Orchestra Board President and Vice President! #LinandLi2014.”According to Li, the video spread the word about his and Lin’s campaign.“The song is grunge in nature, but the idea of teen spirit fits with both our campaigns,” Li said. “The hashtags and shares on Facebook definitely brought more attention to us, and I would say that as a result, more people got to read our speeches.”Some candidates chose not to promote themselves with social media, however. Many band members did not campaign heavily due to the less competitive nature of the band government.“Compared to orchestra, it certainly wasn’t as competitive to run for a position, since band has several more positions,” Wind Ensemble President Jonah Krop (’15) said. “It was a good thing to give a short speech to make sure everyone knew why I was running and how I could help out.”According to band directors Kevin McKeown and Terry Sakow, they are happy to work with students who are willing to lend a hand in band. A position on the board is a big deal because it is an opportunity for students to gain respect from their classmates and impress colleges.“The fact that I can rely on my student leaders to take care of logistics, to encourage other students and to show pride in what they do inspires me to be a better teacher,” McKeown says.Orchestra board member Dorothy DeBiasse (’15) also did not use social media to promote her campaign. For DeBiasse, campaigning was more about spreading the word about her goals if she were to be elected.“I believe the group should choose whom they see as best fit for the position,” DeBiasse said. “I thought people in the orchestra already knew who I was, and I thought the students should be chosen for their positions based on the type of job they would do overall, not the amount of promotion they achieved.”Regardless of whether they campaigned or not, music students who run for positions are truly dedicated to their music program. They’ve all been inspired by their music program to give back to the community that has helped them grow.“What motivates me to contribute to the orchestra is my love for music and my desire to give back to the program,” Lin said. “Because of our incredible orchestra, I have been able to travel each year that I’ve been at Samo, to places such as San Francisco and Portland and also European cities such as Vienna, Prague and Baden-Baden.”kng@thesamohi.com