Mililani High School Music
About the Trojan Marching Ensembles
Marching Band
The Trojan Marching Band lies in the heart of Mililani Town and is under the direction of Mr. Derek Kaapana. Serving approximately 150 students, the program focuses on creating competent students in both the musical and visual arts that encompass the marching band activity. Through this we develop a strong sense of unity, family, and an appreciation for music, dance, and physical well-being.
The Trojan Marching Band has represented Hawai’i in many national and international parades and festivals. Notably, Mililani has represented Hawai'i in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California twice, and the London New Years Day Parade in London, England. In recent years the music department has traveled to the east coast to Boston, Disneyworld Orlando; Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa, Japan; Beijing, China, Rome, Florence, and Venice, Italy, and most recently to Indianapolis, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio for national competitions.
The Trojan Marching Band was the first Hawai'i marching band to compete at the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana in November 2015 and will return again in November of 2017.
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The marching band has been fortunate to have performers and alumni that have participated in Drum Corps over the years. These DCI groups include: The Blue Devils World Class, Bluecoats, Blue Knights, Mandarins, Santa Clara Vanguard, Phantom Regiment, and Carolina Crown.
Winter Guard
The Winter Guard is under the direction of Susan Segawa and consists of approximately 40 students in 2 groups. The Winter Guard "B" includes students from grades 8 - 12 with 0-5 years of color guard experience. This group is a training group for our field season marching band. The Winter Guard "A" is our competitive group that includes students from grades 9-12 with 1-5 years of color guard experience. This group travels every other year to competed at the WGI Championships in Dayton, Ohio. In a unique environment, the winter guard program does not have any local opportunities to compete, is not part of a circuit, and staff resources are limited in Hawai'i.
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The Winter Guard "A" has competed regularly at WGI Championships since 2005 and has been a semi-finalist since 2013. This group recently returned from WGI championships as a 4th place finalist in Scholastic "A" and will be promoted to Scholastic Open class for the following competitions.
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The winter guard has been fortunate to have alumni that have participated in Independent Open and World Class winter guards. These WGI guards include: Onyx World, Santa Clara Vanguard
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Indoor Percussion Ensemble
The Indoor Percussion Ensemble is under the direction of Nicholas Tuvera and consists of approximately 20 students from grades 8-11. This group includes students with 1-4 years of playing experience and is a training group for our field season marching band. For several seasons we have offered 2 groups of Indoor Drumline depending on interest and talent.
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The drumline has competed once at WGI championships in Dayton, Ohio in 2006 and has taken an interest in returning to WGI in the future.
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Winter Corps
The Winter Corps is a newly formed Indoor Winds group under the direction of Derek Kaapana. This group consists of students from grades 9-12 with 1-4 years of marching experience. The focus of the group is to develop competency in the visual program. Incorporating a wider vocabulary of dance techniques and choreography this group pushes the performers to become aware of the responsibilities and demands of the indoor marching arts.
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The winter corps will be traveling to Dayton, Ohio to compete at the WGI championships in the near future.