The Masters – A Tournament of Legacies

You see, often four of us get together to enjoy a good game of golf. I thought about The Masters Tournament in sunny Augusta right now, and my mind went to the word “Legacy,” also the name of an awesome golf course that is only a Tiger Wood’s drive from my home.

So I entitled my speech: The Masters – a Tournament of Legacies.

Think about that word: “Legacy.” When did YOUR legacy begin? Did it start with you? Or, did it have a Mentor, a Master Teacher, a Tiger Wood you emulated, or an Obi-Wan Kenobi who shared their skills with you? How did YOU collect enough musical DNA needed to amass a history of teaching excellence, strong enough to pass on to hundreds, perhaps thousands of budding musicians?

I thought inward to my own “calling” for music. The pivotal day was sometime in the Fourth Grade. We were learning the recorder from Mrs. Harvey and I loved it. But my dog chewed up my mouthpiece, and because of that, I was not allowed to start or rent an instrument. Little did I know that I would go into Choral Music because of that mutt. In hindsight, and with tremendous admiration to my instrumental colleagues, I guess you could say that dog saved me from the terrors and grind of Friday Night Marching Band.

I suppose I was like Johnny, who came home all excited. He told his mother that he recited the entire alphabet that day, but the other kids got stuck on LMNOP. She said, “That’s because you play the violin.” The next day the little boy came home even more excited and told his mom that he had counted all the way to 100, but the rest of the class couldn’t count past 50. He mother said, “That’s because you play the violin.” And the third day, Johnny came home and said the teacher measured everyone’s height, and that he was the tallest. He asked his mother, “Is that because I play the violin?” And she said, “No. That’s because you’re 22.”

What we’ve learned, we’ve probably gained from the “Masters.” Those who went before us; the pioneers of music education; the musical giants upon who’s shoulders we stand. For some of you it might have been a college professor, or perhaps an elementary music teacher. For me it was a man named Karl Hawes, one of the best choral directors in Up-State New York. I know I never thanked him enough before cancer stole him away, but I always tried to honor his name by making sure my “min-me’s” knew from whence their legacy bread got buttered. All of my students knew his name.

Some of these “Grand Masters” in Ohio are not with us anymore, but they certainly will live on in our musical hearts forever. I’m talking about: Rosalie Nehls, Omar Blackman, John Lehman, Rowland Hossimer, B. Neil Davis, Vera Smith, George Strickland, TR Evans. Jim Kirk, Dick Wesp, Emil Puffenberger, John Venesile. Sandy Stuart, Bob Mix, Lucy Hill, Bruce Deniston, Byron Griest, Lynn Canfield, Elmer Thomas, Joan Myers, Curt Crews, Jim Bane, Sam Shie. The list could go on and on. You can no doubt create your own mental rolodex. They were the Champions; they paved the way of Master Music Programs in Ohio for us. They wore “the Green Jacket.”

The next generation might be us - the retired but “Not-Crossed-Over-Yet” group! You could say we now play on the Senior Tour. Now we dapple in community bands and choirs, and gig-out on weekends, always helping in churches and weddings.

Finally, there’s the “Results” of our Legacy: those outstanding students of ours who are now the music educators - teaching, rehearsing, and conducting. We’ll call them the Caddies – working with the students, carrying the clubs, cleaning the shoes, & double-checking the yardage. They are there because you were there.

It is crucial, dare I say critical, for us to maintain our rich heritage of hard work and musical pedagogy through our participation at the annual OMEA Professional Conference: Legacies gathering and creating a flash mob of concepts, compassion and camaraderie.

So my question to you is, “Who were YOUR mentors, and what can you do now?” Well, you can golf for one thing. Take long naps. Enjoy a good book. Make yourself a mimosa. But there is more – even in retirement there is Legacy to give.

Mentor a young teacher. Contact the OMEA Director of Adjudications and learn how to become a judge. Attend a school concert and write a Thank You note to the director (that note to them [from YOU!] will trump ANY insensitive comment by an uninformed parent). Be an Advocate for Music Education. Give free lessons at your local school. Set up a fund for music scholarships. Go to your grandchildren’s concerts and then buy them ice cream.

You see, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler – three of today’s best golfers in the world - learned from Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, who learned from Arnold Palmer, Jack Nickolas and Gary Player. It’s the Legacy of The Masters.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you, the Retired Music Educators of Ohio, YOU are the Masters. You carried and shared the DNA of musical legacy, from the Ohio River to this great North Coast. You fashioned most of the current music educators now teaching in the State. You are the ones to whom Ohio’s musical culture – one of the best in the nation - owes an extreme debt of gratitude. Along with your full tummies from this monumental breakfast, your hearts and souls should be swelled with pride for your career choice of music education.

So on behalf of every smiling child with a recorder, which has a good or chewed-up mouthpiece, thank you. Thank you for your years of service. Thank you for caring about kids.

Poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy said “We are the Music Makers; the Dreamers of Dreams. My friends, you are beyond the Music Makers. You are the LEGACY of those Dreams. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted, Eric L. Richardson Clinician, Adjudicator, Honors Conductor, Mentor Minister of Music, Bethesda on the Bay Lutheran Church Adjunct, B-W Conservatory, Kent State, Heidelberg University, Retired Strongsville High School, Fine Arts Department Chair, Retired Westlake High School, Head of Choral Activities, Retired