NHS Band Director recognized for making a difference

NHS Band Director Joel Tanner is one of fifty band directors from around the country selected as “50 Directors Who Make A Difference” by School Band And Orchestra Magazine.  This award recognizes outstanding music educators from every corner of the United States who are actively fostering and inspiring future generations of musicians, music educators, and patrons of the arts. Winners of this award are nominated by readers and selected by SBO’s editorial staff. 

Report: 2013's 50 Directors Who Make a Difference
Joel Tanner
Newberg High School
Newberg, Oregon

Years at Current School: 8
Total Years Teaching: 15
Instrumental Music Students: 180

Proudest moment as an educator
I could talk about festivals and contests and awards, but I am more proud of the little things. The homeless student who found a way to become a professional musician. The girl who came back five years after leaving the program to thank me. The student who wrote a brilliant piece for concert band based upon a statement made in class. The time the band was working on emotional connection to the dots on the page and the kids secretly invited my parents to a concert and then unexpectedly dedicated a piece to them, complete with a slide show of my childhood as visual accompaniment. I lasted about 30 seconds, but I felt the kids truly understood emotional connection.

Making a difference in students’ lives
I have three goals as an educator in music. My first goal is to put as much music in front of my kids as a I can to increase their ability to make smarter choices about what they choose to listen to on their own. My second goal is to show students that music can be more than just pushing buttons at the right times, but an extension of their emotional personality. My third goal is to show kids that success comes from perseverance no matter your talent level or subject.

Key to a successful career in music education
While the content of what we teach fuels our passion, and the compassion for young people is the vehicle, the rubber hits the road only after you deal with the ‘administrivia’ portion of the job that you don’t get training on in school. Things like how to run a photocopy machine, order a bus, file music, budget both time and money, and all the other things that seem to replace all the time you wish you had for score study and content preparation.