ON THE EDGE
but boldin’ tight
See Page 4B
Friday, March 7, 1986
Oregon Daily Emerald
Arts and Entertainment
SEHS band director is ‘touching the future ’
Not long ago.Greg Mull was knocking
heads on football fields, wishing (tike
many high school seniors) he'd be
recruited to a top-rate’ foot bail college,.
Me says he had his mi rid set on becoming
a UCLA Bruin. The curtain fell unexpec
tantly on that aspiration', however, and
now his lettorman's jacket reminds him
of something maybe ten pursuits away
from the game .of footWlI •' .. e
“I got dislllusiorwd -with ‘going.Out on
Friday nights and beating Up my'body,"
he says, "One .day I was walking the.
halls during'frwopef|od';;and l ended up
•in the band room: This thimpet player
was playing something, out; of the
technical-studies Look, which I found
was the trumpet play'er.'s<hible..an<i i just
fell in-love .with the,, instrument .
‘Tasked the guy todetich/me howJp
• play. . he looked-.ai' me/kind of'funby •
because I had my,-bigTettermaii’s jacket
oh. -a-look like, what's'this guy doing?"
Hut he started, rne ontj .iiui from there I .
'started taking lessons?, J-said goodbye,
to all my football ohu.ms.andgof iiivolv:
ed in the" arts."- i; :
.That experience..set. Mall* in musical
motion, andhis momentum Hasn't stow,
-ed since N o w .12y a a rs'.l at e r,- M a 11-i s in,
his fourth year as hatitf.direct.braf-.Sbuth.
Fugeno High School and as leader of;the'
Eugene fuzz Orchestra. 'He’s also'that
much more convinced that music is his
life. V.- V ’.
Story by Eric Eoloff
Photo by Shu-Shing Chen
.. ._ : . /‘
You might sky . the ••29-year-oJd/
trumpeter, director .and educator. ha$
c ome a long way fast. He’says even his'
students are perplexed about th’e‘idea
that their Instructor started five,, ‘maybe
ten years later thanthey. But .Hall, who's?
enthusiastic about hejpihg children
learn about themselves through music, is
making a substantial difference at SKHS
and in the town's larger musical arena /..
Perched inside an pfficecluttei-ed with
musical citatious.'trcjphiestiiatlooklikc}.
decorative chalices, and ' note- paper
fighting to remain atop his desk. Hall
fields questions from students while the
phone rings off the hook — a normal set
ting, he says.
"I’ve been in the music-director
business now six years," he says, "and
there's nothing like kids. I remember
when 1 was in high school 1 had a direr,
tor I wanted to be like. He just really got
me turned on about the possibilities of
music as a career, performing and
educating. And that's what I'm trying to
do" here: get kids excited about
themselves via music."
Still, six years in the business has Hall
thinking he's lust as Impressionable as
his students. He makes mistakes. He
tries hard. And at times, Hall says, he's
immersed in 14-hour work days. But
developing his skills and sharing them
with his pupils has become the most im
portant thing in his life.
'Til never get rich at this," he says.
"Teachers make diddley-squat in regard
to the financial side of things. But we get
rich in so many other ways. We’re
touching the future."
As an instructor Hall says he’s not
necessarily interested in turning out
dozens of band directors or unparalleled
Greg Hall had his heart set on being a football star, but a
high-school encounter with a classmate who played the
trumpet changed that dream. He’s now an accomplished
local jazz trumpeter and teacher.
musicians. Rather, he's content with giv
ing kids a working knowledge of their
instruments, or what he calls, "a valid
experience."
"If folks choose to go into music,
that's great," he says. "But in this day
and age 1 think if you have folks coming
out of universities really charged up
about what they're doing, they'll be the
inspiring young adults and their intensi
ty will rub off — you'll have more kids
who want to study music."
Hall says he knew he wanted to be a
band director after a few glimpses of his
first instructor his senior year. What he
didn't know, however, was what it took
to generate the intensity his instructor
was able to give to him. At least until he
entered North Texas State University at
Denton in 1976.
‘‘I went down there (Texas) with the
attitude that, well, I'm a pretty good
trumpet player; I will make something
versus using North Texas State as an
educational experience and getting in
there to pay my dues,” he says. “When 1
got down there 1 found I was another
number and had to start all over again."
Hall attributes his success at NTSU to
the intense competition among students
and the good share of teachers willing to
“bend over backwards to help you out.”
When he was there, he says, NTSU
had 1400 musicians enrolled.
Sometimes. 150 trumpet players had to
compete for only four or five spots in one
of the nine different jazz bands.
"It's the kind of thing where you
either sink or swim." he says. “It was
frustrating at first, but the teachers were
so positive, and the students were so in
tense about learning all types of music.
That school pumped me up for what I
wanted to do, and that was to get kids
pumped up about themselves through
music.”
In preparation for more serious times,
when students make way into the often
Continued on Page 3B