To my Underappreciated High School Band Teacher,
Thank you for being you. Band teachers don't get enough credit for putting in time long after the final bell rings, day after day. Your long hours spent putting time and effort into picking just the right song for us did not go unnoticed. You seemed to know which songs would inspire us, like a march, or would move us, like a chorale. Every band period or lesson only brought everyone together, as we all worked in tandem to create something wonderful. I'll never forget the day we almost made you cry when we flawlessly played Danny Boy for you. I've never felt more at home with a group of more than 100 people.
I'll never forget your endless love for J.W. Pepper, and how you'd come to us with new music for us and let us hear a preview of it through that site. You never failed to cry at every concert, especially the ones you said goodbye to another class of seniors at. The way you worked with us as we tried to balance all of our schoolwork, jobs, and athletics to compensate for keeping music in our lives was something I always appreciated. You never got mad when I couldn't play a scale for my scale tests, you just smiled and asked me to try again. Nothing was impossible with you; as long as I tried hard enough, there was no rhythm that I couldn't learn. You were never bitter or hostile, despite the epic amounts of pressure that were placed on your shoulders. At least a hundred people would ask you for favors every day, and you did your best to help everyone. Not every person can do that, but you managed to. Your heart is way bigger than any baritone sax.
There were moments in that band room that I'll never forget. New faces became familiar ones as I saw them every day and associated them with the instruments they played. Being the nerdy band kids who wore giant red sweaters (and eventually, decked out uniforms complete with a hat and feather) to march at football games became a lot easier when we were being guided with you in front of us. You always said that our talent was a product of all of the teachers that taught us before we came to you. While that may be true, the wall of sound we produced at halftime, during parades and in the auditorium was due to you preparing us to play different genres of music, but with the same intensity.
Needless to say, you made a huge impact on my life and high school career, along with thousands of others that you've taught on your journey as a teacher. You developed incredible bonds with all of us, and you did it, despite having 4x the amount of students that any other teacher teaches during any given 40 minutes. It is because of this relationship that I will continue to come to your concerts. I might not be in front of the baton anymore, but I will still always be just as touched by the music it produces as I sit behind it.
Much love and Godspeed to you,
Just Another Trumpet Player
