By Cynthia A. Lansford
I am a retired band director currently living in Keller, Texas. “Retired” may be the wrong descriptor, as I am actually just in my second career, one that evolved after teaching in the public schools for thirty years!
Baytown, Texas, was where I grew up, and I began my career there. I loved my high school band experience, and I played clarinet/bass clarinet and was also a twirler (it WAS the ’60’s) and drum major. After graduation, I spent a wonderful four years at Texas Tech University. It was a great time to be a member of the “Goin’ Band From Raiderland” under the direction of the one and only Dean Killion. My student teaching experience was very positive, and it guaranteed I would be a teacher for life! I graduated in 1976, and my first job was back in Baytown at my hometown high school. After moving to Plano, Texas, and spending two more years as a high school assistant, I found my calling teaching middle schoolers at Carpenter Middle School in Plano. The surrounding school districts were filled with some of the most highly respected and successful band directors in the state, and every gathering in our region was like a masterclass in “how to teach band.” I spent a wonderful ten years at Carpenter before moving across the metroplex to the North Fort Worth area. In my fifteenth year of teaching, my eyes and ears were opened by some great colleagues at Haltom High School in the Birdvlle ISD. They introduced me to wonderful mentors and showed me just how much young people could accomplish musically. These five magical years at Haltom HS as an assistant director were life changing and will always hold some of my best memories as a public-school teacher. I finished my career at North Ridge Middle School in the Birdville ISD. These eleven years were filled with wonderful students, and their achievements were really astounding. After thirty years in the public schools, I was ready to work a little here and there, enjoy being a TCU spouse (my husband was the clarinet teacher there for thirty-one years), and enjoy retirement traveling and attending performances and events in the Fort Worth area.
Like so many who teach, I was unable to sit still for very long, and I found I really needed a schedule. I embarked on a journey helping young band directors in our area on a regular basis. This new endeavor literally exploded, and before I knew it, I visited 25-30 schools multiple times every year helping them to build and develop their students and programs. My “second career” – teaching teachers – is fun, very fulfilling, and keeps me young! It has taken me all over the state and, in fact, all over the country. Little did I know this “second career” would develop into a full-time project of working to make bands better wherever I go.
In addition to my regular teaching duties, both before and after “retirement,” I have been so lucky to be active in our state music organizations as the well as The Midwest Clinic. Conducting honor bands, presenting clinics, and being involved in music education in general has introduced me to thousands of wonderful teachers and students literally around the world. While I was quite fortunate to have successful bands throughout my career in public schools, it is beyond thrilling to watch my “older students” become successful in their careers and literally push the ceiling of student achievement higher and higher. These young people have literally become part of my family, and it is an honor, and often quite emotional, to watch them as they develop as teachers and humans.
Professional organizations are so important to our profession, sharing information and teaching methods, giving support to teachers in every setting imaginable, and advocating for music education in our schools and in the public eye, just to name a few reasons. I have been active in these organizations for years, and it has been an honor to be able to share my years of experience with my colleagues through sessions of all sorts. The rewards and awards have been plentiful, and I am grateful to be a part of music education in Texas as well as many areas of the United States and beyond.
Induction into the American Bandmasters Association allows me to “rub elbows” with many of my mentors and meet the next generation of “up and comers.”
