[Reprinted from pcc50.com, the Polynesian Cultural Center‘s 50th-anniversary website which is no longer active, on September 10, 2013. Original interview and photos by Mike Foley]
Introduction: European-style brass bands became immensely popular when they first arrived in the islands, and they remain so to this day.
For instance, many. schools throughout Polynesia have had brass bands for years, and there’s probably no better example than the Royal Hawaiian Band in Honolulu:
It was started by King Kamehameha III in 1836, and today, it is the oldest and is believed to be the only full-time municipal band in the US.
During the eight years James “Jim” Brague [pictured at right, with the tuba] taught music at BYU–Hawaii, he also directed the PCC/BYUH Brass Band.
He left Laie in 1989 to teach at then-Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho).
After retiring in 2007, he and his wife served a Family and Church History Mission in Salt Lake City. His service also included directing two mission choirs. They were then called on another mission to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he worked with a succession of brass bands comprised of young performing missionaries for four years.
The couple now lives near Rexburg, Idaho — when they’re home.
A fantastic experience: I took over when Sione Tu‘itupou left, during the Ralph Rodgers era. He wanted to expand the band’s participation.
I was very excited, and I was out there announcing and directing the concerts, but finally after a few weeks, Ralph pulled me aside and said, “Jim, people don’t come here to see a haole jump around in front of the band.”
With that [laughing], I took the cue and reorganized. We set the band up with an assistant conductor and two assistants. They were all Polynesian students, including Tevita Toafa and Stanford Kekauoha.
They were fine young men who displayed a lot of leadership. We broke it down further and got to where the student members of the band were doing all the announcing.
They brought a lot of delight to it, because they were clever and came up with a variety of things. I may have pointed them somewhat, but I never tried to tell them what to do. I wanted to turn “loose their juices.”
I think the band had great impact in those years. Number one, we used to march through the
villages, which was very popular.
In fact, we had made a cassette tape, and in the first year, we sold 75,000 of them: Half of the proceeds went to the Center, because it produced the tapes, and the other half went to band scholarships.
It was also a fantastic opportunity for the students to play their instruments for two hours a day. They were paid for doing it, and on top of that, they benefited from the scholarship money from the tape sales.
Years later when I heard they were closing down the band, I really lost it . . . and cried. Not because of the band, but for the students and what the band offered for them. It was a wonderful program.
