My Teaching Inspiration

There are so many factors in a child’s life that can influence future paths. First and foremost should be parents, but there other influences as well; close relatives, peers and of course teachers. We know that not every child is blessed with positive influences; negatives in the environment can change a child’s direction completely. Those include lack of parental nurturing, poverty, drug use and criminal activity, bad peer influences and all the rest.

I certainly had every opportunity to end up as many of the kids I grew up did, but my parents were a strong and insulating presence in my youth. I talked about them in a previous article so I won’t repeat myself, except to say that because of money, which was always short, we lived in poor areas of Chicago when I was growing up. I saw many, many bad things in my youth but the strength of my family’s support and love kept me focused on the lessons they were teaching me.

So what inspired me to go to college and become a music teacher? The musician part is easy; my parents were professional musicians. Live music was always in my home and it was natural for me to pick up a horn. First it was the trumpet and later the trombone.

I’d become pretty good by the time I hit high school without benefit of private instructors. I was a rough talent that needed refining, but as a high school freshman I was not even thinking about making a career teaching band. That’s when I met my high school band director, Robert Novalich.

Mr. Novalich was droll, cynical, pessimistic and quite unlike anyone I’d ever met before. For one, he was a white man. Honestly, I had not had much experience with white people, having been raised in a mixed Mexican and black home and living among Hispanics and blacks all my life. And nearly all my elementary and middle school teachers were black or Mexican. I didn’t know many whites, and certainly did not expect Mr. Novalich to become the role model and influence that he was to become.

He had small bands at Carter H. Harrison High School, mostly because the choirs were so important in this predominantly black school. Yet we played challenging music and his odd personality somehow endeared me to him. I became a band geek; I was in the band room as often as I could be. I practiced and talked to him about music, teaching and the problems he faced trying to keep instrumental music alive in my school. I learned a great deal about life and music just listening to his rants and complaints about people who were in our band’s way.

And his band rehearsals were a hoot. His temper was notorious; he could reduce a student to an inch high with nothing more than a withering glare. Once I recall that my sister and I (she played alto saxophone) brought a tape recorder to class and secretly taped one of his railings against a recalcitrant student, who was being a total jerk in the rehearsal. Mr. Novalich shut him down fast and his lecture to the band was memorable. I wish that I had preserved that tape!

So I announced in my junior year that I wanted to be a band director, he characteristically asked me why on earth I would want to do that? But then proceeded to do everything he could to teach me what he knew. I ran sectionals, was captain of the ROTC band (which came from our band), and tutored students needing help. Mr. Novalich even gave up his planning period so that I could take study hall with him rather than “waste your time in study zoo”, as he called it more than once. As a teacher today I know how valuable these prep periods are in processing grades, grading papers and paperwork, yet he sacrificed it so that I could take my study hall during his free period. I filed music, re-wrote parts at his direction as needed, and practiced.

After graduation I came back to see him during my sophomore year and arranged to do 100 hours of classroom observation with him, as part of my degree program at De Paul University. I didn’t student teach there, but he recommended another teacher to student teach with, the legendary Adolph Erst at Bogan High School in Chicago. He had been a student teacher with him too.

By then I think Mr. Novalich knew that I would be okay, so we never saw each other again after that final 100 hours of observation. But we stayed in contact, sending Christmas cards to each other for years afterward. The cards stopped in 2000, I have do not know if he is still alive. But the lessons he taught me still endure to this day.

Surgery Anniversary

On May 27, 2010 I entered the surgical suites of Tucson Orthopedic Institute as apprehensive as I had ever been. My right shoulder, more specifically, the rotator cuff in my right shoulder had been injured in an auto accident the year before. I had been through tests and physical therapy, trying to avoid the surgery but I couldn't escape it. There was just too much discomfort.

The surgery I recall went as I had been advised. I'd done my homework too, researching online the procedure and reading of the experiences of other patients. I knew what to expect. Without being too graphic, the procedure was done by arthroscope; poke holes were made in the shoulder and after cleaning out the joint, an anchor was inserted into the top of the bone and the torn cartilage was sutured to it.

That first day I was numbed up pretty good and there was not much pain. I was in an arm brace, which Linda dutifully helped me to get into and out of each day. It was the nights that were terrible. I couldn't lay flat in a bed for several days, and the painkillers I had been given for when the numbing agents wore off didn't really touch the pain.

I didn't sleep well for well over three weeks following the surgery. And I learned quickly just how much I should treasure being able to do the little things in life - like putting on my own socks or just using my right arm to eat. I am so right handed it's not funny, and using me left arm to hold spoons, folks and knives was not pretty.

I must saw that through all this discomfort the one constant in my life was Linda. She was there every step of the way. When I had to sit up all those nights on the couch because I couldn't lat flat she slept on the couch with me. She made an uncomfortable situation tolerable. That's what it means to love and cherish someone.

A few weeks after the surgery, I think it was two, I started physical therapy twice a week. Little steps, like rolling a ball across a table while keeping my hand on it, lifting one pound weight, or pulling on a thin piece of latex. Those things seem easy but they were quite the challenge at the time, believe me.

Of course I was working out every day at home as well and gradually, the shoulder began to build some strength. I was really worried how it would hold up in July, when I took a short trip to Jamaica, but it was fine. Wading in the pools there I think really helped.

Today, I'd say it's 99% back, though I don't have the complete range of motion that I have in the left, especially reaching behind my back, as in back scratching motions. But it feels strong and I can do shoulder presses of up to 100 lbs without any discomfort. In fact, the shoulder feels better than the left now, which I know is arthritic. Oh it's hell to get old folks!

Now I know that I used to bench press 250, and that may have been the start of my shoulder woes prior to my auto accident. I know those days are past, but I do realize the importance of a light weight program and I am committed to that. I love working with bands. They offer great resistance but there is no impact in returning the weight to it's starting point, which is where the stress on joints come in.

So today I will lift a glass of water and toast to a year of hard work, being grateful for so many things in my life!

Accountability and Social Networks

The other day a young middle school girl back east was suspended from school for a crass, stupid thing she said about a teacher on her Facebook page. Essentially she wrote that she wished Osama bin Laden had killed her teacher rather than 3,000 other people on 9/11. Truthfully when I read the statement, I didn't perceive it as a death threat, but is was definitely a death wish. The school reacted by suspending the 13 year old from school. The parents contend that this was an overreaction and that they were never called in to discuss the matter with school officials, who have elected to decline public comment.

There has been some discussion about this incident and there are many people who feel that the school was wrong - her parents should have been called in (which I agree with, by the way), and some other type of punishment meted out. I don't agree with that, and here's why:

Suppose this situation had been reversed and it was the teacher who had written these nasty comments on a social network page? Do you think that the girl's parents would have supported a letter of reprimand as punishment? Of course not. They would be demanding the teacher be fired. In this post-Columbine era these types of public comments - by anyone - cannot be brushed aside as adolescent hubris and playfulness online. The remarks were mean-spirited and totally foreign to any concept of a civilized society. School officials could not know whether this was a dumb remark or truly evidence of the state of mind of this young lady.

I suspect that school officials erred in not consulting the parents, and we have not heard why that didn't happen, since the school district is not making comment. But they were more than justified in suspending the student. In fact they could have probably chosen to initiate expulsion proceedings if they had chosen to, but did not.

What I see here are parents, though no doubt well-meaning, who are seemingly exercising a certain lack of parental focus by setting a wrong example for their children. They are blaming the authorities for making the wrong choices of punishment and not following protocol rather than looking for the real problem: right in their own home.

That speaks to accountability. Social networks are a wonderful medium in which the voice of the "average Joe", such as myself, can be heard. But with that comes great responsibility. We all know that are people who chose to publish mean and hurtful things online all day long. And sometimes when those statements move into the area of threats and harassment, it becomes a matter for law enforcement.

I don't suggest at all that this should have happened in this case. But I do imply that instead of focusing on errors school officials may have made in handling this matter, perhaps the parents should have taken the time to understand why the young lady was suspended in the first place and tried to reinforce that at home. 13 years old is not too young to be held accountable for one's actions, and nobody can know what is on a person's mind when vitriol such as this is uttered in a public forum.

It is an ugly incident and I hope lessons are learned all the way around. There's plenty of blame to go around. Fix the problem, tighten procedures and stop passing the buck on online accountability.

Spanish Rice

Here's a favorite rice recipe that I stole from my mother, who made this a specialty. The secret to a fluffy rice is the frying of the rice to a nice golden brown. You'll know it's ready for the liquids because it will have a wonderful nutty aroma.

Ingredients

1 c long grain white rice, uncooked
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp chopped onions
2 tbsp chunky salsa, choice
2 c chicken broth, low sodium
dash salt to taste
sprigs of cilantro, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan, such as a chicken fryer. When the oil is hot pour in the rice and cook, stirring until it turns to a light, golden brown. Add the onion and continue to stir until the onion is clear. Next add the chunky salsa and stir to coat the rice and onion mixture. Careful not to put in too much salsa, because you just want to flavor and color the rice, not congeal it. Add the chicken broth and dash of salt, cover and lower the heat to simmer. Cook until the liquid is absorbed. Finish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Sahuarita HS Graduation 2011

There is no high school graduation quite like those done in my district, Sahuarita, Arizona. It's a small district about 20 miles south of Tucson that I fell in love with coming from Chicago twenty years ago. It was small then in student enrollment, but not in square miles. It covers more than 400 of those.

When I first began teaching band there the high school was already creaky and old, having been built in 1967 and really showing it's age badly. Some rooms, like my legendary band room, was a temporary Butler Building that ended up being permanent. You could push on the rear brick wall manually and see daylight where the ceiling and wall met. I had my share of critters running around in there, and rain produced puddles more often then not. Heat? Forget about it. Cooling was handled buy a swamp cooler, stinky with mold for too much of the summer and fall. Most of the time I just kept it turned off. It did have great storage space; former students from that era still regale me with stuff they found in those spaces that had been placed there during my predecessors' watches (there had only been two band directors in the district prior to my arrival.

It was primarily a ranching community back then, with a few small subdivisions scattered here and there. School spirit was lacking, mostly because the district was so far-flung. Some towns in the district are nearly 30 miles away. Kids just didn't stick around once the buses left because they had no way home.

But it knew when and how to celebrate - and that was graduation night. It was a big party, really, filling the football stadium and partying into the night. We were among the first to start the tradition of the all-night Grad Nite, a closed campus party intent on keeping kids safe. We even got corporate sponsors involved - local auto dealers gave away a used car every year. It's a model that has been followed by many area high schools since.

In the late 1990's a developer moved into the area with massive development ideas, including the construction of an artificial lake and a huge community center. Rancho Sahuarita was born. Today that development has more than 5000 homes, making Sahuarita for a time the fastest growing community in Arizona. Out of that came the state-of-the-art new Sahuarita High School, which opened in 1999. We have nearly tripled in size since the old days, now at 1500 students. Of course the district built or modified new schools to feed the high school. Now, we get a second high school, when Walden Grove opens next fall.

But through all of this growth, the old customs have been preserved. The party lives on! And last night was a huge bash. Both stands of our new multi-million dollar football field were filled to overflowing last night, celebrating our largest graduating class ever. It was also one of my best graduating classes; only the 2000 and 2001 class for me matches in terms of numbers of great students leaving my programs. I have chronicled this senior class in other articles.

By all accounts last night's Grad Nite was one of the best ever, and was well attended. It wasn't the only party in town, but I believe that it was one of the first times this event was free to students. Parents, community organizations and area businesses all collaborated to produce a memorable - and safe event.

Congratulations class of 2011! It's scary out there but if any group of capable students can overcome the complexities of our modern world, you can!
(Photos from www.sahuaritasun.com)

Graduation

By now you know that I am especially fond of this year's senior class at my school. It was a great class of musically talented young people. The only other senior class that comes to mind as talented was the 2001 class. That class spawned several music teachers, two Air Force pilots and even a doctor. I am pleased to say that at least I did not run them off from pursuing their dreams. It's always a sad, yet reflective time for me.

Just today I received a card and photo from a senior who told me how much I meant to her in the four years that I knew her. She's going on to music study at Bowling Green and I am truly happy to see her chase her dreams, yet saddened that she will not be be a fixture in my program in the years to come. A truly great kid, she is marked for greatness, as so many of these seniors are. This is what teaching is truly about. I'm crying in pride and joy!

Here is an audio from a rehearsal this week of my senior Chorale's graduation song. There are still some vocal and musical issues to be addressed after school next week, but I think the message is clear in this wonderful tune, by Darmon Meader.

Chicken Vesuvio

Here is a family favorite that we treat ourselves to - but not too often because it's rich. Great for a Sunday dinner, it's a Chicago specialty:

Ingredients

1 frying chicken, cut up into pieces (skin for lower fat content)
3 medium potatoes cut into thin wedges
2 cups flour for dredging
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Red pepper or flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
(Your favorite Italian spice mix can substitute)
8-10 cloves garlic, slice thin
¼ cup of dry white wine

Directions

Cut the potatoes into wedges, rinse in water, drain and mix with 1 tbsp olive oil in a bowl. Season them with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Heat a large skillet with the vegetable oil under medium high and turn on oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the flour in large bag and season with some of the pepper flakes, oregano and basil, salt and pepper.

Put a few of the chicken pieces in the bag, dark meat first and shake thoroughly. When the oil in the skillet is hot, place the chicken in a pan, space well and brown. The chicken should not cook through completely because it needs to finish in the oven.

Place all chicken on a large flat oven pan under over aluminum foil. Brown the potatoes in the same skillet. You may have to add a bit more cooking oil. Fry until the potatoes have a nice golden brown color.

Strain with a slotted spoon and place the potatoes on the chicken in the baking pan. Sprinkle sliced garlic all over the potatoes and chicken evenly. Re-season the mixture with the rest of the spices and sprinkle with olive oil and white wine.

Place the baking pan in the oven, middle rack, uncovered for about 45 minutes. Remove promptly and serve with a green salad, bread and white wine.

My School Year In Review, Part 2

A Night of Broadway turned out to be well-executed but sparsely attended. There was a varsity volley ball game going on that night and we drew not many students. However we had sold to adult groups at churches and older folks did come out. The show grossed $1400 in tickets and donations, not a bad haul for the money we had invested (very little actually).

As such it was enough to make the Anaheim trip a reality, with funds from subsequent candy sales, tax credits, gifts and donations and student payments we would make that trip.

January also brought news that senior Dylan Carpenter had made the all-state jazz band as trombonist for the second straight year. The concert, which kicked off the February music teacher's convention in Mesa, was spectacular. January was also the month for all-region auditions, which we were hosting. Several of our band, orchestra and choir students were selected for these ensembles as well. Their tune-up was the Eastern Arizona College Honor Festival in the first week of February. We had a bus load selected for this ensemble and spent an enjoyable day there.

This indeed was a busy month; days before the all-region festival, I took my jazz band to the Chandler-Gilbert Community College Jazz Band Festival for their first clinic of the year by Eric Marienthal of The Phat Band. Eric had some great insight for us and we would use this shortly later at the Area Jazz Festival and State.

Regionals were a busy time for us as we hosted 300 students from 20 high schools, culminating is a gala Saturday concert. There was nothing but praise for our facilities and our accommodations. And for me it is always a thrill to see our students achieving with the very best in an honor festival.

By then I had committed to three new festivals, including Area Jazz (qualifier for state), Heritage Festival in Anaheim, and the Eastern Arizona College Large Ensemble Festival. I had slated my younger choir kids for that one.

I thought the area jazz festival at Canyon del Oro High School was a high watermark for our band. It played very well and slight intonation and style flaws only kept it from earning a Superior rating. As it was the performance qualified for state with its Excellent rating. Once we did this I immediately changed the music. Some directors will use the same music over and over, but in my mind that is not challenging enough. For state we play an entirely new program.

Meanwhile both choirs continued to work on their April concerts; Chorale was singing English madrigals at the Heritage Festival on April 1, and the Mixed Chorus was going to EAC for that festival.

The Heritage trip proved to be the highlight of the school year. In addition to everyone being well-behaved, they were also focused. There was much to find commendable in the Chorale's appearance at this festival; they sang well and had excellent feed back from three college professors of music. Of course as my posted pictures indicate the kids had a lot of fun too. The Chorale took home a Silver sward for its performance.

The surprise of the festival season was our mixed choir, which earned a Superior at EAC two weeks after Anaheim. These youngsters saw a couple of choirs struggle on stage in front of them and I think the message that I had been preaching all year long about tone quality, support, control and diction hit home. They did what needed to be done and the judges recognized it. To be sure the performance was not perfect, but it was sung with earnestness and enthusiasm.

The jazz band was forced to prepare for two performances, state jazz on April 27 and the Spring concert on the 29th. Preparations were good, and the band was ready on the 27th, but I thought it played a little lackluster at the festival, with the main flaw being a lack of energy. The three hour drive to Willow Canyon High School in Surprise Arizona, and 9:30am performance time played a role, but even the students said they had played better.

But despite all that they still received an Excellent rating and a job well done! The only thing left after that was our spring concert two days later featuring all of our performing groups. For me that concert is always bittersweet because it is the last concert for our seniors. And I said earlier, this year was a special class of great students and young people. They all performed very well. The evening was capped by a performance of Beyond the Sea and Mack The Knife by Mr. Thompson, our high school principal. Kent has a great voice and an ear for this type of music and brought down the house at the end of the night. Unfortunately my camera died, so there is no video from that evening.

And so that is how a school year goes musically. Now I didn't talk at all about the University of Arizona Honor Choir that some of my seniors were selected for (it was great) or the football games our marching band performed for, nor the three marching band festivals they performed in (since I don't teach that band anymore). Nor did I mention the marching band's trip to Disneyland the week before our choir trip there. They marched in the Disney Parade.

The year held so many wonderful treasures and surprises that it would take a special occasion to celebrate all of them. We did that this past Friday evening, hosting a music senior awards banquet and dance. Our students are indeed special and we truly gave them a night that they deserved and their moment in the spotlight!

The only event left is graduation on the night of May 19th. I will have my small choir performing one last song with the seniors and the concert band will play one number. And that's it for this school year. It flew by, believe me!

My School Year in Review - Part 1

It's that time of year that I most enjoy; reflecting on the achievements of the past ten months and looking ahead to the next school year. This year marked my 27th year as a teacher, in Chicago and Arizona school districts, and my 19th in the Sahuarita Unified School District.

There have been lots of changes, to be sure over those 27 years, and this one was looking to me to be a poor one, with funding cuts, wages reduced and in Arizona, loss of tenure. Yes that's right. Our legislature approved the passage of a law allowing concealed weapons and even permitting them in bars, and in the same session wiped out teacher tenure. It's now much simpler to fire a teacher, but on the other hand the reductions in salaries and lack of job security makes it much harder to attract and hold good teachers. Totally backward thinking by AZ politicians, in my opinion.

But there is nothing really that I could do about this except to be a professional and do the job I was trained for and love. That I did! I had a number of special students in my program coming into the fall that I wanted to make sure had a meaningful senior year. There were eight in my choir and six in my jazz band who had been with me all four years so it was important that we engage them as best we could.

And there were other events coming up this year that I knew our whole department was going to be busy with. First I was now the permanent chair of the Arizona Jazz Educators Association clinic in Tucson. That event was in November at Foothills High School, but I would be involving many of my students in helping me to coordinate the things that needed to be done to ensure a smooth festival.

And we also knew that our high school would be host this year to the AMEA All-Region Festival following auditions in January. All of this was of course in addition to the normal number of concerts, fund raising events and extracurricular activities that we have on our docket. And oh yes, there was this idea of actually teaching classes too! How could I forget that!

I don't do marching band here anymore, but I do assist the director in the summer, coming in during the marching season to help with the brass lines. I can't say I've missed the hot band camps but I do love working with the brass students and seeing them deal with new music while at the same time learn their sets. Camp went well.

The first big fall event was the Youth In Harmony Barbershop Quartet Festival at Flowing Wells high school. I take my advanced vocal students each year to this large event, where 250 kids rehearse all day and perform a late afternoon concert of the music that has been carefully prepared all day.

This year I had a class for Chorale, and small chamber choir of my top 12 singers who could do Broadway, barbershop, madrigals and other music throughout the year. I was mostly made up of seniors, but I also had talented younger students in this class too.

The festival was on the first Saturday of September and went very well; but the numbers were down I noticed because many schools had cut transportation and could not participate. I saw that again later in the year with my jazz festival.

About this time I began to feel this this group was indeed special and could go far. We began to make preparations for an overnight California festival trip. But we still had much work ahead of us there.

My jazz band was young, except for those six seniors. I felt it was going to be slow going with this group because the rhythm section was new and so inexperienced. I'd graduated three seniors the previous year who were terrific, if troublesome because of substance abuse issues. They had to be watched constantly.

This band in fact took began to take giant strides early on and surprised me with it's desire to improve. I was very short trumpets and moved a senior tenor sax student to second trumpet. She handled it with aplomb! You get a student like this and you prize them! Switching from sax to trumpet is no easy task, and playing jazz is especially hard. She made it seem easy!

In fact this whole band loved the challenges, as did my advanced vocalists. I started giving them harder music and they seemed to develop an appetite for it. It made teaching a whole lot of fun, knowing that I didn't have to constantly re-teach ideas. That is what wears down teachers, trying to improve retention. At least in these groups that was no problem. My beginning choir and guitar classes - another story!

I had originally planned to take the band to my AAJE Clinic, which took place a few days before Thanksgiving. But our transportation fell through. This was occurring across the state. The story was that the Arizona Interscholastic Association, which monitors athletic competition and student eligibility matters, had allowed the Arizona Music Education Association to operate under it's umbrella, permitting school athletic departments, with their much larger operating funds, to pay for transportation and festival entry fee costs, as long as music directors made sure all of their participating students had passing grades.

It's a complicated matter, but the bottom line was that AIA and AMEA split this past summer and transportation and festival fees were either cut off to music departments or curtailed, depending on the school. Our Athletic Director agreed for this year to continue to pay as long as eligibility was monitored and enforced and the event resulted in a rating or ranking. The early jazz and choir clinics, like my AAJE clinic and the barbershop festival do not have a ratings feature, which cut off our funding. Other schools couldn't participate even if they did rate the performances. Still, twelve bands performed in my festival and it went extremely well.

I opted to hold the funds that I did have available for the Chandler-Gilbert CC Jazz Festival later in the the year, so our band did not play a Foothills. The barbershop festival came out of choir funds.

The sad thing about this AIA-AMEA business is that the marching bands, which support these endless Friday Night Madness affairs are such an important part of the whole atmosphere. What would happen if the bands went away? And of course there are marching band competitions throughout the fall designed to improve the bands as they prepare for their football obligations. Most schools are no longer providing athletic department money to support them. It makes no sense to me. And next year we'll feel the crunch even in competitions, because our AD won't fund anymore. However late word I had on this matter from my principal (who is a great musician) is that there will be no changes. We'll see who wins that battle because it is in no way settled.

My inexperienced choir, called the Mixed Choir, struggled all semester long with pitch, tone quality and projection, but by mid-November, they were performing the limited SAB literature that I had given them consistently well. They began to show some very strong signs of improvement, so I scheduled them on our Winter concert along with a staging of music from Guys and Dolls by our Chorale and the jazz band.

That concert was long, but the top groups performed incredibly well; the younger choir had its share if issues, including some attendance problems, but it was a good experience for them, which would pay off later in the spring. The Chorale, by now planning A Night of Broadway in January as it's chief fundraiser for an Anaheim music festival, used the fifteen minute Guys and Dolls piece as an advertisement for the January 6 two hour show, with tickets now already on sale. That night was not optimum but more on that later in Part 2.

The jazz band was on top of it's game immediately; it usually is at this time of year because the Concert Band, with only a three weeks to prepare coming off marching season, understandably has a weaker performance. Even though I share 90% of my band kids with the marching band, I of course do not work on marching band stuff during my class period.

The semester ended with all of our performing groups poised for bigger and better things to come. The kids in the Chorale all made plans not to take Christmas vacations this year in order to work over the holiday break on it's Broadway show, coming up the week we were back at school. Of course, their director didn't go anywhere either.