One of the covered bridges in Scio, Oregon - one of the nicest places I've been.
High School teachers, and, of course, band directors, are victims of a shitty system of government, total mismanagement of public funds, an outdated and arcane educational system, idiot administrators and parents in total denial about the fact that little Johnny is on his way to becoming a serial rapist/murderer because they won't discipline him at home. Most public schools should be shut down, and the people that work in them should find something constructive to do, like work at Starbucks or Big O tires. Just set up the facilities with up to date computers, put in a bunch of really big, mean cops to put a beatdown on the troublemakers, and deliver the goods online. Saves money, avoids nasty entanglements like Columbine High School. Keep a few schools open, and make them available to the students who test in the top 20% after 4th grade, pay the teachers an adult salary, get rid of the administrators all together and it's all a smooth running machine. Open a bunch of trade schools! Show kids how to balance a checkbook, why smoking crack and meth is bad for you, why prison isn't "really cool", etc.

And that's what I learned from 3 years of teaching High School.

The Shed, in Tanglewood, where I first heard real music.

I just couldn't believe how bad it was (and is). This is about the time I started thinking about teaching people about real music, rather than the crap spewed by our educational system. Heck, none of the teachers have even played a gig anywhere, for anyone, nor could they!

If you look at the best music teachers, they're also the best players, period. So I decided at the beginning of my third year that I would resign early, so I couldn't chicken out later. By this time I was the band and choir teacher in Scio, Oregon - a really pretty town with very nice people, students and a whole boatload of idiot teachers and administrators - the only 2 good teachers there were my friends that taught Agriculture and Drama.

Me in 1981, during my move to Colorado

I had taken a trip to the East Coast by bus to visit my pal Dave Salisbury and his family the summer before, and it totally turned me around - I had my first musical epiphany - I saw Aaron Copland conduct the Boston Symphony in Tanglewood on a gorgeous summer's night - as they played "Fanfare For The Common Man" there was an enormous thunderstorm in the distance, and so God actually accompanied, probably as a gift for Aaron, who to this day remains my favorite composer. I couldn't believe how great everything sounded! I realized my whole musical life was a facade, because music on the west coast, and ESPECIALLY in Oregon, isn't very good. All the players I heard were 1000% better than anyone I had ever heard before!


So when I got back to the west coast, I started looking for somewhere to attend graduate school. I wanted to be around some really good players to test my mettle! On a whim, I wrote a letter to my best college instructor, Dave Caffey, who was teaching at the University of Denver, to ask him what he thought about a few schools I was looking at. Heck, he called me back and offered my a full ride to go to DU (the University of Denver), a swell private university! They needed a lead trombone player in the jazz band, and I was just the guy! Yahoo! What a stroke of good fortune! Looking back, it changed my whole life, and once again, I was in the right place at the right time. I hopped in my crappy, beat up teacher's car and moved to Denver!