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I want everyone to feel the joy
George Winslow III marks his 50th year as a teacher of music and other life lessons
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN
George Winslow III, above, in his 50th year as a public school music teacher, teaches yet another class on Friday afternoon at Park Hall Elementary School. Normally he dresses in a coat and tie. He is wearing a school T-shirt for a school spirit day.
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The bell rang, indicating the start of the next class on Friday afternoon. George Winslow III, who had just finished his lunch in the trailer that serves as his music classroom at Park Hall Elementary School, opened the door to the line of waiting fourth-graders.
"Hey yay yay! It's nice to see you all," he said loudly.
Almost immediately, the class began, with the students marching in a circle, stomping as they went and loudly singing the theme of The Mickey Mouse Club as Winslow accompanied the singing with gusto on an electric keyboard. "Thank you very much," he said, and then launched into an enthusiastic version of the "Bunny Hop," with the students singing and dancing as Winslow played with a smile on his face. "Good!" he boomed.
Now in his 50th year as a public school music teacher, a career that has spanned 10 years of teaching at a variety of locations in New York State and the last 40 years teaching at most of the public schools in St. Mary's County, Winslow has strong opinions on what he is doing and why.
"I don't just teach music … I don't just teach notes," he said. "I teach how to get along. How to express yourself even when no one else is interested … and you have to have a way to do that. Music is the best way."
Winslow said that when life is hard and people are unkind, music can help. When he is making headway with a student, he can tell by their smile, he said. "That's the first thing they do. [If they can express themselves through music] they feel better about themselves, their surroundings … if they have something to lean on."
He thinks of an appreciation of music as a way to cope with life. "They don't have to be great musicians," he said of his students. But those that enjoy music "have a balance to their life.
"Make a lot of mistakes, and who cares!"
David Fortney, 45, formerly of Morganza, now of Warrenton, Va., was a student of Winslow's at Margaret Brent Middle School. At a party of colleagues, former students, family and friends honoring Winslow at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church hall in Mechanicsville on Saturday afternoon, Fortney said he understood even as a student that Mr. Winslow's band class was about more than music.
"His whole philosophy of teaching is trying to build good people," Fortney said. "He knows the majority of his students won't become professional musicians … he was teaching about self-discipline, responsibility … setting a goal, preparation … He was teaching what you need for life, not just what you need for that class."
Ruth Mossman Hein of Charlotte Hall also was Winslow's student when she was in middle school. It was "the most fun I can ever have imagined being in a band," she said at Winslow's party.
Nancy Bottorf of Hollywood, who taught music at Chopticon High School for more than 40 years, said that Chopticon's music program benefitted from Winslow's work with the younger students. "Gruff, loud, obnoxious, classy dresser, family man, truthful to a fault … nothing ever hurried George," Bottorf said.
At Winslow's party, his wife, Joan, displayed a lengthy biography she had created of their 50 years of marriage. She included a quote from Winslow about the final concert of his first year teaching. "I believe it is all about convincing the kids they really want to learn and do the best they can do … I was having fun, and I wanted to pass that message along to the students, the parents and the audience. I wanted everyone to feel the joy," he said.
It's been a long, exuberant trip for Winslow as he kept to that idea for the following 49 years. He has found opportunities for his young musicians to perform as much as possible at community events, at parades, in Washington, D.C. He himself has participated in multiple community bands, acted with Port Tobacco Players and he and Joan raised a family of eight children – which he predictably turned into a musical group of its own.
Some things about teaching have changed over the years. He has chaffed a bit under the increasing number of rules regarding students' travel outside of school, and a few other changes he'd rather not note publicly.
He said that he is always surprised by those in any school system who perceive music instruction or instruction in any of the arts as an unnecessary extra. "It's not just a frill," he said with emphasis.
An education that only focuses on certain parts of the brain is an incomplete education, he said.
In his classroom on Friday, he was doing his part to educate those other parts of his students' brains. After each student had selected a rhythm instrument from a cardboard box, Winslow played his keyboard as the students took turns passing by twos through the center of the circle. "One, two. Express yourself! You've got four stanzas," he yelled. "Take your time to say what you want to say."
As some of the students improvised with little dances or by playing their instruments as they passed through the center of the circle, Winslow shouted encouragement. "There you go!"
"Next!" he yelled for the next group of students to start.
"This is the last time. If you're going to do it, You'd better do it now.
"Next!"
Kathy Norton, principal at Park Hall Elementary, said Winslow is memorable. "He's a character. He's just a fun character. He does whatever is asked with a smile on his face," she said.
Is 50 years of teaching enough?
"Oh, no. I'm not retiring," he said from his classroom on Friday. "As long as I can keep my health and my smile, I'm going to help people to love music like I do.
"You need to be passionate, you know," he said. "What makes you get out of bed in the morning? I didn't slide into [this job]. I picked it. I aimed for it. And I have not looked back."
