Looking like one of the students, new music teacher Christopher “Shota” Horikawa is excited to join Rowland USD and return to Southern California where he grew up. Shota (his students call him Mr. H) teaches Beginning Strings, Beginning and Intermediate Band, Middle School Band and Orchestra at Oswalt Academy, and Beginning and Intermediate Band at both Rorimer Elementary and Hollingworth Elementary. He went to college in Ohio at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the first school to offer music education in the U.S. Happy to be back to warmer weather (though he says this has been a little too warm!) he is excited to bring his passion for all types of music to RUSD students. He grew up playing the violin and then switched to his love – the double bass – while also playing tuba in the marching band, electric bass in Jazz Band, and making music anyway he could – from youth orchestras and symphonies, to playing music with his friends in rock and even punk bands.
“I think exposure to many types of music is so important to kids and I believe in making music education more modern and relevant to their lifestyles. I want to give students the opportunity to play their own music and incorporate it with traditional music education. I mean, I listen to classical music and head bang to Tchaikovsky on my drive home, but I know that is not the majority of people!”
You will soon see him driving the signature Rowland USD blue music buses around town!