Bonnie Chan
Percussion
Bonnie was born and raised on Oahu, and started her musical training with piano lessons at the age of 5. She was influenced musically by both her parents: her mother loves to sing and her father plays the piano and also owned and ran a music store, the Piano Galerie. She began playing percussion and drums between the 6th-7th grades, and has been playing with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra since 1977 under conductors Robert LaMarchina, Donald Johanos, Samuel Wong, and Matt Catingub. She has also performed with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra (both in Michigan), the Hidden Valley Orchestra in California, the Royal Hawaiian Band, the Maui Symphony, Concordium Hawaii, and the New Age Percussion Ensemble with former HSO principal tympanist Richard Kashanski. Additionally, she has worked as a free-lance percussionist/drummer for musical theater, various rock/pop/wedding bands, and musical shows with Wayne Newton, Roger Williams, Bobby Vinton, and Fred Travalena.
Bonnie’s degrees include a Bachelor of Music from the University of Hawaii, a Master of Music from San Jose State University, and a Master of Music Therapy from Michigan State University. Her instructors were Anthony Cirone, formerly with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goodwin, formerly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Karen Ervin, Daniel Sabanovich, Lois Russell, past principal percussionist of the HSO, Chuck James, Harold Chang, and Bruce Hamada. She taught percussion in Michigan and Hawaii (including at Punahou School), and was an instructor for Percussion Ensemble and Percussion Techniques at the Hartnell Conservatory College in Salinas, California.
During her senior year at UH, Bonnie won a student contest and the opportunity to perform as a marimba soloist with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
Bonnie works as a Board-Certified Music Therapist at the Hawaii State Hospital, where, in 1992, she developed the first full-time music therapy program in the state. She is the local chair for the first Western Region American Music Therapy Association conference held in Hawaii scheduled for March 2007. She continues to study and practice in the healing arts as a Licensed Massage Therapist, a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and a Certified Resonance Repatterning Practitioner.
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