In early November I got a call from David Walworth. David was now the supervisor of music for the Longview Public Schools. He said, "the choral guy at Mark Morris High School just quit suddenly, would you consider being interviewed for the job?" I told Karen, my wife of about two years about this offer. Her response: "yes, I do think it's a good idea for you to have a job!" (Apparently that $600 commission check wasn't cutting it for her over that period of about five month!)

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I sat down in the office of Gary Kipp, new principal at Mark Morris, and with David. In short, the district offered me a contract. Interestingly enough, the role not only included three classes at Mark Morris, it also meant travel to Kessler Elementary where I had third, fourth, and fifth graders...not all that different from my first job in Castle Rock. Well, except for one thing. I now had a room of my own! Yes, it was in the basement of the school auditorium, but the job did not involve pushing a cart laden with music books, a Califone record player, and an auto-harp. All that material could, at least, find a home in my "dungeon" room. I also used a guitar given as a gift to me from my wife. She bought it, brand-new, for $24.00. So, I began to develop my calluses and my self-taught techniques for the instrument. Fun!

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Oh, and here's a tidbit of info, well, of interest to me, at least. Kessler Elementary was the first school I attended after we moved to Washington from Arkansas in 1945. I was enrolled in the third grade there after about a year and a-half in first/second grade in a one-room school house a half mile to the south of the house in which I was born. This was  in a community called Dewey, six miles or so to the east of Pangburn, Arkansas.

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Again, interesting to me...Kessler had been remodeled some years before I taught music there, but the auditorium was still the original! So, I was now teaching in at least part of the building that stood, and that I attended, in the third grade!

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I must say that my few years at Kessler were wonderful. Kessler served an area of Longview the police called "the heartland." But I don't remember a single class of kids coming into my room for music that had kids who gave me any trouble. I enjoyed seeing them come into the room and it was sheer fun listening to them sing "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" and all the rest of the folk songs and other material in their grade level books. That even includes their playing the recorder (late in the year for fifth graders.) Maybe some of that atmosphere came about because of the superb staff to be found at Kessler in the early 80's. I'm sure I'll leave out to marvelous teachers, but I remember Principal Roland Smith, Gary Bossart, Jeanne Dire, Annie Morris, Sharon Fountain, and Karen Fitch. 

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I'm not sure whether things had changed at the high school level since I last taught or if the atmosphere at Mark Morris was hugely different in 1981 than Kelso High School was when I left there in 1976. But a good many things were different about the choral program.

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I had three classes of choral music as I picked up where Harry DeRuyter left off at the school. The early ensemble class met at 8 a.m. each day...a group called "The Studio One Singers." This was an ensemble of about 16 voices, ostensibly made up of the most talented singers in the program. It became obvious that their reason for the group's existence was not the same as the one I perceived. 

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One of the music practice rooms had a couch and a comfortable chair or two...kind of a "lounge" which was, apparently, the domain of the Studio One Singers...hereinafter called SOS. 

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My expectation was that they rather "line themselves up" in the rehearsal room as higher level singers and rehearse with at least a modicum of energy and considerable interest in becoming the best they could be. They, for the most part, resisted that idea and seemed to think the hour was theirs for coffee and a social time with peers and that rehearsal should be limited to preparing for imminent concerts or a special program, say, for a service club.

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Mark Morris, as I later found out, did have a bit of a reputation as a school run rather loosely. One teacher said he was seriously considering another profession prior to Gary Kipp's assignment as principal. He said he thought "adults should run the zoo, not the kids."

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In a bit of a saga of "good news, bad news," oddly enough, Mark Morris had no auditorium either! But the school district did have a marvelous auditorium at the original high school in Longview, R. A. Long. Unfortunately, they were doing some repairs and remodeling there. So, my first concert with Mark Morris choirs was set for Kessler Elementary School's old auditorium. That was in the spring of 1982.

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I may have come close to losing my job as a result of that concert. I had what I guess everyone else perceived as "old-fashioned" views about concert etiquette for both performers and audience. I was surprised when the first group began singing and people started taking flash photos...I assume of their kids, especially...during the singing. I stopped after the first song and asked the audience to refrain from photos until each group was done singing...that we would pause and let them get pictures then, if they wished. No doubt it seemed like a scolding. The Assistant Superintendent was in attendance. I'm guessing that he got an earful of complaints. To this day I don't know the "behind the scenes" conversation among administrators about this, but I never heard a "discouraging" word from Principal, Gary Kipp. That was just the first of many cases of his support for my years in that building!

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The Mark Morris choir of 1982 got a II at the district music competition/festival. This had not happened since my first year in Castle Rock and my first year in Kelso. 

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The students in the top choral groups at MM had every right to be disappointed in losing Harry DeRuyter (their previous director). I'm sure it came as a shock to find someone with a totally different approach standing in front of them. As I mentioned about "having to graduate" a crop of seniors and a few juniors before I was able to develop a sense of loyalty and confidence among the students. I don't think this sort of thing is unusual. The very nature of making music in a group virtually requires a type of bonding between students and their director. Much has been written about this. It applies to vocal groups, especially, for there is something about the intimacy and, yes, even the vulnerability that singers sense that causes this to happen. It also has to do with depending on each other, working closely as a team. Some directors of school groups may have the skills and personal attributes to develop this bond quickly. I readily confess that it took a couple of years, still again, for me to feel comfortable with it.

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In the meantime, there was a turn-around in the atmosphere in the building at Mark Morris. Yes, there were a few retirements and some "moving on" from a few teachers and associate principals, but there came to be a sense that staff could expect backing with regard to discipline issues, for example. General morale improved immensely.

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