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Transcript of Beverly Hills' Music Man
7/28/2019 Beverly Hills' Music Man
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/beverly-hills-music-man 1/3
IssuesJune 6 - June 12, 2013
briefs Former BHUSD bondfirm scrutinized in L.A. Times Page 3
!7EEKLY%XCLUSIVEsPAGES
briefs Planning Commilooks to expand outreach Pag
briefs Christiansen charges dismissed; will theBHUSD have to repay the $6.6 million settlement? Page 2
Joel Pressman
Reflects on
38 years at
Beverly High
Beverly
Hills’
MusicMan
7/28/2019 Beverly Hills' Music Man
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/beverly-hills-music-man 2/3
Page 8 sBeverly Hills Weekly
BEVERLY HILLS’
MUSIC MAN*OEL0RESSMANREFLECTSONYEARSAT"EVERLY(IGH
"Y!NDREA!LDANA
coverstory
You’re retiring after 38 years, what does
that feel like?
There’s no short answer. There are so
many highs and lows [and] so many indi-
vidual experiences with people and of events
that it is hard to imagine it all sort of stop-
ping. But it doesn’t really stop because therestill are contacts. There are still connections
to the school and to the people that I don’t
see stopping.
As many of our readers know, you grew
up here. Your father was prominent
rabbi at Temple Beth Am and in 1975,
you returned to Beverly High as a young
choral director. Tell us about that.
My high school teacher, [the late] Robert
Holmes, gave us a lot of opportunities to
do things. He would ask me to take over
rehearsal while he would go and take care
of some sort of business in his office, or if
he was absent and the substitute teacher was,
let’s say a golf teacher, I would take over
rehearsal. When I went to college, he would
sometimes call me and say, “Can you come
in and work with the choir? I’m going to be
away with Madrigals or I’m going to be at
a convention,” so I never really broke that
connection [to the community] and it seemed
like a funny idea when he retired to apply
for the job knowing that I wouldn’t get it
because I was young and just finishing my
Masters and 38 years later, here I am.
Where did you go to college?
USC. My mentor was a man named
Charles Hirt and he was also a man who
gave us lots of opportunities. He made me a
teaching assistant, had me conduct a group,
do a lot of business managing and programdeveloping and all kinds of experiences that
were unusual for somebody my age and that
also helped prepare me. And he had a love
of language -- a love of language in rehearsal
and a love of language in the music -- that
definitely resonated with me and encouraged
that part of me in terms of my own artistic
directing.
Can you expand on what you mean by
“love of language in the music”?
Singing is not just about notes. If you’re
an instrumentalist, you play the notes and
there are all kinds of communication there,
but the subtleties of language go far beyond
that. This year, for example, I really looked
for pieces where the text meant something
important [and] where I thought it would
connect with the students and the audiences.
For many years now, I’ve tried to approachthe performance not in terms of, how well
do we sing? But of, how well do we commu-
nicate? And some of that comes from vocal
technique, but a lot of it comes from what is
it you’re trying to say? What’s the message?
What’s the feeling? Do you want them to
laugh or cry or both? Do you emphasize this
particular syllable a little bit more in order to
exploit more meaning? It’s like Shakespeare.
Where the emphasis falls can tell you a lot
about what he was trying to say.
When you were first hired, there was
some resistance to hiring you because
some faculty felt you were too young?
I switched out of the music education
program at USC because I didn’t feel I was
learning very much. I got my bachelor’s in
voice [at USC] and most of the choral con-ducting classes, I took with the conducting
majors. I got my Masters in choral conduct-
ing and therefore I had almost everything in
the credentialed program, but I did not have
the teaching credential. At that time, they
had what was called a provisional credential
where the school district would agree to hire
you if the college would agree to give you
the credential and the college would agree to
give you the credential if the school district
agreed to hire you, so they got together and
said, “We will do this with this person.”
When I went to my interview, they said
the very logical question, “Why should we
hire you when you don’t have a teaching
credential?” And I handed out multiple cop-
ies of a chart that I’d made saying, “This is
what’s required for a teaching credential and
this is what I’ve had” and in most cases it
was double or triple what was required for
the teaching credential in terms of teaching
experience, coursework, [and] conducting
experience, so that pretty much quieted that.
There were two members of the perform-
ing arts department in the theater program
who were not at that interview who felt thatI should not have been hired. They wrote
letters to the Beverly Hills papers saying
that it would destroy the performing arts
department, that I wasn’t qualified, [and]
that it was all political. [Superintendent] Ken
Peters had made the final decision. The com-
mittee had narrowed it down to four finalists
and he interviewed each of the four of us. It
was a fabulous interview. I don’t remember
anything we said; I just remember being
blown away by how good he was in terms of
this interview. He called me and said, “This
is not an attack on you. This is an attack on
me because I hired you. You just go and
teach.” And that’s exactly what happened.
How has choral music and musicinstruction changed over the time you’ve
been a teacher?
When I was a student at Beverly Vista [in
the 1960s], the boys glee had over 40 boys
in it singing four part harmony. Everybody
read music. Everybody took instrumental
music lessons. Now, there are not 44 boys in
the school district singing in choruses. The
district programs are much more diverse.
The AP program has siphoned off some of
our brightest kids. I still get kids who are
taking seven or eight classes of APs, but it’s
not the same numbers as it used to be, so the
gene pool is smaller. There are fewer kids
to draw on that have been raised in the arts,
so that makes it harder. Plus, when I started
teaching, all four schools had a yearlong
chorus program in the middle schools. Now
some of them just have a musical in thespring, which is great training for theater,
but does not necessarily keep their skills up
musically.
The Madrigals Singers are a nationally-
recognized program. You’ve won
numerous national awards. What makes
this program special?
I don’t think that we are a better program
than a lot of places. I judge choir festivals
and I hear some absolutely magnificent
choirs and some absolutely wonderful teach-
ing. I think the thing that we bring, which is
less usual, is what I said about co
tion. There are choirs who sing w
pitch, better tone, better phrasing
choirs ever do, but after 30 sec
go, okay, now what? And it is a
who really takes each piece and
small drama out of it and finds th
give that audience something tha
connect with. I’ve never had any
up to me after a concert and say, “
way your sopranos lifted the soft
the ah vowel,” even though that’s s
we spend a lot of time with. Theup and they’ll say, “You brough
my eyes” or “how joyful” or other
talk about the emotion of the piece
nection of audience and perform
something that we emphasize an
had judges who have heard us at
festivals say, “This is one of th
things about your choir.” It’s not u
it is rare.
Many of your students have gon
fame and fortune in the entertai
industry. Do you find this fulfilli
I will go see anything or watch a
rent anything if a former student i
a huge chauvinist for [Beverly Hi
cially performing arts. A numbeago we had a board member w
much care for the arts. He said,
I’m not impressed if our graduate
rectly identify Beethoven on the m
he’s cleaning the toilets at Burger
students need to be able to suppor
They need to be able to program on
puter and build a website.” So I w
and I called [drama teacher] John
initial colleague in my teaching, a
down and off the top of our heads
a list of 250 grads who were s
their families. Everything from t
that you’ve heard of like Richard
and David Schwimmer and Nicola
people that you haven’t heard ofdoing props for Spielberg, who ar
who are directing, who are doing
theater and composing -- there
many people out there. Michael
who is an actor/director, said in an
once: he can hardly ever walk o
where he’s directing and not find
nection to Beverly High performin
son and daughter think that it’s
that we sit through the credits for e
and I’ll say, “Beverly grad. That’s
grad.” There are a lot of us out the
A number of your former studen
also found success in other indu
outside of entertainment. Tell us
that.I’ve had a lot of people say, “T
dence that I got by standing up a
to sing in front of people helped
teacher, as a lawyer, as a doctor,
tor,” [and] that there is a direct c
to putting yourself out there in a p
situation. I’ve also had people co
me and say, “You are the only r
I stayed in school.” Now, they do
mean me. They mean having a plac
and make music every day. One gi
me and said, throwing up hurts he
said, “Yes, have some yogurt and
“When I was a student at Beverly Vista [in the1960s], the boys’ glee had over 40 boys in it
singing four part harmony. Everybody read music.
Everybody took instrumental music lessons. Now,there are not 44 boys in the school district singingin choruses. The district programs are much more
diverse. ” -- Joel Pressman
7/28/2019 Beverly Hills' Music Man
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/beverly-hills-music-man 3/3
June 6- June 12, 2013 Pa
ple of days,” and she said, “What if you
every day?” We talked and of course,
had anorexia or bulimia and we got
ounseling and it was because she was
erned about her singing that she said
hing. It was that important to her. To me,
s as important a teaching victory as a kid
wins an award in a singing competition.
that you’re retiring, do you know
the plans are to fill your position?
ave not heard much. I’m hoping to be
of the process. I think I have some-to offer in terms of perspective of the
ram. I know there are some wonderful
ers out there and I’m hoping that we
uick enough and smart enough to get
body like that.
ve been critical of the Board of
cation in recent years. Explain.
e constant comment that I’ve made
at according to its own standards, the
ornia State School Boards Association
out the responsibilities of a school board,
idual members, and school administra-
School boards are not supposed to
omanage. They’re supposed to set broad
y goals and then allow their adminis-
rs to work with staff to find the bestto achieve those goals. Recent school
ds have micromanaged to an extent I’ve
r seen before. They ignore the recom-
dations of staff way too often. We had a
ol board president say at his installation,
ve done our homework. We know what
. Trust us,” and then proceeded to say
individual school board members would
sponsible for enforcing this policy or
policy and that’s not their job. I’ve seen
many really good people drive off the
pus after having been fired by the school
d because they weren’t “yes men” or
women,” and I’ve seen too many people
because they could not do their job with
rity. This is not universally true of alld members, but as a general trend, over
ast 15 years or so, it is a change.
hen I started, the feeling was that the
ol board was honored lay people to help
e business of running a school district.
same Ken Peters, who was the one
hired me, made it really clear what the
d’s role was, what the superintendent’s
was and what the administration’s roles
He trained the school board into what
proper function was and I don’t mean
that he ordered them around. I meant that
what exactly is in the state standards was
what I think was much more what was hap-
pening at the time.
Tell us some colleagues and
administrators you’ve particularly
enjoyed working with.
Toni Staser who is my assistant principal
now -- she [oversees] the performing arts
department -- is a former music teacher, is
insanely dedicated, [and] is one of those
people that says, “What can I do to help?”and not “You’re doing this wrong, stop it.”
Over the years, we’ve had many administra-
tors who have come in and said, “What’s
been working for you, you can no longer do
and the reason is because we didn’t do it at
my old school district.” Toni has been great.
[Former Principal] Ben Bushman, I was
actually surprised. All I knew was that he
was a head football coach, and I thought,
what does he know about the rest of the
school? And he dedicated himself to that
school. If a custodian was called to clean
something up and they didn’t come, he went
to a custodial closet, grabbed a broom and
cleaned up. If you called him and you had a
problem and he wasn’t available, he would
show up on your doorway during the morn-ing and say, “How can I help?”
I think he set a good tone for [former
Principal] Dan Stepenosky who followed
him and I complimented [Principal] Carter
Paysinger last week because he has really
opened himself up. The same way that he
was dedicated to the sports program, he’s
dedicated to the entire school. I think most
people feel that he is in their corner. I think
it has been difficult for him because he is a
principal in an era where people at the dis-
trict do not want their administrators coming
up with reasons to do something different
from what the board is proposing. They
don’t particularly want that much input.
We’ve seen people driven out because theydid not bow down. We had a superintendent,
who I will not name, who left and just prior
to leaving said to me, “I have never been in a
district with so much bullying.” I said, “Are
we talking about the kids?” He said, “No,
I’m talking about parents, board members,
[and] teachers.” There’s an adversary rela-
tionship that is not healthy.
I know there are people in the district who
are trying to change that, so this is not a blan-
ket indictment of everybody at the district
office because there are some tremendous,
supportive people there, but as a tone, things
still need to shift back towards something
that is more collegial. Over the years, I’ve
stood up at teacher’s union meetings and at
board meetings and told the grownups when
I thought they were not behaving in a mature
and respectful way. I’ve been bawled out by
both sides for that, but generally speaking,
I haven’t had to backtrack because what’s
right is right and while opinions about pol-
icy may differ, the way we treat each other
shouldn’t.
Are there any other colleagues you’d like
to mention?
Well, there are so many. I’m very fortunate
that when I do what I do, I go out in public.
There’s an audience and people applaud and
you get that kind of feedback. There’s a lot
of teachers who are here countless hours,
go home, work countless hours more -- far
beyond what they’re paid for-- and are bril-
liant teachers. Their students notice, but the
community doesn’t necessarily notice. If
your kid is not in that person’s class, they
may not know. There are plenty of people
who have not gotten the kind of attention
I’ve gotten for retirement, and I think it’s
because what I do is much more public, soI’ve always tried to take the opportunity of
a bully pulpit to speak up on behalf of all
the teachers because not everybody gets the
chance to spout off like I do.
What are your plans now that you’re
retiring?
To heal. My number one priority is to get
healthy and then see what I’m up for like
continuing to judge choir festivals, teaching
voice lessons and traveling. I want to go to
New York and see some Broadway shows.
I want to go snorkeling. I’m waiting to see
how quickly things change.
How do you want to be remembered aspart of the Beverly High faculty?
I want to be remembered as somebody
who really cared -- sometimes, too much
-- and who made a difference, whatever
that is. Whether it’s the relocation of the
wheelchair ramp outside of Salter Theatre,
which was going to replace the stairs -- I
interrupted the architects who were there
with their plans and said, “You know there’s
a theater in there.” And they glared at me
and I said, “Well what if you start it there
and ran it around the side of the build
You could have your stairs and you co
also have your ramp.” And they said, “
our job,” and then they did what I wa
and I’m sure took credit for it. There
lots of little things all over the school. I
problem solving and the kids have allo
me to meddle and it’s been fun. I can th
of very few jobs where you would have
opportunity to do as many different th
as I’ve done with the technology comm
and with the facilities committee -- not
anybody listens to the facilities commiWe would have these long discussions
great detail and do our research and
school board would say, “Yeah, but we w
to do this.” Anyway, people are complica
I would hate to say I want to be rememb
in 25 words or less.
Looking back on 38 years, would you
have done anything differently in your
teaching career?
I probably would have spent more tim
the teaching and less time on all the o
committees and outside things becau
know I have not been as good at recr
ing as some of my colleagues and I kno
haven’t taught everything I would have
to have taught, but who knows? It’s onthose, each according to his gifts. I seem
be interested in things beyond just the mu
I told a teacher once who said, “I don’t
about that. My job is to teach chemist
“No, your job is to teach kids,” and th
how I feel. I don’t know. Every day I s
have to do something different. And ev
time you have a bad day you say, what
I do differently tomorrow? If I had any
or year or decade to do over, I would
something different. I had a communica
from a board member recently that s
“Teachers have forgotten how to fail. T
cover up their failures. They hide beh
their unions.” And I so disagree with t
Teachers know that they fail every day. difference is that you get back out of
and you go back in and you try someth
different the next day. My students h
heard me say, “My mistake,” or “That di
work,” or “Let me try it differently.” I d
understand why anybody would make s
a statement that we’re afraid to fail. W
not necessarily allowed to, but we fai
the time. Anybody who is paying atten
knows that, that’s human beings.