Education & Community Engagement

Written By Randy Wong

When people hear WAITIKI’s expert musicians perform live, something magical happens—they listen, they learn, and they imagine. 

The WAITIKI 7 brings the vibrant world of Exotica music to life through school visits, workshops, and public concerts that promote inclusion, cultural curiosity, and historical awareness. With its rich blend of global sounds and mid century flair, Exotica opens doors to meaningful conversations about heritage and creativity. 

By sharing this timeless genre with new audiences, we inspire the next generation to embrace music’s power to connect, educate, and preserve the beauty of lesser-known genre.

WAITIKI’s Educational & Community Offerings Include: 

  • School Visits: Age-appropriate performances adapted for preschool, elementary, middle, high school, or collegiate students, or for elder adults, that introduce the Exotica genre, its historical and cultural context, and general music concepts.

  • Band or Orchestra Sectionals & Masterclasses: String, wind, percussion, jazz, rhythm section, piano, improvisation, or arranging classes. (Best for intermediate to advanced students)

  • Panel Discussions on Exotica, Jazz or Latin Jazz, Music Business, College & Career Pathways for Young Musicians, or Nonprofit Administration

  • Keynote Presentations & Seminars: on Exotica and its inspirations in/from Orchestral Music

  • Intergenerational and Twilight performances for residents in senior care, memory care, hospital, hospice, and palliative care. Exotica music resonates with elders particularly well: It brings back happy, care-free memories, which they love to share. It also encourages elders to socialize, reducing isolation and loneliness. For patients in hospice, exotica music (particularly when performed by solo vibraphone or keyboard) is very comforting. 

Notable Impact

  • Educational performances in 9 states (ME, MA, NH, RI, CT, NY, CA, HI, ID) and dozens of schools, benefitting youth and adults in nearly every age group

  • Band or Orchestra sectionals and masterclasses in 15 middle and high schools

  • FREE performances for over 5,000 youth

  • In 2013, we collaborated with Hawaii Youth Symphony (of which Randy & Abe are alums) to raise over $150,000 to support their statewide instrumental music education programming, including financial aid and scholarships for youth of under-resourced backgrounds 

Available Resources (inquire within) 

  • Teacher resource booklets (worksheets, coloring pages, etc.) that scaffold WAITIKI’s school visits

  • Band & Orchestral arrangements for students to learn and perform with WAITIKI

  • Resource videos that introduce Exotica instruments and basic techniques

  • Spotify Playlists for background listening

  • Reading lists to support summer reading challenges 

Randy Wong

Randy Wong
Co-Founder, Bass
Hononlulu, Hawaiʻi

Hawaii-born and raised, bassist Randy Wong seeks adventure with every musical endeavor. As a symphony musician, he has performed with Kenny Loggins, Bela Fleck, Yo-Yo Ma, sitarist Anoushka Shankar; violinists Joshua Bell, Midori, Ray Chen, and Augustin Hadelich; conductors Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, Gunther Schuller, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and dozens of others. As a sideman, he has supported ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, American singer-songwriter Susan Werner, soul singer Ron Artis II, and the open flow organization Honolulu Art Ensemble. He has produced and recorded albums for Exotica, pop, classical, world, and Hawaiian musicians, performed in operas and ballets, played the space-age bachelor-pad music of Juan Garcia Esquivel with the Orquesta Nacionale de Jazz de México in Cuernavaca, and even jammed with Brother Ah and George Clinton at one of Obama’s inaugural balls!

Known for his passion for the mid-century aesthetic—from music to cocktails—Randy has been profiled on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, the Department of Defense/Armed Forces Network’s America: Who We Are, PRI’s Global Village, Radiomultikulti, the Australian Broadcast Company, and Hawaii Public Radio. He has been cited in books, publications, and apps by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Martin Cate, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Boston Magazine, Improper Bostonian, Honolulu Weekly, Boston Globe & the Boston Herald; has written articles for Hana Hou (Hawaiian Airlines), Honolulu Magazine, SUMMIT, Tasting Panel, NMG; and has consulted for Don the Beachcomber (Huntington Beach, CA), Drink (Boston), and more.

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