Passing the Baton
John Whitwell Retires after Heading the Band Program for 13 years

After spending the last 41 years as a music educator, John L. Whitwell stepped down in the spring as director of bands, professor of music, and chair of the conducting area at Michigan State University School of Music. Whitwell said many goodbyes to his students, fellow faculty members, friends, and alumni during a number of farewell concerts in April 2006. Looking back warmly on his 13 years leading the Michigan State band program, Whitwell shares his thoughts, philosophy, and aspirations.

What will you miss most about MSU?

Making music at such a high level with talented, dynamic, aggressive, eager, young people on a daily basis is something that is not replaceable. Rehearsing and performing elevates us in so many ways to be at our very best. We challenge each other to be as professional as we know how to be. We lose ourselves in the process of doing that. And just the energy that’s created in a rehearsal with great players playing wonderful music is so stimulating and addictive. So that engagement with the students in the process – that’s what I’ll miss.

There is something about making music, and it’s hard to verbalize, but the reality of living in the world is so much easier when you make music. When you make music, for that brief time that you’re rehearsing or performing, you lose yourself, you give yourself over to the music and to the process and to the other musicians. And for that time, the anxiety of living in the world, the stress of living in the world – anger, war, poverty, greed, hunger, disease – they’re all forgotten. They’re replaced with creating beauty and giving yourself to something much larger than we are individually. And I can’t imagine having to live one’s life without that.

I know I’m going to have a lot of opportunities to be involved with music making, but it’s still not going to be the same as having my own group, imprinting a group with my concept of sonority, the style, the shaping and sculpting of the sound – that and the interaction with the students. You can’t make music and not come to a deep appreciation of the people with whom you are working.

I loved being here and I think the people in the building love being here – faculty and students alike. The atmosphere is a happy, productive, artistic, academic one. I think everybody grows.

Nothing stays the same. I know there will be other things that I miss so much. But for my wife and me, the opportunity to be closer to our two children and three grandchildren, is just a joy.

What are your plans once you move to Texas and start your retirement?

I’d like to be involved in a band or orchestra, either as a trombonist or a conductor. I haven’t picked up the trombone a lot since I’ve been here. I think in Texas I’ll probably play in a group. It would just be fun to play. You know, making music and sitting on the other side of the music stand from the conductor makes one a better conductor, and being a better conductor makes one a better player on their instrument.

I’d like it to be an excellent group of very serious players. I’m in conversation with a high-level community group who asked me to be their conductor. I told them not this year, but I’ll do one concert next spring. I just need some time to see how all of this falls into place.

I am very excited – cautiously excited – about this next step.

What do you see as your biggest challenge in this past 13 years?

I think staying young and fresh and vibrant in the music-making process, staying current and being able to connect to the students through great music is a big challenge. Graduate students are different than working with undergraduates. And while it’s a little more challenging, I’ve grown in so many ways from the opportunity to work with older students. They force me to grow – to figure out how to connect with them – because students don’t come to Michigan State University to play in my band. They come here to study with Elsa Verdehr or for their academic endeavors. But it’s a different set of circumstances that brings them together for the daily rehearsal. And I love it. I love the challenge.

What is it that makes your ensemble, the Wind Symphony, shine?

Well I hope it’s the music making, the repertoire. The students tell me when they don’t like something and when they do like it. That’s one of the most important tasks as any teacher knows, to select the music. Because that becomes the curriculum, that’s the textbook through which you’re going to teach the curriculum. It has to be representative of a lot of different periods and style. That’s why bands do a lot of commissioning. Working with composers is a symbiotic relationship because without composers, performers just don’t exist. And without performers, a composer’s work is not realized, not encouraged.

What did you think when you heard about the scholarship that was created in your name?

I was deeply honored because there are only two other band conductors that have scholarships named for them – Leonard Falcone and Ken Bloomquist. Leonard was here at MSU for 40 years and Ken, a total of 23 years, so my 13 years is just like an introductory tenure compared to the others.

Your message to readers?

Among the things I’m going to miss the very most when I retire is the music faculty and the collaboration that we enjoy here. MSU, the institution, is a happy place. The School of Music is an extended family of great professionals who respect and support each other and encourage each other. And it’s not always that way. But here, even though we all have to compete, it’s all about the students and the art of music.