Classical MPR's Teacher Feature highlights the lives and work of music teachers throughout Minnesota.
Keith Swanson
Band Director
Hermantown High School
Hermantown, Minn.
What grade level(s) do you teach? What types of music classes do you teach?
I teach Grade 4 and 5 classroom music, Grade 8 music appreciation, and High School band.
Where did you go to college?
University of Minnesota-Duluth and University of Wisconsin-Superior.
What's one of the most memorable moments you've had in the classroom (or had while teaching music)?
The Hermantown High School band's performance at the state music convention in 1994. We did a program called "A Night at the Opera," which featured a great band arrangement of Siegfried's Funeral Music.
Do you have a story of an experience where music education made a difference in a student's life?
In 1981, I took a bus load of Hermantown band kids to hear the Minnesota Orchestra play Mahler's Third Symphony with Klaus Tennstedt conducting — an unforgettable performance. One of the students attending went on to study at Macalester College and became an usher at the Orchestra Hall. This Tennstedt/Mahler experience changed his life.
If you were to help program a day of music at Classical MPR, what would be a piece of music you'd play in the morning? What piece of music would you play in the evening? What is it about these pieces that make them a couple of your favorites?
The piece I would play in the morning would 'The Dream' from Massenet's Manon (specifically, a performance by Jussi Björling).
For the evening, I would choose Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 131, Movement I (the full string orchestra arrangement). It has been reported that Schubert's last musical request was to hear Beethoven's op. 131. His wish was carried out a few days before his death in 1828. Schubert's response: "After this, what is there left for us to write."
Is there a music teacher in your community that the Classical MPR audience should know about? Submit this form to nominate them for our Teacher Feature!
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