Students bounce basketballs in time to music as part of a project by music student Yoshiaki Okita.

The sound of a cranked car stereo isn’t always music to people’s ears.

It was, however, to Yoshiaki Okita when, last spring, he heard the booming bass line spilling from a vehicle as he waited to cross the street.

The loud thumping reminded the first-year music student of a bouncing ball and that got the wheels turning. Okita, who studied music part-time for three years before transitioning to full-time studies, began composing a song whose time would be kept with basketballs rather than a drum.

He “tinkered” with his original music for months after getting a draft down in just two weeks. Then he began crafting how it would be performed.

There would be a composer, horn section, and three expert ball bouncers trained in percussion to be accompanied by people dribbling to the beat. They would all wear t-shirts emblazoned with the Brock logo.

By December, his aptly named “Bouncing Balls” tune tweaked to perfection, Okita began work on another number: a proposal to perform the piece as part of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations — and perhaps bounce Brock’s way into the Guinness World Records for most balls dribbled in time to music.

On Monday, Okita took his place in the Bob Davis Gym with 26 other volunteer basketball percussionists, two trumpeters, a pianist, and Chris Barletta, a percussionist student who served as conductor. Together, they performed Bouncing Balls decked out in their Brock tees, compliments of Alumni Relations.

Students bounce balls in time to music composed by student Yoshiaki Okita (fifth from left, first row).

Guinness currently doesn’t have a record for most balls bounced in time to music, but Okita is hopeful that may change once the organization sees a video of the event.
Regardless, the thudding of balls on hardwood, like that car stereo, was symphonic to Okita.

“The highlight was of course to have my music played and every one seemed to enjoy participating, including the youngest one next to me,” he said in an email afterward.

“He was good. It was a high.”