The Teacher As Inspiration with Lester Fleishman

April 18, 1964: Joint Concert at Narragansett

Make sure to check out my two blog posts chock full of letters and quotes from my dad’s former students!

The Teacher As Inspiration Part One

The Teacher As Inspiration Part Two

Disclaimer: Events mentioned in this episode all happened, but my dad may have confused the timeline and or which school they happened. For instance, when my dad shared about driving to NY to get used band uniforms, he misremembered and said it was for the Sharon marching band. It was actually for the Templeton marching band.

Transcript:

(transcribed by kayla.r.fainer@gmail.com)

Melissa Milner 00:09

Hi, this is Melissa Milner. Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. The goal of this weekly podcast is to help you explore your passions and learn from others in education and beyond to better your teaching. The Teacher As... will highlight uncommon parallels to teaching, as well as share practical ideas for the classroom. 

[ZOOMING IN SOUNDBITE]

This zooming in episode is a special one in which I let my dad, Lester Fleishman, take over and tell his story. From a classical pianist in his childhood, to the Navy Steel Band, to music educator, my dad has great stories. In this episode, you will hear just a few. I am proud to say that Lester Fleishman is my dad, and I know watching him teach shaped me in many ways. In addition, watching him leave to play gigs when he was tired and his back ached is a vivid memory from my childhood. He did what he had to do to provide for his family, and I am forever grateful. 

Dad is 85 now, and I'm so thrilled to have him on The Teacher As... to share and inspire. I did have to talk very loudly into my microphones so he could hear me. I lowered the volume, but at times, it does sound like I'm shouting. My dad, at one point in the interview, refers to his agent passing him a note. That was my mom, of course. Thanks, Mom. 

Here's some background before the interview gets started. My dad was in the Navy and was thinking about becoming a professional jazz musician when he got out. But he realized it wasn't for him and decided to be a music teacher instead. I'm very happy that happened for many reasons, but the most important one is he met my mom while he was studying to be a music educator. Please enjoy my interview with my dad, Lester Fleishman. Thank you for sharing your story with The Teacher As... listeners, Dad.

Lester Fleishman 01:55

Thank you for inviting me.

Melissa Milner 01:58

Can you tell us a little bit about what happened after you got out of the Navy?

Lester Fleishman 02:01

I decided, I think I would like to teach music. I applied to something that could be near home. I don't know, I can't remember why I ended up with, at that time, Lowell State College, but I do know that they gave me a state scholarship to drop my tuition to $100. So the school seemed to be a good fit for me. And while I was there, I also was able to play professionally. And the more I got involved with some of the classes, the more I knew I wanted to be a teacher. 

And I think student teaching is probably the most important for educating a teacher. They have to go out and try to teach. You learn a lot that way. I was very impressed with student teaching. And by the time I was finishing that, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

Melissa Milner 03:05

Tell us about your first teaching job.

Lester Fleishman 03:08

My first teaching job was at the Narragansett Regional High School in Templeton, Massachusetts. They offered me an elementary music teaching that they didn't have. I was going to start the program. And I started the elementary music program. And I was the only teacher. And I went to, I think, four or five different schools. I was happy with it. I knew that as soon as my wife graduated, Linda, which would be the end of that year, she was going to come live with me out there. 

And as it turns out, I got a job in Templeton as a Director of Music, although there wasn't that much to direct yet. Then she came out and taught in Ashburnham, and she was very happy with their job. And I was happy, and I was enjoying teaching even the elementary kids. Then the following year, I was asked to start a high school music program. And they had a gentleman at the high school, and he was going to start the band that year. And to be as polite as I could, he really had no idea what he was doing. And he would be the first to admit it. 

So I said, well, as Director of Music, I'm going to take over this high school band. And you can go and teach elementary. And I did band, and I said, we've got to have a feeder band. So I went down and started elementary instrumental teaching and taught them all the instruments, and the junior high school. These were going to be, in a few years, my high school musicians. And sure, they were. And the first time we actually had a high school band perform, I couldn't believe how many people were amazed how they can play that well in such a short time. I felt very encouraged. 

And the following year, I entered the band in some contests which we won. The big marching band, Gardner, we won their band contest. That was it. Then I went to the superintendent who was a very good friend of mine. We used to play golf together. It's unusual when a teacher plays golf with a superintendent, but that's the way it was in that town, friendly And I got what I needed. And the following year, I kind of needed a little more. 

Then they started talking about how money's tight. And I think the following year, I left right in the middle when I had an offer from Wahlberg and Auge there in Worcester. And they would come out and do demonstrations for the rentals for the instruments. Then the third year, I went into McNamara and I said, listen, you've got to give me a pay raise. I mean, there are people doing nothing compared to what I'm doing now, and they're making more money than me. 

He says, I'll go to the school committee. The answer was, not this year. And I had already been talking with Wahlberg and Auge, and they said they'd love to have me. They have manufacturing upstairs and a nice retail store downstairs. And I got to meet a couple of very famous professional guitarists who, when they were performing in the area, came in there and tried out my instruments. And I enjoyed that job, but taking orders, writing orders. I got tired of it. 

Then Phil Saltman came into my life. Make the story short, I had been a pupil of Phil and was in his beginning years of his summer camp. And I told him what the situation was. And he said, why don't you come and teach in my studio? I said to Linda, we'll have to go move to Boston, which we did. While I moved to Boston with Linda and taught with Phil in Boston, I got my Master's Degree at Boston State College. I think that's what it was called then. They've all got different names now. 

And then I had a Master's Degree and Sharon came into the picture. I think it was like 25 years and I did the same thing in Sharon. They had no band. The chorus was like 15 people. It's not just you go in there, you tap your stick and say, okay, you practice your music at home. Let's hear it. It was terrible. Let's go on. That's the way I saw a lot of band directors who were just out of college teaching their bands. 

And I got the opposite way with the parents. They started the Band Parents Association and provided money for where I eventually was able to drive up to New York Upper State to buy used band uniforms. And I brought them home, had them all piled up in the back seat. And we took the dog up, so the dog got to ride in the front seat. Then we had to bring all the uniforms into the music room. 

And then we had the kids try it out, and they could play their instruments and we put the band together in the high school. I hope in saying all I said, you'll get my philosophy of being a great teacher, and being a good band director and even a choral director, same thing. You can’t just wave your sticks and tell them this is where you start. You’ve got to go further into it. 

Let's say I had 30 kids in the band class and they're clarinets. They're all following the first clarinet. It was very good. I'm giving you just an example. And they're following her and doing a lousy job. And I got the feeling, after a while that she was getting sloppy, because she heard it being sloppy with the rest of them. I sensed that. So I'd say okay, I'm not going to ask you to do it all by yourself. Because there's your major embarrassment for some kids. 

Instead, I had them as a group, and I could soon hear who was having a problem. And I would say, okay, let's cut you in half. We had three clarinets here, three clarinets here. And when so and so played with them, she's the leader. And I manipulated it around, and soon these kids were reading the music right. Not perfect. But that's why they played second or third clarinet. They were good kids. And the last thing I wanted to do was lose them. Because they're good kids, and they seemed to like being in the band. And I'm sure they were doing their best, but maybe they're not practicing enough at home. 

When you're in a classroom, it's a different scenario going on. But in band or chorus or anything where you're teaching a group to work as one, the only way you can make them work as one is to take your best and let them help you teach the other students. And I found that more often than not, it worked beautifully. One of the reasons why I was attracted to being a band director was, of course, that I played in a band where everyone could play well. 

And of course, in the Navy band, they were almost as good as professionals, some of them, most of them. And when we rehearsed, no problem really, maybe run through it once or twice. And everybody's got their part. But I knew from student teaching, that's not the way it works. When I did district S.E.M.S.B.A. or musical high school organizations, and they have a festival, and schools who are in the organization send their best to perform. So then they would spend a weekend with a concert on Sunday night, and rehearsing. 

And what I learned there was what was going on around me in all these different districts, some terrific band directors, terrific. And I was conducting the S.E.M.S.B.A. band in the back standing with the drum section to count them along. And what I heard from the drum section was terrible. And I said, I've got to go back there. Because I played the drums in the Navy Band for three years. And I went up there, and I showed them things. 

Just backtracking for a second, I learned to play the drums because I played at the Navy School of Music in Washington. I was a piano major and a drum major. So when I went out and joined a unit band, I was able to play the piano with the band orchestra. And if we played like the marching band outside, I would be the bass drummer, which I liked. I enjoyed it. I got the cymbal, and I could play the bass drum with my knee. I would be like-- 

[SINGING A DRUM LINE] 

You laugh that way, but I could do it. So anyway, I really felt that a lot of young band directors just out of college a year or two, someone doesn't teach them things. I mean, even if you were a trombone player, you're going to go direct the band. You've got to know how to play. You have to know something about the instruments that these kids are playing.

Melissa Milner 14:14

I remember you basically being able to pick up any instrument and play it. Was that because you grew up playing the piano, and that can translate to other instruments?

Lester Fleishman 14:26

Did the piano assist me? It assists me in reading music. I mean, I didn't have to start from the beginning. But when I looked at the clarinet music and the note was two lines above the G clef, that's a high note in a clarinet. But I recognized it right away. I knew it's name. I knew it was C.

When a kid who's never played piano, what does he know two lines above the G clef, and how do I figure that note? Because the first year or so, all you learn to play is do re mi on your instrument,

Melissa Milner 15:07

Right. Of all your teaching career, what is your proudest moment?

Lester Fleishman 15:16

The Narragansett Regional High School Band made its debut in Gardner and got in the festival parade. And there were some bands that were experienced seniors and juniors. But again, I learned how to march. I learned how a band should perform. Most of the guys who were directing the other bands, as good as they sound, they were sloppy as marching bands. Because their director didn't know. 

I'm sure if he knew, he would have done things like you don't put a 4'9" kid in the second row behind a 6' trombone player in the front row, things like that. Or you don't put a little kid at the end of your line because that's your guiding person. If they look out of the corner of their eyes, they have to go looking for the kid. Where is he? Oh, there he is. 

So it's things like that that I was proud of the fact that when my band marched, and I gave them very easy music, nothing that was challenging. In other words, I would have had to, except for for the march that I wrote, which was easy, simple. I wouldn't have had them play anything harder than that. Because I wanted them to feel confident about what they're playing and concentrate on the fact that they are a marching band. 

And I had a kid, he was about 6'5". He was sort of a gangly, awkward kid. But I wanted to know if he could keep a beat. And we bought a big tall baton and a hat, and he had his uniform. And one of the mothers made something else that goes over his shoulder. And he looked terrific. And he was in front of the band using the baton. And I taught him how, and the band has to make his move to the left. You point... 

I just told him everything to do simply because I experienced it for so many years from the Navy. Winning that trophy, it was like an amateur band against professional bands. One of the judges told me, he said, we appreciate what you were doing. It was like a professional band. I said it was like a Navy Band. And he said, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were good, and I feel proud of that.

Melissa Milner 18:02

That's awesome. You obviously made an impact on many musicians. So here's my last question. What is your favorite movie, and why?

Lester Fleishman 18:17

There are a couple of movies that I would pick because of the soundtrack, the music. But if it comes to a story line, Song of Love, back from the 40s. Story of Schumann, his wife, his children, and Johannes Brahms. And that was the movie that I think made an imprint on me more than-- other movies entertain me. I love them, this and that. But that movie stuck with me. 

I have a note here from my agent. If you ever were to ask me, what individual made me into a musician, Monte Nelson. There's no question. I won a scholarship when I was seven years old, something, I don't know if you're born with it. But when I auditioned for Monte to see if I can get a scholarship to study with him, and I knew he was a concert pianist, he had played with the Boston Pops.

I auditioned for him, and I won. I got a scholarship from him. And he said, you play like a musician. And then he went on, he taught. He was my teacher about when my father died, 14. So I'd say I was living at least seven, maybe eight years. And yes, there's no question in my mind. He made me not only a good pianist, but he taught me to play musically.

Melissa Milner 19:49

It sounds like he might have taught you how to teach, too.

Lester Fleishman 19:53

He might have, yes. He could have been an influence. All teachers, if they're good, are a big influence

Melissa Milner 20:00

Thank you, Dad. This was a wonderful interview. And I'm so glad that The Teacher As... listeners get to hear you.

Lester Fleishman 20:07

Thank you. I'm glad we didn't have to use masks.

Melissa Milner 20:12

If you enjoyed this episode, and have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button for The Teacher As... podcast so you can get future episodes. I would love for you to leave a review and a rating, as well, if you have time. For my blog, transcripts of this episode and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner. And I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. 

I am sending a special thanks to Linda and Lester Fleishman, my mom and dad, for being so supportive. They are the voices you hear in the Zooming In soundbite. And my dad composed and performed the background music you are listening to right now. My intro music was "Upbeat Party" by Scott Holmes. 

So what are you zooming in on? I would love to hear from you. My hope is that we all share what we are doing in the classroom in order to teach, remind, affirm and inspire each other. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap!

Transcript:

(transcribed by kayla.r.fainer@gmail.com)