HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
Friends:
For the past 19 years, during Teacher Appreciation Week I have been attempting to "appreciate" YOU – and every year I struggle to make it meaningful and personal. And while we work hard to do it via Be Part of the Music, I still want to make a personal effort.
About four weeks ago, something in my gut told me to rediscover, revisit, and reshare a post I wrote in 2017. Since I want it to be personal, I listened to my gut, and I rewrote it with a bit of a different perspective.
Please accept it as a small token of my appreciation for all that you do.
- Scott Lang
LEADER OF THE BAND
As a tribute to his father, the title uses "band," but the sentiment is universal to ALL music teachers.
In 1981 Dan Fogelberg wrote a musical tribute to his band director father that shot to number one on the Billboard Music Chart. Through his poignant lyrics and soulful melody, Leader of the Band spoke compellingly about the difficulty of this profession and its impact on people.
The song and sentiment are genuinely touching, and although he wrote it for his father, it could have just as easily been written for you. If you don’t know this song or the artist who wrote it, you should.
As a music educator, your life and legacy live on through every student that passes through your program, and not just musically. Through your teaching, you provide students with more than lessons on harmony and melody; you give them life-lessons.
In last week's e-zine I shared the critical role that music teachers play in creating other music teachers. But, more importantly, Fogelberg's masterpiece (along with all of his musical works) shows a music teacher's impact continues throughout a student's life. Without Lawrence Fogelberg, we would not have had Longer, Run for the Roses, Same Old Lang Zine, Part of the Plan, Rhythm of Love, Power of Gold, or any other of his numerous hits.
This tribute song reminds us that teaching music can often require as much sacrifice and pain as it does joy and fulfillment. Above all, the poignant lyrics point out that music education is a calling, one that chooses us as much as we choose it.
The second stanza speaks to this sacrifice in a very meaningful way:
A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn't wait
He earned his love through discipline
A thundering velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand.
Many of you know that Leader of the Band was written for his father Lawrence Fogelberg who was a musician, educator, and band leader. The success of the song was a gift to him before he passed on. As an added tribute, Dan added his father's favorite composition, John Phillip Sousa's Washington Post March, to the end of the song. It really is quite cool.
In an interview after his father's passing Dan said:
If in my life, I were only allowed to write one song, it would be Leader of the Band.
- Dan Fogelberg
When you listen to the lyrics, and hear Fogelberg sing, you can tell that he really understands the life of a music teacher. But, more important, he understands the impact. He says it best in his final stanza:
The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul --
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band.
In the coming days and weeks, some of your students will leave you. Some of them forever, but that does not mean that you are gone from their hearts and minds. In part, they are a "Living legacy to THEIR leader of the band.
If you would indulge me for a minute during this speak day, I ask you to close the door of your office (or car), and listen as Dan Fogelberg celebrate you and the impact you have as the Leader of the Band. I have provided a video clip below.
Share this with every music teacher you know so that they are reminded of how special they (and you) are.
Have an extraordinary week.
SL
Dan Fogelberg passed away in 2007 at the age of 57 from Prostate Cancer. I reached out to his widow as a part of writing this article and have not as of yet heard back. If you want to learn more about his music and life, click here.
If you are interested in hearing a more modern rendition, the Zac Brown Band recorded Leader of the Band for a Dan Fogelberg tribute album, click below and enjoy (requires Apple Music or search it on your streaming service).