MUSIC

A high school band from Morgan Hill, Calif., played for 500 of its Chinese contemporaries in Beijing on Wednesday. The 100-member Live Oaks High School Band played the two countries’ national anthems before launching into a program that included a variety of formations on a dusty field at the No. 20 Middle School in the outskirts of Beijing. “It’s not bad,” said 17-year-old student Song Zhihua. “Do all high schools have this? Is this organized by the students or the teachers?” she asked. The Morgan Hill group, on an 11-day tour of China, will perform on the Great Wall outside Beijing today, before going on Friday to Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong province.