New UH Hilo music professor Ocean Akaka arrives with distinct focus on Hawaiian music revitalization, aims to revive university band
Assistant Professor of Music Ocean Akaka’s area of expertise is in arranging and conducting wind ensembles and athletic bands. While teaching music, he’s also researching the revitalization of Hawaiian music through Western instrumental ensembles.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
This story on Ocean Akaka was first published as a research profile on the website Keaohou that features UH Hilo faculty research and scholarly activity.
The performing arts department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo has a new music professor this semester with expertise in arrangements and conducting for athletic bands, experience he plans to use to revive the university’s band while teaching music classes and conducting research focusing on the revitalization of Hawaiian music.
It was a quick and easy transition for Ocean Akaka, who started at UH Hilo last month from his prior faculty position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“I flew into Hilo on a one-way flight from Las Vegas right before the holidays,” he says. “I quickly got settled in, and flew to Oʻahu to spend the holidays with my family, something I haven’t done since 2020. That was a great moment for sure.”
Akaka, born and raised in Wahiawā, Oʻahu, received his bachelor of arts in music with a focus on oboe performance from UH Mānoa (2021), and his master of music in instrumental conducting with a focus on wind band conducting (2023) and doctor of musical arts in instrumental conducting (2025), both from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The band and wind ensemble aficionado starts his tenure at UH Hilo as an assistant professor of music. His area of expertise is in conducting and directing instrumental ensembles, particularly wind ensembles and athletic bands. His current research revolves around the revitalization of Hawaiian music through creating transcriptions and arrangements for Western instrumental ensembles, such as orchestra and/or band. Additionally, he is actively writing original compositions for band that are based on various people, places, and events in Hawaiian history.
Prior to arriving at UH Hilo, Assistant Professor Akaka served as a visiting assistant professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a post he held after finishing his doctoral program at the same school. In addition to conducting the university’s marching band, Akaka led the UNLV Runnin’ Rebel Pep Band, directed the UNLV Woodwind Ensemble, taught courses in woodwind techniques and graduate conducting, all while remaining active as a drill designer and music arranger. His arrangements have garnered performances throughout the United States and Europe.
It’s important to note that in addition to his teaching, scholarly activities, and guest conducting appearances, Akaka is an oboist who served as an army bandsman with “Hawaiʻi’s Own” 111th Army Band based out of Pearl City on Oʻahu. During his time with the army band, in addition to playing the oboe, he played trumpet in the rock combo group “Drive On,” euphonium in the ceremonial marching band, and also served as a guest conductor of the concert band. Outside of his duties with the band, Akaka actively served with the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard’s Honor Guard team where he assisted with Military Funeral Honors as a ceremonial team member and live bugler. His military decorations include the Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal.
And now Assistant Professor Akaka brings all that rich experience to UH Hilo. He is teaching classes in music fundamentals in songwriting and also music in education this semester, with an eye toward developing his research activities.
“UH Hilo is a perfect fit for my aspirations in my research,” he says. “The university’s vision, with its emphasis on connecting the education of our students with the distinctive natural and cultural environments of Hawaiʻi, is exactly what I’m looking to do for the next generations through music.”
Vision Statement from Papahana Hoʻolālā Hikiāloa – Strategic Plan: 2021-2031
E lawe i ke aʻo a mālama, a e ʻoi mau ka naʻauao.
Those who take their learnings and apply them increase their knowledge.“We will be acclaimed as a university community that works together across disciplines and diverse perspectives to prepare student scholars to thrive, compete, innovate and lead in their professional lives. We will engage every student in applied learning that links theory with practice in ways that are collaborative with the distinctive natural and cultural environments of Hawaiʻi and promotes responsible participation in a global society.
With that inspiration as a guide, Akaka says he’s working on a few projects this year.
“I’m writing a few arrangements of music from Charles E. King’s songbook, King’s Book of Hawaiian Melodies,” he says. “Many of the songs written in this book are for one or more vocalists, and an accompanying ukulele, guitar, or steel guitar. I’m working to arrange these songs for wind ensemble, and have them performed by the students here at UH Hilo.”
However, he notes that currently, as of spring 2026, there is no band at UH Hilo.
“One of my main goals here at UH Hilo is to create a university band again,” he says. “I’ve been told that it’s been quite some time, about 20 years, since there’s been a band here. I’m very optimistic that we will have a band beginning in fall 2026, and I will gladly ensure that the ensemble incorporates Hawaiian music, such as my arrangements, into their performances.”
In conjunction with this goal of resurrecting a university band, Akaka is also actively working with local music teachers and visiting as many local middle and high schools as he can to provide insight through clinics.
“Once we establish a wind ensemble here at UH Hilo, I plan to incorporate joint concerts with the local middle and high school band programs, as well as outreach performances in and around the East Hawaiʻi Island community,” he says.
Akaka says he views Hilo as the epitome of a “cultural capitol” here in Hawaiʻi.
“There’s just no place like it,” he says. “In my opinion, this community deserves to have Hawaiian music being performed 24/7, 365 days a year. With the growth of the music program here at UH Hilo, along with the creation of more Hawaiian music through arrangements, transcriptions, and original compositions, I think that we have the opportunity to provide this special community with the cultural celebration that it deserves.”
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
