Andrew Wright-Musician for a Lifetime

In the history of Florida Music Education, one name consistently rises to that level described as inspirational: Andrew J. Wright. A former FVA and FMEA President as well as a member of the FMEA Hall of Fame, Wright was born in Beaver, Pennsylvania in 1925. He served in World War II, earning three Battle Stars and a Purple Heart before entering the Juilliard School as a trombone major and Piano Minor. After a two and a half year stint with the Shep Fields Band and the completion of a Masters in Education at Columbia University, his public school career began in 1952 at Fort Walton Beach, where he taught tonette ensemble, 7-12 chorus, general music, assisted with band and directed the dance band. In 1956, he moved to Sarasota High School, serving simultaneously as choral and jazz band director for thirty-five years. Wright’s keen ear, demanding rehearsals and personable manner (even in his younger days, he referred to himself as “the old man”) are recalled by the author, a former student, in the interview below.

What type of training did you receive as a student?


In high school, I played trombone in the marching and concert bands along with clarinet in the orchestra. I played piano, which I began studying when I was eight, in a dance band called the Beaver Bopcats.


Your ability to identify keys and complex chords was an integral part of rehearsals. How did you develop these skills?


I had one teacher, Edwin C. Reid who did theory, ear training, and dictation in my hometown, along with piano studies. I think that’s probably what did it. Later I studied with Homer Oschenhert in Pittsburgh with whom [Henry] Mancini was studying as well. The training at Juilliard was excellent to develop ears. I had straight “A’s” in theory, keyboard harmony and dictation. There were two students in my class who were Wrights, me and another guy named Bob Wright. When no one else in the class could sight-read the exercise, the teacher would ask, “which one of the Wright Brothers would like to take this?”

Were you also involved with vocal music at this time?


The first time I was involved with vocal work was at Juilliard when I had chorus with Robert Shaw. It met once a week and we did the Bach B Minor Mass. This was the year before he left Juilliard and went out with the Robert Shaw Chorale. Later I studied voice, mainly geared toward education, with Harry Robert Wilson at Columbia.


What was your impetus to enter the educational world?

I went to school to prepare myself for teaching, but what I wanted to do first was play with a big band and travel. I thought that would be exciting and so I went on the road in a 14-piece band. I had seen more of Europe than the United States. I had been to England, France, Belgium, Germany and here I was, a little kid from Beaver, PA who had only been to Pittsburgh and a few little places around it. Growing up in the depression, you never had money to travel anywhere and you didn’t have a new car that would go that far. It’s like Bach, who was never more than twenty miles from where he was born. When I decided to go into education, I went from making $10,000 a year on the road to making $2700 in teaching--with a Masters!


What parts of your experience as a professional musician informed your classroom teaching?

It was playing with terrific musicians. Though it was demanding --we played six to seven nights a week for two years and half years (without a vacation)--it was a real pleasure to work with people of that caliber. The band was so clean, in good tune and so musical that I learned a lot from associating with people of that level. That rubbed off in the teaching. It influenced what I strove for and what I hoped to produce. It gave me more insight into the possibilities that were there.

Have you had experiences in teaching that have affected you as a professional musician?


When you get a group of kids at the beginning of the year, you’ve got to find their strengths and weaknesses, then choose music to fit that. Music that works well with one group may not go with another because you don’t have the same horses in the same areas, whether it’s being strong with clarinets and weak in trumpets or having good sopranos and a weak bass section. You take where they are, start from there and build to catch them up. Likewise, if I went out to play with professionals and were leading a band, I would always think about what literature would work with the group I had. With the Shrine Club Big Band that I currently lead, I get quality arrangements that allow them to sound good because they fit. Working as a teacher develops that technique of working with people when you do a professional job. If I’ve got a singer who doesn’t have a range, I’ve got to be careful that the key fits her voice. If I’ve got a lead trumpet player who can embellish the melodic line and play some beautiful ballads, then I get some arrangements that he can do that with. The name of the game is do the best you can with what you have and where you are.

What led you to the combination of choral director/jazz band director?


My Principal asked me to be the choir director. I said, “I’m a band director.” and he said, ‘I need a choir director and I want you to start a dance band.’” So, I had the first dance band [jazz band] in Florida that met on school time for credit starting in 1952. On Friday nights, the Principal would have the football players
shower in the fourth quarter--he wouldn’t let them finish playing if they were in the dance band--because we had to be in the gym playing when the gun ended the game. The gym was right beside the football field, so he would open all the windows, the people would hear the music and come in to dance. The coaches hated me.

You formed the Sarasota High School Jazz Band, the Admirals, in 1956. Over the years they played locally, often serving as the “house band” for dances, as well as traveling to MENC conferences (1976) and even to Montreux (1981). What changes have you seen regarding the educational approach to the jazz ensemble?


One change was with the arrangements that were available--they kept getting better. In 1952, we played a lot of the old stocks. Then Art Dedrick, in the New York area, began producing these large manuscript paper type of arrangements like [Dave] Wolpe and the current people do. As time passed, they wrote better bass lines, better chords and better progressions. By the 1970’s [Sammy] Nestico was writing for two french horns, a tuba, a full brass section, and a rhythm section. He did some things for concert band and expanded to a full score.


The Sarasota High School Choruses distinguished themselves with many special performances, including a 1973 European tour. How did that trip originate?


The National Educational Foundation invited seventeen American Choirs on the trip. Each one had to do a Masterwork--either [Orff’s] Carmina Burana, the Schubert Mass in G or the Brahms Requiem. We chose the Brahms and learned it in German. Of these groups, five or six would join together for a performance with the Czechoslovakian Symphony Orchestra. Lara Hoggard from the University of North Carolina conducted. Choirs were chosen from audition tapes and Hoggard went to every school to rehearse for several days. During the trip, we visited Vienna, Prague and Budapest, traveling behind the iron curtain. Some students who had never pledged allegiance to the flag decided to do so the next year after they saw how things were in Prague.

What common teaching concepts did you stress in your vocal and instrumental ensembles?

Intonation, playing together, being a team, listening to each other, blending and trying to get the same sound on a unison so that four trumpets sound like one. Ten percent is blowing the horn and ninety percent is listening. You have sixteen sopranos and when they sing together no one sticks out. It’s not singing isolated notes, but making musical phrases. That’s still the same--there are certain places you lean on the notes and certain places you tend to back off a little. Balance is important. I always said you want to put the camera on the guy who’s running for the touchdown, not the guy that blocked. Gunther Schuller once said “it doesn’t matter who the audience is, if the performers do a good job of making music, they will enjoy it and appreciate it.” Doing a musical performance is the same whether it’s vocal or instrumental. The main difference is that the voice is in you and the instrument is outside of you and has to become a part of you. It’s that concept of making music come alive.

What do you believe are the most essential qualities for a beginning music educator to possess in today’s classroom?

They have to have patience. They have to realize that it’s a slow process and you have to be patient to get from one level to another. Be firm at the beginning, but look at the individual before you start snapping. You need long range plans as well as short range plans. In a month, you want to be a little further along than you are now. You’ve got to take them where they are and you can’t rush too much to get them where you want them to be.
At an age when many people are retired, you continue to play professionally. Is it still a labor of love?

Yes--during some months, I work 25 nights. I’ve played a job on New Year’s Eve every year since 1938 with one exception. That was in 1944 when I was in the Battle of the Bulge.

Is there a single experience in your career that stands out above all others?

There’s no one single experience-my memories are all good. I love to take kids to places and do things they had never done. It might have been the first time they saw snow or the first time they were out of the country. I felt very lucky and blessed with the opportunity to work with advanced students. Every night I went home and I thought about the good kids--the ones I reached. I never thought about the ones that didn’t care. I left my problems at school and never took them home. Remember the good things and the good kids you reach.