When a student reaches the high school grades 9-12 at Island Pacific Academy, opportunities for extracurricular activities expand. Choices can be made to begin or continue in athletics; there are honor society memberships to strive for; service clubs to become involved in; and clubs to join depending on interest.
One club, Navigator Records, formed in the 2014-2015 school year with a focus on music and a goal that grew. “The students set out to compose and record an original song,” says Micah Hirokawa, the music club’s advisor. “I am so proud of these students. They did it and had their first single ‘Chill Out’ up and available for purchase on Amazon by October.”
Hirokawa encouraged the students to keep going and to strive for 5 songs. “Writing lyrics, composing original music, practicing, rehearsing, recording…it all takes time,” he says. “In the end, they were able to complete 4 compositions, just 1 short of an EP* by the end of the year. They would have loved to publish an EP, but we just ran out of time.”
However, the students decided to upload their songs to soundcloud.com and share their music with free downloads. Listen to and/or download all 4 songs by clicking here.
Song Titles and individual song links below:
“Next year, the core students of Navigator Records will be in their Senior Year. I can’t wait to hear the music they create. They are so talented and creative,” says Hirokawa. “Just a side note, I love the song ‘Rough Draft.’ It’s one of my favorites–a song about writing a song–How cool is that!?”
*Short for “extended play” an EP recording is more than a single, usually 5-6 songs, but not a full album with typically has 10 or more recordings.
