Tag Archives: Performing Arts Teachers

Former students gather to honor music teacher Robert Moore

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Every once in a while I stumble upon a heartwarming story about a teacher that just warms my heart. Here is one about Robert Moore, a retired high school music teacher from Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Robert’s 30 year career as an educator began in 1966 and ended when he retired in 1996. He just celebrated his 80th birthday, so as a special surprise, nearly 300 of his former students decided to pay homage to their former music teacher. In an effort that took nearly a year to organize, they traveled from all over the country and from three foreign countries back to their home town of Ponca City. There they rehearsed and performed a surprise tribute concert for Robert. Some of the selections they performed brought Robert to tears, such as “Kumbaya” and the Christmas song “Still, Still, Still.”

Many of the former students described their teacher as a strict disciplinarian who pushed them to perform beyond what they thought they had in themselves. “He expected the best out of us, and therefore we gave the best that we had,” remembered Katy Cutler-Art, class of 1975. “He would stop you in the hall and ask you to sing a specific note,” recalled Susan Clay Vitkavage, class of 1979. Because of Robert’s expert guidance, the Ponca City Chorale won choir competitions all over the country every year that he served as their director. Many of the former students said they pursued successful careers in music or became educators because of the inspiration they gained from Robert.

Despite his rather tough teaching style, Robert obviously still harbors great affection for his former students. “Thank you so much for this,” he told them at the conclusion of the concert. “You’ll never know what it means to me and to my family. I loved you then, and I love you now.”

View this four-minute YouTube video for more about this amazing chalkboard champion. I just recommend you keep the tissue box handy.

 

Melody Herzfeld, Theater Arts teacher at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, honored at Tony Awards ceremony

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Melody Herzfeld

Melody Herzfeld, Theater Arts teacher at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, was honored at last night’s Tony Awards ceremony.

Theater Arts teacher Melody Herzfeld was recognized last night with the Excellence in Theatre Education Award at the 72nd Annual Tony Awards ceremony at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. Melody is credited with saving 65 student lives at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School last Valentines Day when the chalkboard hero barricaded them in her classroom’s office as a disturbed student opened fire merely 50 yards away. In the shooting, the gunman killed 14 of his fellow students and 3 staff members. Following the massacre, Melody supported and guided her students in their nationwide movement for tighter gun control.

Melody has taught courses in acting, theater production, and technical theater at Stoneman Douglas since 2003. During that time, she has directed more than 50 productions. Her drama program has earned state and Critic’s Choice recognition at various Thespian competitions, and has won awards from the South Florida Cappies and the Cappies Critics. Cappies is an international program that recognizes, celebrates, and provides learning experiences for high school drama students and teenage playwrights. Melody has also produced her community’s Children’s Theatre Project since 2003.

The Excellence in Theatre Education Award is given by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University to a K-12 theater educator who has demonstrated a monumental impact on the lives of students. It comes with a $10,000 prize for the winning teacher’s theater program. Melody is only the fourth recipient of the honor. In addition to her Tony award, this talented performing arts instructor also received the Educational Theatre Association’s 2018 Thespis Award earlier this year.

During her Tony Award acceptance speech, Melody asserted that performing arts educators teach students to speak their own truths, to develop a work ethic, to know that loyalty and collaboration is key, to be good to each other, to accept everyone, and to make a difference. “We teach this every day in every arts class,” she said. “Imagine if arts were classes that were considered core—a core class in education—imagine. And ours is only one small part, yet it’s the most important part, of a child’s education.”

You can view Melody’s entire Tony Award acceptance speech below:

Yvonne Busch: Music teacher, band director, and jazz musician

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Yvonne Busch

Yvonne Busch leading her band at George Washington Carver High School.

Gifted educators often earn recognition for their accomplishments outside of the classroom. One of these is Yvonne Busch, a music teacher, band director, and jazz musician well-known in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Yvonne was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1929, the daughter of a longshoreman and a homemaker. She was raised in nearby Treme, a community with a reputation for a lively music scene. At just 11 years old, Yvonne persuaded her parents to allow her to enroll at Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi. Piney Woods is a privately-funded, historically African American boarding school well-known for its music education programs. There Yvonne played the trumpet and toured with the school’s all-girl band. The band performed at dances, clubs, and USO events throughout the American South and Midwest.

In 1943, Yvonne returned home to New Orleans, where she continued her music education at Gilbert Academy. She studied under the school’s music director, T. LeRoy Davis. It was during this time that the young woman decided to become an educator. She enrolled in the teacher training program at Southern University in Baton Rouge. While completing her coursework there, Yvonne joined the university’s jazz band, eventually becoming the band’s assistant director.

Once she completed her education, Yvonne returned to New Orleans, where she accepted a position as a public school teacher. Over the next three decades, she taught at Booker T. Washington School, Joseph S. Clark School, and George Washington Carver High School. As a teacher and band director, Yvonne often faced crippling shortages of funding and instruments. To combat this, she often contributed her own instruments, and persuaded her friends to donate more. As a teacher, she encouraged her students to play multiple instruments. Yvonne was so dedicated to her students that she offered free private lessons and organized summer practice sessions for her students.

In all, Yvonne’s impressive career spanned a total of 32 years. “Miss Busch was a lot like jazz,” remembered former student Herlin Riley. “She was intense, but she was relaxed. She had rules, but she would give you the freedom to explore. She stressed discipline, but she encouraged self-expression.”

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away in New Orleans on February 28, 2014, at the age of 84. To read more about her, see Yvonne Busch or her obituary at Yvonne Busch, New Orleans Music Educator.

Clarence Acox, Jr.: Music instructor extraordinaire

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There are many gifted musicians who share their extensive talents with fortunate students in the classroom. One such musician is Clarence Acox, Jr., a high school music teacher and jazz musician who resides in Seattle, Washington.

Clarence was born in October, 1947, in New Orleans. As a youngster, he attended Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School in Treme, Louisiana. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at Southern University, a historically Black university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated in 1971.

After his college commencement, the young graduate accepted a position as a music instructor at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. Famed musicians Jimi Hendrix, Ishmael Butler, Quincy Jones, and Ernestine Anderson are all Garfield alumni. Under Clarence’s capable leadership, the high school’s Jazz Ensemble has captured the first place title two times at New York’s Essentially Ellington National Jazz Band Competition and Festival at New York City’s Lincoln Center (2003, 2004). This competition is the nation’s most prestigious high school jazz band competition. Additionally, under his expert tutelage, the Garfield High School Band has traveled to Europe on eleven tours, attending music festivals in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

In addition to his work in the classroom, Clarence performs regularly on the jazz nightclub scene in Seattle. He is a member of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1995 with Michael Brockman, a saxophone instructor with the University of Washington. In addition, Clarence is the director of the Jazz Ensemble representing Seattle University.

For his outstanding work in the classroom, Clarence has earned many prestigious awards. In 1991, he was honored as the Musician of the Year by the Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle. He was named Educator of the Year by Down Beat Magazine in 2001, and in 2003 he garnered the Impact Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), an organization best known for presenting the Grammy Awards each year. In 2004, Clarence was named Outstanding Music Educator by the Seattle Music Educators Association, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame. Additionally, in May, 2016, Clarence was recognized with an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

To learn more about this remarkable educator and musician, click on JazzJournalists.org or BlackPast.org.

Performing Arts teacher Jim Doughan is also an accomplished actor

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There are many examples of talented teachers who are also accomplished actors. One example of this is drama teacher Jim Doughan, who is probably best known for his role as Detective Doyle in the hit movie The Mask (1994). He also delivered notable performances as the voices of Detective Phil Allen and Lucky the Cat in the movie Stuart Little (1999) and as Mr. Pole, the driver’s ed teacher, in the popular TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

Jim was born James Frances Doughan on August 2, 1959, in Apple Valley, Minnesota. After his graduation from Apple Valley High School, Jim enrolled in the University of Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1977. He has taught history, English, and drama at Westridge School in Pasadena, and is currently employed as a performing arts teacher at Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles.

Jim has donated much of his time as a mentor for student writers, serving as a director for the Harvard Westlake School Playwright’s Workshop. In addition, he has taught at the Summer Intensive Actor’s Workshop sponsored by Harvard Westlake School, and he has conducted a master class in improvisation at the University of Southern California and at Execuprov in Orange County, California.