There’s more to being a good band director than just standing in front of the band and waving a baton around. A good band director is someone who can inspire a room of teenagers to create music at 8:30 in the morning. Someone who can help students become better musicians by pushing them to enjoy the music they play.

If you aren’t a part of the Fine Arts community at Bolles, you may not have known that we had a new band director this year working with the Upper and Middle School bands. Unfortunately, our new band director, Mr. Ryan Schulz will not be returning next year so that he can be closer to his family in Lake City, Florida.

Mr. Schulz said he will miss many things at Bolles. “I will miss only having to focus on concert band.” He also said that he would miss “the fact that Bolles seems to be a really close family, especially within the band program.”

Mr. Schulz announced his decision in late January and the job position was posted on the first of February.

The team in charge of finding and hiring a replacement includes Mrs. Moya Marks, the head of the Upper School; Mr. Jack Milne, the head of the Middle School; Mr. Tyler Hodges, Academic Dean; Mrs. Laura Rippel, Director of Fine and Performing Arts; Mr. Schulz and other faculty members in the Fine and Performing Arts Department.

Mrs. Rippel helped explain the process of going through the applicants. “As a team we look through submitted resumes and other materials to identify candidates that are well suited to this position. Once we make these identifications we move on to telephone and Skype interviews and then based on that experience we invite a selection of the candidates to campus for in person interviews. While on campus, candidates will meet with search team members as well as other teachers in that department. Often they will also be scheduled to meet with other members of the community such as other teachers and administrators as well as students.”

Mr.Schulz recalled that interacting with the students “was really impactful when I applied last year” and he hopes the students will be able to play a large role in helping to find the right fit for Bolles.

Mr. Schulz hopes that his students can take away from the many good things from his time working with them. “I hope everyone’s learned something, learned to appreciate music a little more, and became better players.” He especially hopes that the middles school students continue with music in high school.

Mrs. Rippel said that the team is searching for “a dynamic teacher, energetic and driven.”  They are interested in someone who is “able to exude and inspire a passion for music; someone with experience and success in directing students at varying experience levels. And of course, while this may seem obvious, [they] want to find someone who really loves teaching.”

Mrs. Rippel continued, “It isn’t enough to love your art, you have to have a strong desire to share it with others! It’s not enough to like your subject. You have to want to convert others to your flock, so to speak. The passion for it, the energy to do it, and the experience and skills to know how.”

Mr. Schulz hopes that the new band director will have “basically the same vision to continue the band program, to do the great things they did before me and with me. I’ll give them the level we are at and hopefully they can go forward.”
Mr. Schulz’s plans for the future include “continuing teaching music and showing people how to enjoy music and making them into better musicians and being able to spend more time with my wife.”