Teacher of Note: Patricia Quigley
An interview with Cedar Ridge High School band director Patricia Quigley
Balance and collaboration. Those are the two main ingredients in establishing a successful band program, at least according to Patricia Hughes Quigley, known as Trish to her colleagues at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The school is only five years old, and when Trish helped open the school as director of bands and chair of the cultural arts department, only 21 of its thousand students took band; now there are 130. The Cedar Ridge bands have since received several awards at the national level; at the state and local levels, they've won awards too numerous to list, not to mention the excellent and superior ratings consistently garnered in festival competitions.
Trish Quigley has some definite ideas on the factors that have contributed to this success, and we'd like to share them with Keynotes readers in Trish's own words.
What's the greatest challenge you faced?
Growing this program from the ground up. Of the 130 students now in the program, many take two or three band classes a day. Raising funds just to purchase the basics has definitely been a challenge; building a booster support group has proved rewarding. And as every band director knows, recruiting and keeping kids in the program is never easy.
How do you deal with recruitment and retention?
Having a great feeder program is essential to the health and well being of any high school band. I'm fortunate in that regard; the middle school that my students come from has an excellent program. Once they're in high school, I believe that providing an active program with ample opportunity for personal growth and performance keeps the kids coming back for four years.
What are you proudest of having accomplished?
I'm pleased the program is so well balanced. Students are involved in concert and jazz bands even during marching season. Marching band is a separate class taught after school, which allows us to maintain the concert band year round. Similarly, jazz band is curricular, but taught before school. The concert ensembles are the essence of our existence, and that helps ensure the strength of the whole band program.
Which grades and ensembles do you teach?
I teach grades nine through twelve. In addition to the concert and marching bands, we have two jazz bands, a wind ensemble, and various small ensembles that meet after school.
What is your own musical background?
I'm primarily a flute player, which I began back in sixth grade at Woodlawn Middle School, just down the road from here in Mebane, North Carolina. During high school, I took private lessons from several teachers at Elon University. I did my undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and completed my master of music education at UNC, Greensboro. I began teaching in 1994.
How do you balance your career and home life?
My family is the best. I couldn't do this job and be a mom if it weren't for my husband, Eric. Like every band director, I work insane hours that aren't well suited to raising a small child. Our eight-year-old son was five months old when I became a high school director, so I've been fortunate to depend on Eric to take up my slack at home.
What special thoughts would you like to share?
I have learned to ask for help from other teachers. Even the novice or younger teacher has ideas and approaches that can help me improve myself and my program. Inviting experienced band directors whose programs I admire into my classroom has helped improve my students' musical performance as well as my own. When I bring in a clinician or guest artist to work with my band, I always try to take them out for a meal and ask tons of questions about how they approach music, teaching, and running a program.
Once I realized that I didn't have all the answers and that my lack of experience was holding me back, I became a much better teacher. I began to analyze my teaching, discern where I had weaknesses and ask questions so I could improve what I was doing from the podium–to help my students become better musicians. When I finished college, I thought I knew it all. I have since wised up and realized that I know very little. The way I learn is to ask questions, attend every workshop or conference I can get to, and read everything about band I can find. Everything I do in the classroom is "borrowed."
Is there a school band program or director you find particularly noteworthy? Your nominations are welcome for a future Keynotes profile. E-mail your suggestions with some brief background to Michael Craft Johnson at michaelcraft@acronet.net.
