Ep 219 | School of Rock (orchestra)!

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Everybody has an ability and a skill, and I think what my job is is to go into every school I can and find every diamond in the rough that we can possibly locate. And you never know who's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. We imagine rock bands filled with counter-cultural characters, rife with bad behavior and living on love. But what if it was filled with upstanding community members, including orchestra teachers who mentor students and Run and Honors Orchestra? My next guest is such a man. When he's not the itinerant fine arts fifth grade orchestra teacher, he's the bass player and vocalist in the White Tie Rock Ensemble. Today he's going to share how he's investing in Escambia County Kids and why the orchestra program is for everyone. Welcome, John Clark. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

You are a multifaceted, multi-talented man with many layers of both music and education in your origin story. And so I kind of thought maybe we should start there. Should we start with your dad?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yes. Well, my my father, Cecil Clark, began as a rock and roller. And so uh was, you know, doing all kinds of stuff. I mean, even when I was a kid, you know, Ted Nugent would come to the house and he was friends with the Allman Brothers, that kind of stuff. Seriously?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Oh yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Did you know how big of a deal that was?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I did not. Like they would just, you know, tell me somebody I was, I mean, this is early 80s, so I was probably five, you know. But he, you know, I I know the you know the Allman Brothers stories and the Ted Nugent stories, and but he was playing rock and roll and rock and roll bands and then, you know, had two children. And so at 30, he decided to go back to school and get his degree and and get a real job, I guess, instead of being Mr. Rock and Roll. And so he started teaching orchestra in 1980.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Here.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Yeah, in Escambia County. So 1980, and I mean, did 34 years of that. And I had my sister had him. My sister's eight years older than I am. She teaches orchestra also. And she had him in all her classes, and I had him for seven years at Workman Middle and Washington High School. Wow. So, you know, it probably kept me out of trouble though, knowing I'd have to see my dad every day and, you know, made sure I showed up on time.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

It does add another layer of the village because everyone knew you were his kid, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Correct. Yes. And so, yeah, the principals, you know, Mr. Clark, you know, talking to me, and I was like, oh yeah. But no, it it was great. I mean, it was a fabulous experience. And and and getting him to teach me every day for an hour is is priceless. So but he loved it. I mean, he did it for 34 years. I think he, you know, I think he probably took one year early, and you know, I think he was probably planning on 35, and he went, No, we're we're done. But did a great job. And so many of his former students I have now taught their children. Wow. And so just the the passing of the torch is you know very organic in the orchestra program in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So well, he started the orchestra program.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah, and you know, there were a couple of things probably going on, but once he got involved, it really grew and started getting the traction that it needed. And I think he was I himself for about 12 years. And then they hired uh a second teacher. And so for 12 years, he was probably going to four or five schools a day.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Covering every I mean, because my my wife had him at Fairy Pass. And so I know he was at, I mean, PHS, Woodham, Washington, Fairy Pass, and Workman. That was probably his route.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

I find that so interesting that he was solo in that role for 12 years. And now we have you said eight.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah, we have eight teachers now. It it's been growing. I mean, once we got the second one, and even when I came on 25 years ago, they hired two teachers once I was there. And I think we've probably maybe hired two in the last 25 years, but we're a very efficient unit. We travel around and and teach as many students as we possibly can. And we have a a bunch of veteran teachers too. So they're real good at making sure we get to everybody that we need to get to.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

So well, I having nothing to compare it to, thought, oh, eight teachers. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's normal, right? And then it turns out not at all.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Right. Well, we're we're a district unit, so it was great, because I think the district took care of that, you know, 40 years ago to make sure that when we do come onto your campus, you don't have to choose between an orchestra program and a reading teacher or a fourth grade teacher or something along those lines. Because it's unfortunate that the arts seemed to be the first thing to be chopped, and they were very forethought, forward thinking, and going, well, if we make this a district unit, we're sort of a gift to the program. And really nowadays we can help alleviate any type of personnel issues or something like that. But but it works out great. And I mean, it's it's a fantastic program. And you know, I I would love to kind of find a number that we've taught. Like I know personally I've taught probably 4,700 fifth graders.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

But if you averaged out every teacher that we've had for the past, you know, 45 years, I mean, that's a lot of students that have been touched by the orchestra program in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So And it's a special feather in the cap of Escambia County, right? Because like neighboring counties, they either have much smaller orchestra programs or none at all.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Or nothing, yeah. I mean, if you so Santa Rosa County just started an orchestra program, I think two or three years back.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Wasn't that thanks to your wife?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yes. And it was my wife. So after COVID and all that kind of stuff, my wife had ended up taking a leave of absence for a year. And the the literal superintendent, you know, Dr. Barber, calls and says, Hey, what would we do to start this program? And so we went and had some meetings with her and we said, This is how you should do it, or whatever. And then looked at Virginia and said, Well, do you want to do it? And Virginia said, Yeah. And so now I'm you know, we're spreading it into the other counties. But I think once you get Oklaosa and stuff, there's maybe private type organizations that do a little bit of teaching, but nothing like what we have here in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

That's so interesting. I feel like our county, you know, with a lower median household income, we tend to lean a little practical when it comes to student experiences. How would playing an instrument benefit a student financially, like once they graduate?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

First off, getting into it. The the violins are very inexpensive nowadays. They've they've gotten very affordable, and it's not like junk from the 1970s or something. There used to be very bad violins floating out there.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

But like what's affordable? What's what's the range?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

I mean, I'll see some kids with a hundred dollar violins and they could play those for the next four to eight years.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

I mean, that's the same as Socrates.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Right. I mean, it it it's crazy. And so, I mean, a good quality violin is probably three to four hundred bucks, but like I said, they play it for eight years. So if you're you're subtracting that over the time, I mean, it's cheap. In terms of, I mean, you know, they play at church, they can play at weddings, they can play in rock and roll bands, they can, you know, but outside of that, the fact that they're learning how to do a skill and putting one foot in front of the other and following a hundred simple small steps that equals into this just brilliant way to play a musical instrument, that's the priceless thing that I'm trying to teach the kids. If you want to walk a mile, you got to take a step. And, you know, by the time you get to a mile, you might take, you know, I don't know, 3,000 steps. You know, I don't, you know, but just the process and and getting that process down is invaluable because it translates into anything that they want to do. If they're, you know, you want to cook a meal, you follow a process. If you want to play the violin, you follow a process. If you want to play football, you follow a process. So it's, you know, it's in terms of then back to you were talking about cleats or whatever, it's very difficult to make money probably playing soccer at 48 years old. It's not difficult to make money playing the violin at 48 years old. And so it is a it is a gift that you can do for a very long period of time. My my teacher that taught me violin, I I grew up playing the violin with a fantastic violin instructor named Anna Tringus, taught me everything that I know. I I really feel like I could have gone to her lessons in my dad's orchestra class and learned everything about life that I needed. She taught until she was probably 93, played the violin until she was 93. I mean, it's it is just something that we can really do for such a long period of time, and it's just a lifelong adventure. And now at 48, like I'm not sure if I'm better than I've ever been, but I'm wiser about how to approach the violin and music than I've ever been for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

So in what way? I don't think the normal day-to-day person thinks about, well, gosh, is my approach to music wise? So I'd love for you to expand on that.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

You know, I guess when I was younger, it was just like ability, or you know, you just kind of did it. It was like it'd be like running fast, or you know, you just ran as fast as you could. So I would just play the violin like with a bandit. And as you get older, you have to sort of uh adjust how you approach running. So in terms of playing the violin, just a smarter approach, knowing I think in music, there are certain things that people expect to pop out of a song and knowing what is the essence of that song. And we do that a lot in White Tire. You have to lean towards if if you're doing Queen, it has a theatrical bent to it. So you have to approach the music with a little bit of a theatrical bent. Whereas if you're playing Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin you would think is a rock and roll band and they're just gonna go out there and and kill it. But they're actually it's a slower plotting methodical sound. It's got a heavierness to it. Or if you're doing Pink Floyd, you've got to have that emotion behind it. Pink Floyd has a desperation. So therefore, now if I'm playing the violin and I'm playing Bach, it's going to have a certain sound. That's a that's a different generation than say Mozart or Stravinsky. And so just knowing that I didn't know that as a kid. I did more playing the music than performing the music. And I think as I've gotten wiser, I've learned how to produce the performance in the most efficient, easiest way for me, instead of just having to play the notes that are on the page. And so I think getting that to the students and telling the students more like, okay, no, play that note short and play, you know, there's little things that we can do to get the performance, it it makes it easier to get to that point faster because of that wisdom that I mentioned earlier.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Okay, so I'm hearing two things that translate into life skills. So I'm gonna throw them out at you, and you tell me if I am completely missing the boat or if I'm somewhat on track. I hear you talk about the power of noticing and emotional intelligence.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Yeah, perfect. Right. And I mean, and I teach emotional intelligence to fifth graders, I mean, all the time, which is a a very valuable lesson. What I love about the fifth grade mind is that they're the biggest dog they've ever been. They're the oldest kids at the school, they're the tallest kids at the school, they're the biggest kids at the school. They're not scared of anything. And so all of a sudden they come into my class and it's something that's brand new. I'm putting an instrument in their hand that they they've never, they've only seen one on television, you know, that type of deal. And then we start to make sound and we start to make good sound and we start to make scratchy sounds, and then we adjust and we figure different things out. But yeah, I mean, knowing what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and when not to do it, and how to not get in the way, or how to not play if you're if you're gonna make a mistake, you can hold back or different things like that. But yeah, no, I think you're right. And noticing, we'll play a passage and I'll I'll say to the class, okay, how can that be better? And the kids will go, like, oh, well, you know, if they pull the bow more, she's not pulling the bow fast enough, or he's pressing down too hard, or and I'm just like, perfect. I mean, they start to see what kids are very quick to be able to see in other people mistakes and problems. In their own self, that's a more difficult thing. So when they can see another kid making a mistake or not playing something perfectly, they can go, oh, they need to A, B, and C. And I go like, yes. And then hopefully that tracks to them. But there's the noticing thing, and yeah, just being mindful and present in the present.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

But how long does it take for them to come to that point of integration?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

We're still working on that.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

TBD.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Yes. Okay. Well, you know, we give an end of the year concert and it's always better than what is expected. You know, parents are gonna think it's gonna sound like cats fighting.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

And it That's maybe what it sounds like when they're practicing at home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Well, always at the concerts. I say, like, oh, that sounds a lot better than what you'll hear them practice at their house, right? Right. Right in a silence, you know. And kids are so distracted by so many things nowadays. Getting them to practice. It was getting me to practice was a tough one if you talk to my parents, say.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Well, let's actually pick up back there, back to your story, because we talked about your dad, how he is kind of the origin of this whole thing, really. It's funny that he started as rock and roll and then went to teaching. You didn't go that order, did you?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Well, kinda. I was I was in a rock and roll band. Um, I started teaching when I was 23, and I was, I was on the road with a rock and roll band called Wave, and it was an original kind of jam band, you know, fish, grateful dead type thing. And we were just kind of traveling around the southeast a little bit, and 9-11 happened. And so all of a sudden, my wife was actually substitute teaching the day 9-11 happened. So, you know, all of our gigs were canceled. Everything uh stopped. It wasn't like COVID stopped, but it was, you know, like we don't know what's going on. All the bars said, nope, we're not doing entertainment this weekend. And it took a while to get all that back. And so a gentleman named Larry Reed was retiring from the, he was the head of the fine arts department, and he had always wanted a fifth grade strings program. And I had graduated, I had a violin performance degree from UWF. And he said, Would you he called me, he said, would you like to start a fifth grade strings program? And I said, Well, what does that entail? And he said, Well, you're gonna design it. I was like, Well, cool, that sounds great to me. And so we started off in January of 02. I came on kind of as like a sub, like a full-time sub. And they sent me to four or five schools, I can't remember at the time exactly. Like Myrtle Grove was one and Cordova Park, maybe Scenic Heights, maybe Helen Cairo. And they said, We want you to recruit 10% of the fifth grade to play violin. Well, they had just gone to see like the symphony play or something, you know, like that. It was it was real close to that time. So I went in and recruited like 50% of the fifth graders to come play violin.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

It was just amazing. And I mean, we we kicked it off great and started it, it was super strong. And so the next year they hired two fifth grade string teachers to just travel around. We had one on the north end, and I do the south end, you know, of the county. And it was fantastic. And then, you know, now I still probably recruit a third of the fifth grade.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, I've heard that enrollment is very high. I thought it was already close to 50%.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Well, I mean, in terms of yeah, kids that come to me for for violin, yeah, it's yeah, they they love it. And it's, you know, there's not one demographic that takes the violin. It is a total melting pot of everything.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I mean, I'm glad you brought that up because I've always thought I come from like a small river town where a good weekend was shooting beer cans at the river, right? Like so our idea of that genre of education, it was for other people. It wasn't for us. Like we had to clean the deer that our uncle shot over the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

I would just get you to sign up for the fiddle class, see? It'd be right, yeah. No, and so you have that, you know what I mean? Even if it's a a different, you know, that demographic, we'll just they want to come play fiddle and we play fiddle songs. And but no, it's it's fantastic. And I have probably 50-50 male-female, and I'm a six foot four man violinist playing, you know, this tiny little instrument in in my hands, and I go out and play for those kids and they go, Oh, I want to do that too.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

And you know, not all of us are are built for sports and you know well, that's part of the the stereotype that I had in my mind, partially because of this the picture I just painted of being from Nebraska. And then the other part was for like I picture orchestra for students who are just academically so amazing that they're a little bored, they're not athletic, and they need something extra to do. And so they sign up for orchestra.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

No, I mean I have, you know, I mean, I'll have teachers coming out. How's Johnny doing in your class? I'd be like, oh, he's a great violinist. You're like, oh, he's not doing anything in my class. You know, like everybody has an ability and a skill. And I think what my job is is to go into every school I can and find every diamond in the rough that we can possibly locate. And you never know who's gonna be great. You could put a hundred kids in front of me and I wouldn't be able to point out and say, oh, they're gonna be good, or they're gonna be good. And the smartest kid at the school might not have the musical ability. And the person that's struggling, I mean, I I had friends in high school, they showed up for orchestra and now do very well in playing music for a living, but probably had a difficult time getting out of high school. And so it's just having that gift and that opportunity. That's just, you know, what I love to go around and do and find these kids. And and when I'm surprised by it. When I'm surprised by that student that even if I thought, you know, oh, I don't know if he'll make it or not, or I don't know if she'll be good at this and all of a sudden they're great. I've given up trying to figure it out. I just give them all the information, they soak it up like sponges, and we see what comes out at the end. And the cream rises to the top at every school. I don't just go to the A schools, I don't just go to the the wealthy schools, and my best students come from a variety of schools.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And that's why you're passionate about orchestra for all.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Absolutely love it. And really, I mean, the surprises are why you do it. Because when all of a sudden that kid that, you know, is just you would not think is going to be able to just bust it out, and all of a sudden is it has beautiful tone on an instrument, granted, as a 10-year-old, and you know, as a fifth grader, and all of a sudden you just hear something from that and you're like, okay, there's something special there. And then if they stick with it, I mean, being involved in the orchestra program here in the county, I'll see these kids for eight years in their schools or longer. I mean, we've got 30-year-old friends. Some of the the the teacher at Bailey Middle School I taught when she was 10.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

She's like, I don't know, you know, in her 30s now.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

I don't know. I'm not that old to be able to have, you know, kids that are that. I don't know what the deal is.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, well, weird math.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yeah. No, no. It's a time warp somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

But so where does white Thai rock ensemble come into this picture? You were touring with waves and then became a teacher.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Well, and so we, you know, I mean, part of it, my my wife teaches high school. And so she actually did a concert where she played a Led Zeppelin song, and somebody complained that she played a Led Zeppelin song. So we started uh a private orchestra called the Emerald Coast Honors Orchestra, which private orchestra, you can play whatever you want, right? And we wanted to teach, just like we teach Bach and Beethoven and Mozart in the schools, you know that's gonna go fine. You want to teach uh, you know, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. That's the other side of things. Because I absolutely think if Mozart lived in the 70s, he would have been in the Beatles. And it's just if Paul McCartney lived in the 1770s, he would have been considered a Mozart, you know? And it's just a different avenue to do music nowadays. Mozart worked with what he had, Bach worked with what he had, and David Gilmore from Pink Floyd works with what he had.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

So and contextually it matters for where we are now. All those build up to where we are now. Like you can't enjoy music. Well, it's layers. I won't say you can't, but enjoying music now at there's another layer to it when you appreciate, oh wow, you can tell that this artist was really influenced by, say, Madonna. And wow, isn't that great? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, no, it's it's very easy to track, especially in music world. And I mean, I'm I'm sure in film world, you can watch directors and you know that they've come from this world or that director, you know, schooling. But so, you know, we're like, well, we'll put a band together. Uh it was a buddy of mine, me and Jerry Dawson, and I was gonna, my friend Richard Westbury from when I was young, we were gonna put together a police tribute band called The Fuzz. And so I really liked sting and all that kind of stuff. And then Sue was like, and then uh Joel Bouchelin was moving down here, our keyboard player, and I said, Well, let's put together a group. And for a lot of what we wanted to start with is that we were gonna play with symphonies. So I played with the Pentacles Symphony from 13 to 30. Wow. And so when I was 13, they sat me in next to a lady named Margaret Davis, and I think she was 90 something playing in the symphony. So here's little 13-year-old John playing with 90-year-old, you know, Miss Davis.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

It was great. And I mean, for I remember the first day I walked on stage, you know, the Wendy Klopfenstein was the first chair of the second violin section. She said, Jonathan, you can't have a hat on and you gotta leave your coke backstage. And it just taught me everything about how to be a professional and getting into that. And so our idea was we could take White Tie Rock Ensemble and go play with symphonies, and you could have everybody dress in black and you just bring white ties, and all of a sudden you give everybody a white tie, and boom, you've got a uniform. And so uh, you know, that was our kind of goal with that. And so we utilized that with the Emerald Coast Honors Orchestra. And it was literally 14 years ago, we just had done Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd with a with a youth orchestra and just gave them that opportunity to play something different. And, you know, when we were rehearsing that, we explained to them it's a mood, it's a feeling, it's a, you know, you've got to present something because it wasn't that difficult in terms of the notes they had to play, but how do you get that emotion across when you're just playing this long note here or whatever? And uh it was it was great, and it's grown from that. And so now White Tie has sort of, you know, branched off of that, and we have the quartet that plays with us just to keep it a little smaller, but it was it was invaluable just to learn how to do that. And so I had to write out all that music. And so I you know, I wrote out all the parts for the first violin, second violins, viola, cellos, bass, and but it was a lot of fun, and uh now I have this humongous catalog of just rock and roll band for orchestra sitting on my computer at home.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

So and that's what the ones are. Orchestra gets to draw from Lucky Group. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

And I mean, now we play, you know, we'll go to play at PentaCon and we play all the movie themes. And, you know, so Darth Vader walks by and we play the Darth Vader music. And or a little a kid in a Harry Potter outfit walks up and he he picks up his wand and he conducts the orchestra as we play the Harry Potter theme. I mean, there's just so much outreach and there's so much emotion that's so easy to pull, you know, from from just every generation.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

So I love that. Does the rock ensemble give you any extra credibility or like leverage, I guess I might say, with the students?

SPEAKER_00 22:37

They listen to you more because they know once they figure out what's going on. So, you know, one kid will come in and go, like, Oh, I looked you up on Google, Mr. Clark. And I was like, Uh oh, you know, like, you know, I could either that's either good or bad. And or you have a a show, I think at the the show you were at, we were talking about two of my students, an older student and her younger brother was there. And I saw him and I waved to him, whatever, and gave the the younger brother my tie. And it's just little moments like that. And if that can capture that kid's spark and they can continue, you know, doing this for a long time. And there are, I mean, but even like in in White Tie Rock Ensemble, Laura Ellis, I taught when she was at Myrtle Grove Elementary in 2004 when she was 10, you know. And if I would have said, like, okay, well, one day, I mean we were in White Tie didn't even exist at that point. We hadn't even thought about it. You know, it was eight years until that. And said, Okay, well, one day you're gonna be playing the violin, playing rock and roll music on the stage at the Pensacola Bass Center. It's just it's kind of a surreal thought process to go through. But yeah, no, I I we we played recently and I was walking in the audience, and a uh a younger middle school kid says, Mr. Clark. And I was like, Yeah, and I walk over and he's like, Oh, you taught me at Helen Caira. I was like, Cool, he's like, Oh, I'm at Bailey now. I was like, I was like, awesome, man. He was there with his parents. He said, Yeah, I'm playing the bass. I was like, Well, I'm playing the bass tonight, too. I was like, So you gotta watch, make sure I play all the right notes, okay? And you know, I mean, just he showed up. You know, I said, you know, I I told you I do this. We talk about the you know what I mean. I you know, and he was like, Yeah, I just didn't put two and two together.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Oh my gosh, that gives me goosebumps. Do you think like being a a man in a kind of female-centered profession makes a difference for like kids like him to see another guy?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Absolutely. And kind of like what I was talking about in being a large man, you know, like I, you know, when I walk onto these elementary campuses, I may be the second to fourth man sometimes on these campuses, and and I'm a violinist. And I mean, you know, just titles and stereotypes. I don't like any of that kind of stuff. And so as many of that stuff we can break and we can show these kids that there's nothing holding them back from doing anything that they want to do. That's that's kind of the main purpose. And then with the with the rock and roll stuff, I explained to them, like, look, you can do this, you could make money. I explained to them how things cost and how we have to pay for them and how we, you know, just kind of the business side of things sometimes, which I don't think it sinks in, but one day, hopefully, you know, they'll they'll kind of understand because those are kind of big numbers for them. But I try to be super honest with them about the business and how it goes. And, you know, then they always go, Well, how much do you make as a teacher? And I go, That's not any business. You don't want to know.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

I think I think these like snapshots of reality, even though it may seem like too big of a helping for their mind at that moment, I think it matters to plant that seed because when you think about how much non-reality that they consume via YouTube, via anime, via all the Yes, and they think it's all real. Yeah. Well, that's how juvenile brains work. Right. That's why you have to be careful about movies and stuff because they their brain is just in a such a cool state. Because if you tell a kid, you know what, you can really do that hard thing that you're you would like to do, they they absorb that literally. And so and that's that's a very special time in their lives. So it's great that you are, you know, showing them, demonstrating these good things and speaking actual truth to them.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Well, and you know, I always tell them, you know, it's like Mr. Clark is probably the most honest teacher that you are ever gonna have. Because if they sound bad, I'll be like, man, that is bad. Like, you've got to get better than that, you know. And if they sound good, I'll be like, hey man, that's awesome. And you know, they we joke about it and stuff, but I said, like, y'all don't want me lying to you. Like, you don't want me sugarcoating, like, you know, you're a six-year-old singing twinkle twinkle little star here. Because the violin's it's an adult instrument. That instrument they're playing at 10, 11 years old is is the same instrument they could be playing at 50. And it's just not, it's not a plastic toy. Like, and that's what I like about it. This is the first serious thing. It's it's not a you know, a kazoo or something.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I was about to say kazoo, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

And it's just, yeah, and I mean it's a it's a real instrument. So we have to communicate in real factors and you know, and in real opinions, or how can we make it better?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Well, the good thing now about social media is that there are real artists that are very popular online, like Ray Chin and the Mad Violinist and Amiri bin Ari, and and they're all over socials.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Now the kids will say, Have you ever heard of Lindsay Sterling? And I'll be like, Yeah, I I taught her how to dance. And they look at me like, What? Because you're assuming the violin, and they're like, No, no, no, no, no. I was like, Yeah, I know I know her. I didn't teach her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

But yeah, we uh, you know, Emoral Coast Honorage Orchestra before COVID went and played with black violin and Mobile. And those two guys were super nice, you know, and same type deal. It's just spreading, spreading the word and spreading this awesome instrument and how how to play it. It's just great.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

When I saw y'all perform, I was like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. Because it's, you know, I didn't know really anything. I hadn't, sorry, I hadn't heard of the band or anything. You know, I got an invitation and I accepted. And I just know I like the Eagles. And I was like, oh, we're doing Tom Petty and the Eagles. I'm in, whatever. Yeah, let's do it. And then I, when I was there in the front row, I was like, whoa, this is very well thought out. Like there's a theme, there's outfit changes. It's like when I heard tribute, I was kind of expecting karaoke level. And it's not at all. And now that you've unpacked like the layers of emotionality and intention and all those things, I'm like, well, that's why it didn't come across as karaoke. And everyone there got it. Like I gets it. Everyone gets it. I got it. And so when I think about the average student or maybe like the average parent thinking about the value of a public school orchestra program, I kind of wonder, do they get it? And so I thought as we wrap up, you could share what you wish people got about orchestra.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Well, you know, leaning towards the bands that we're playing and and producing at that level, back to even my symphony time. I have been in a cover band for all of my life. It just happened to be a 1700s cover band for a long time. And then now you went and saw a 1970s cover band. But you know, we're playing Bach and Mozart and keeping this music alive and live for the next generation, period. Because if if the symphonies stop playing Bach, you're never gonna hear that again. You know, and I mean the Eagles are are wrapping it up, you know, and that kind of stuff. Tom Petty's passed away, like without us keeping this music alive and live for the next generation. How are they gonna enjoy that? How are they going to learn it? How are they going to experience all that kind of stuff? And so, in in terms of passing that on to the next generation, it's just it's art and it's performing art. And art is a fleeting concept if we do not continue to produce or continue to be creative. And you always have to be creating, you always have to be creative, or or it goes away if you're not if you're not utilizing that. And so, even with here and and keeping the orchestra program viable and live, and every kid gets this opportunity, it's a numbers game. You get as many students as you can to play, and in order to do that, you have to have that kind of public outing like what you're talking about, to where, you know, on that stage you saw there's three orchestra teachers up there, you know. So Christina Aldehondo is the orchestra teacher at Ferry Pass and West Tech and has, I mean, hundreds of kids in the Virginia's and in Santa Rosa County, and I'm over here in Escambia. Jerry Dawson teaches guitar all day long. Everybody is spreading it for the next generation. If we do not, you know, like my father gave me that love and Miss Tringus gave me that love. And if we don't give that love to the next generation, who's going to pass it down to the generation after them? And I obviously, you know, I joke around and say it's if I get my student and they tolerate me and love the violin, we're good to go. So if they love me and they tolerate the violin, we're good to go. You know, either way, they stick around. And I'm I guarantee you there's some kids that just like to hear Mr. Clark's corny jokes. And there's kids that are tired of Mr. Clark's corny jokes, but they want to play the violin, you know. And and I I said, I see younger brothers. I have taught three, four, five. Last year is my first year I had a grandchild student or whatever from me. Wow. So it comes in and says, Yeah, my mom took violin at Myrtle Grove, but her teacher had a long ponytail. And I was like, Ah, that was me. And this is a, you know, a daughter of, you know, a student that I had. And then and it's just that's crazy. Like I do not, I've, you know, been doing this for 25 years. So the math works, but it's awesome to see. And I it happens all the time. I see brothers and sisters and kids and stuff from the the thing, which means what we're doing is correct. They value it because they're sending their kids back to it. And they know, like, even if their older kid doesn't play anymore, they're well, this is a valuable thing for my younger, you know, whatever child, and I want to have them involved. I want Mr. Clark to give them what they gave my older child or what they gave me when I was 10 20 years ago. But no, it's, you know, I absolutely love it. And I mean, like I said, I'm 25 years in, I'm 48 years old, and I'm doing the math and going, okay, I'll probably do this for about 38 years. So, you know, I'm I mean, I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I can do it. And it it's gotten easier to teach. The students are a little bit different and everything's changed, but hopefully we're coming out of the old COVID world and everything will get back to whatever the new normal is.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

And on that, I thank you for for this conversation. It was beautiful, so many layers, just like your story. And I appreciate you being a part of the 46 years of Clarks in this community.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yeah, 46 years of a Clark being in the orchestra program. So we'll hit probably 55, something like that. So it'll be nice.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

I think so. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of the Scambia County Public Schools.