Photo: Ron St. Jean
I firmly believe that education is infused into everything that a conductor and musician does. We all are teachers, and we all are students. We all instruct, we all learn. I once heard an orchestral musician speak about the greatness of Maestro Claudio Abbado during his tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic. To paraphrase him, rehearsals never felt like the orchestra was being commanded or controlled by Abbado. Instead, he was showing them the way through the piece. “Listen over there.” “Blend with them.” “This is the arrival!” In a very real sense, Abbado was teaching. And the orchestra was learning.
Photo: Amanda Kowalski
My career in music started in earnest when I took on a public-school teaching position in Kent, WA. My day started with one period at the high school, two periods in the neighboring middle school, and alternating afternoons with elementary, beginning string classes. I quickly learned what was effective with students and what was not. I realized I had many, many things to learn.
Over the following 10 years, I developed as a teacher and conductor with the help of some wonderful colleagues at school, in the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra program, from festival clinicians and presenters at professional conferences, and through long hours at work.
Photo: Amanda Kowalski
During my undergraduate years, I did not believe that teaching was my calling. The allure of a career conducting only the best professional orchestras available kept its hold on me. However, one day, as I was imagining leading an ensemble and its audience to a shared “peak” musical experience, I realized there was more teacher in me than I thought. I told a close friend who observed, “David, you want to be a musical sherpa.” It made me laugh, but the image has stuck.
A sign in my office at UNH says, “Excited. Relatable. Vulnerable. Prepared.” These are the traits I have seen in the greatest teachers (and conductors) I have known. I strive to embody these principles every time I teach or take to the podium. In my career, I have worked with beginning public-school students, advanced high-school orchestras and youth symphonies, collegiate orchestras, community orchestras, and professionals. These principles work. They create a space where we can all come together, free from fear, political maneuvering, and other obstacles, to focus solely on music-making and sharing our essential humanity.