It has been an emotional week in which I have spent much time reflecting on my teachers and what it means to be a teacher. It was my great fortune to have had meaningful interactions with all of my main teachers in the past week, and I am still learning. My graduate teacher Joseph Huszti bought me and other former students dinner at the marvelous NCCO conference in Charleston, SC. My undergraduate teacher Ed Maclarys splendid University of Maryland Chamber Choir gave the type of jaw-droppingly unforgettable performance that, like Harvard in Washington and USC in Los Angeles, will be talked about for decades. My dear Lisa Evelyn Graham and her officers and all of the participants hit it out of the park with an over the top outstanding NCCO conference last week. Soon NCCO will be completely out of the hands of us who founded it, and I am so proud of her and the organization. Today Frank A Bianchi, my high school choir director, one of our countrys finest music educators, and the person who I credit for bringing me into this meaningful field, is in town from Cleveland to lead a couple hundred guys in our CSUEB Mens Chorus Festival. He was so inspiring yesterday with our CSUEB Choirs, and it is hard to believe that he has never worked with my choirs before. But, on one of my favorite days of the year (The CSUEB Mens Chorus Festival), my thoughts return to my mentor William Dehning. Dr. Dehning had congestive heart failure on Tuesday and today he will go into surgery. I heard him talk last week in Charleston, and had a chance to speak a little as the four founders of the National Collegiate Choral Organization basked in the glow of what our little baby has become. Dr. Dehning was a true mentor and inspiration to me in so many ways, and he still is, and part of every note that our men sing today will be dedicated to him with hopes of safe procedures and a speedy recovery. We are all educational mutts, products and mixtures of those who have taught us. I try, very hard, to pass the outstanding learning I have had on to my students, and today I am feeling blessed to have been taught by the best.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 15:03:43 +0000