grandfather, grandfather and his father were all teachers and his mom
worked as a secretary at the high school.
He believes the teaching could spread to yet another generation. He
laughs, “My kids want to deny it, but I think they’d be good teachers.”
Carr met his wife Bobbi Jo while attending college at South Dakota
State University (SDSU) and proposed to her in front of the school
band. They’ve added two children to their family: Joshua, a senior
in high school who sings and plays the horn, and Sara, a freshman
trombone player, singer, and actor.
Upon graduating high school, Carr admits that he didn’t follow
his first career choice. He attended Augustana University in Sioux
Falls to become a computer programmer and admits to picking this
field because he listened to those around him who suggested that he
wouldn’t make any money teaching or making music. Though he
liked the school, after two years into the program he realized he wasn’t
on the right path. One semester, while taking three programming
languages at the same time, he recognized that he might make a good
living, but he wouldn’t be happy.
He started his schooling all over again at SDSU, attaining his
master’s degree in music education. Deciding to switch his major and
fall back into music was a wonderful feeling for him. He had missed
the aspect of working with other people, in the computer field he
completed most of his work alone. His influence for teaching music to
others came from his 7th grade band director, Joe Silko. He admired
how well Silko connected with students.
Carr explains the excitement that he felt for music after learning
from Silko. “That was like a fire that would not ever go out,” he recalls.
Other students of Silko were motivated enough to pursue musical
careers as well.
He strives to teach music to others with the passion he first felt for
it. He explains, “I knew that, the way I felt about music is the way that I
wanted other kids to feel about music.”
His 25-year long teaching career began with teaching choir, band
and general music in Bridgewater, SD. He landed in Yankton in 1992
and is the Band Director at Yankton High School. Gwen Wenisch
comes from the Yankton Middle School to assist with the freshman
students and the marching band. He tries to teach his students skills
that can be used outside of the classroom. Along with teaching them
to be good musicians, he encourages them to learn how to be good
people and work together with others.
Though Carr can play all musical instruments enough to
demonstrate the technique, he admits that he’s not an expert musician
on all the instruments. He laughs, “I can play them all badly,” and
admits that he feels the clarinet is the hardest instrument to play. He
learned first on trombone and later learned bass guitar as a junior in
high school.
His musical ability gave him the skill to play in a variety of music
bands throughout his life and played everything from heavy metal to
country to variety music genres. He now substitutes about once per
month as a bass guitarist for a band at the Assembly of God church, a
group that he credits for being very talented and passionate.
He explains, “I’ve learned that everything I played in all those other
bands, I’m actually using it here.” He continues, “Two months ago, I
was using things I learned from Rush songs, and last weekend I used
some licks that I learned playing Iron Maiden songs.”
His favorite instrument to play is the trombone but he has had a
great time playing bass guitar. He is trying to master playing the guitar
and singing at the same time. Like his musical experience, Carr likes to
listen to everything across the spectrum. Though Rush is his favorite
band, he finds himself listening to whatever he is in the mood for. He
found that heavy metal musicians had so much passion and energy
behind their music but is now finding those traits in the Assembly of
God group as well.
He explains how music unifies people. “The musician has a need
inside to give, to let it out. Audiences have a need to hear, to relate. If
you put a live musician in front of a live audience, there’s a two-way
communication that can happen, which really, I think, is the essence of
it all. We can’t quantify it, can’t put our finger on it, it’s just there.”
Carr explains that he has two favorite moments of each school
year, hearing the first note from the band students and the last note
from them at the end of the year. The first note he explains, as you can
imagine, often doesn’t sound great. By the time the year rolls around
to his other favorite moment of hearing the last note, it’s apparent to
him how much the students have progressed. He’s always surprised
that, though everyone starts on a different level, they can all progress
together to the next spot of improvement.
“Being in band is the best example of a long-term project you
can put together,” he states. He explains how most band students
start on an instrument in 5th grade and if they can push through
the struggle of the initial learning phase, they can continue working
toward becoming a good musician and have a rather large sense of
accomplishment at the end. He compares this as parallel to marriage,
life or a job.
He encourages parents to guide their children with perseverance.
“I think the biggest resource is parents that have patience. Whatever
it is, from singing to art, encourage those kids to continue to work, to
continue to practice.” He recommends being supportive of the child
and taking every opportunity to be creative with them, for instance
painting or pulling an old instrument out of the closet to play.
The biggest challenge Carr faces during the school year is time.
“Kids are so busy. They have a lot of responsibilities to deal with, at
home, at school, so many more have jobs. They don’t have the ability to
commit like we did when I was a kid.” He embraces the challenge and
tries to get the student progressed as far as he can with the time they
have and the resources that they use.
Reflecting upon his own time as a music student, he recalls a
favorite moment. During his last marching show with the band at
SDSU, he was overcome by a strange thought that he would never play
his trombone again. He played the last long note in sync with the band
and when the music stopped, he threw his trombone slide as hard as
he could, sending it sailing into the air. He then dramatically wedged
his trombone straight into the ground in front of him, marched off and
left it there. Though he ruined his horn, he later created use for it by
turning it into a fountain at his home.
“People haven’t forgotten it. You know, you want to leave your mark
somehow,” he laughs heartily.
Carr has his own creative outlets besides music, tinkering with
computers and tearing them apart and playing old 80’s video games.
Though he spends his life teaching others, he never stops learning
himself. “I grow every day. I learn something more every day. I think
I’ve grown more patience, troubleshooting skills, people skills. You
have to continue to change.”
As a teacher, Carr takes much pride in the teachers that they are
creating. Several students under Carr’s leadership are doing exactly
what he hoped for, thinking about music education. “That’s why we’re
teachers, to pass on the desire to share what we’re feeling.”
vBy Julie Eickhoff
HERVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2018v5