They toured schools and took a Chinese writing class and a kung fu class. The group visited temples, the 798 Art Zone and Tiananmen Square. “The fact that we were performing there allowed us to really get to know the people.” “My favorite part of the trip to China was the excitement of going to a country with a distinctly different culture compared to the U.S.,” Sherman said. In the past two years, he expanded his musical abilities into guitar and percussion. Schissel has taken piano and voice lessons at iSchool for the past six years. Even when we were sightseeing, kids would scream and run to us and ask to take pictures with us.” “The best part of the China trip was the experience of performing in another country in front of large groups of people, and signing autographs after each performance,” said Schissel. “I was thrilled when they asked me to be part of the rock band.” In front of a billboard advertising the band, iSchool band members with Ken Benshish and Yi Qian, owners of The iSchool of Music & Art, and some of the tour group’s Chinese hosts Hill has been playing classical music on the piano since he was six and a student at iSchool since it opened in 2005. “Everybody treated us amazingly and it was the most fun I’ve ever had in only 10 days.” “We are just normal American teenagers, yet when we were there, we were complete rock stars,” Hill said. Like a true band on tour, they traveled on a tour bus and were asked for autographs by Chinese fans. They even performed an impromptu acoustic set at the Great Wall which the locals and tourists enjoyed. While in China, the band performed seven shows in nine days, mostly in Beijing. “The trip to China was incredible,” Hill said. They performed songs by artists such as Chuck Berry, Deep Purple, The Beatles, Billy Joel and more to Chinese audiences. Prior to the trip, the band practiced once a week. Several Port students were chosen to be part of the eight-person band-Reid Sherman, a 10th-grade student at Schreiber High School, Christian Hill, an 11th grader at Schreiber who plays the piano and keyboard, and Noah Schissel, a 6th grader at Weber who plays guitar and sings. The iSchool of Music & Art, located in Port Washington, as well as Syosset and Rockville Centre, created an all-star band to tour China in the spring. From left: Dylan Morrissey (from Manhasset), Reid Sherman, Christian Hill, Oscar Cellura (from Manhasset)
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