Band director Rich Inouye conducts during practice. He says that every concert with the students is a good memory for him. (Theresa Matthiesen)
Cherry blossom trees in bloom may have been the deciding factor for Richard Inouye when he was offered the job as band director at Clark College. “I came out in spring and the cherry blossoms had just bloomed. I remember having my interview and walking out and just thinking, ‘Wow.’”.
This is Inouye’s last spring as band director. He will be leaving, but his students will never forget their time with him. They described their time with him as difficult, rewarding, intense, terrifying and eventful.
Eventful was their favorite description and they shared stories of why. Lucas Hayes has been help run jazz fest for the past four years. “Every jazz fest, there’s always a moment where we hit a bump in the road and you feel a bit of stress and then you come back together,” he said. Hayes described another prank where a student took Inouye’s photo and posted it in Beacock Music Hall. “Every room, in the bathrooms, in the stalls, it was everywhere.”
Dennis Baciuc shared a story that made them all laugh. “In Jazz Fest, I was fooling with a couple of friends and long story short, we needed to borrow his coffee pitcher. So another long story short, we broke the coffee pitcher in the parking lot,” he said. “We found the same exact coffee pitcher from Goodwill and then bought it, cleaned it up and replaced it. Rich does not know to this day.”
The prank they pulled in Greeley, Colorado is also something they are very proud of. Chandler McCoy said that Rich never just gives a compliment. “The funniest part for me is he literally said, ‘that was good.’ Whenever we do something he likes, what he usually says is, ‘I didn’t hate that.’ So when he says something is good, it’s good.”
There have been serious times too. Shelly Williams has worked with Inouye for several years. She has watched him work with kids who need a little of the tough air-force guy. “There’s always a kid or two who need structure and compassion.” she said. “He’s good at working with those kids to encourage them to step up to the plate.”
Hayes says that he was 18 when he started playing for Inouye and wasn’t very responsible as a person. “Pushing me to be more accountable and more responsible, that’s really shaped me over these past four years,” he said. “I can look back at it and I can see a clear difference in who I was four years ago to who I am now. And it’s a difference I like.”
Inouye has poured his passion for music into the band program. One of his students was the first to become a field scholar and finish their bachelor’s degree in music. Since then a total of seven students have become field scholars. “There is no magic pill to being a good musician. There is only hard work,” he said. “You can not be lazy in this business.” His parting advice to students include work hard, have a plan and stay the course.
Married to the Spectrum 