Band director to leave behind musical legacy

It started with just five students in 1990 when Dr. Todd Shiver came to GCSU. The music department was small, but Shiver was determined to make it grow. He came as the interim chair and changed the dynamics of the program. He has conducted the concert and jazz band, as well as teaching a variety of other classes like conducting and music education. Even though he keeps a busy schedule, he still manages to have fun with his job and keeps a positive attitude.

“As a band director I get much enjoyment over the success of my band students, but as the interim chair I get to enjoy the success of all of the music students and the music faculty as well,” Shiver said. “Being a part of that success makes it all worth it.”

Now, 20 years later, there are 80 people in the concert band alone and Shiver has left a mark on the music department. He has recently been offered a job at Central Washington University and will be leaving after this semester.

“I will always treasure my time here at GCSU and I have always said that I would never leave to take a band director job anywhere else,” Shiver said. “However, in order to begin a new career path in administration it was necessary for me to move away.”

Shiver said he has stretched students and teachers alike at GCSU to their fullest potential and still had a lot of fun in the process. One of their concerts in particular paid homage to a historical event that happened on this campus.

“One of my favorite concerts, because it had such historical meaning, (was) recreating this live nation-wide broadcast that Bob Hope did here in Russell Auditorium in an effort to raise war bonds and entertain the Navy WAVES who were training here on this campus. This was also the first collaboration with Dr. Bob Wilson serving as the emcee for the jazz band. He has served in that capacity for the past 15 years.”

This particular show was done twice, once in 1995 and a second time in 2003, when they actually had access to the original recording of the performance. There have been other memorable shows too that even the faculty has enjoyed.

Percussion teacher Ryan Smith, has been teaching and working with Shiver for five years.

“A couple years ago Dr. Shiver led the John Williams concert,” Smith said. “As a musician I like to remember people in terms of musical accomplishments, and this concert in particular was just a lot of fun.”

Shiver introduced several movie scores by Williams from “Indiana Jones” to “Harry Potter,” which proved to be challenging but very fulfilling. Shiver has also planned trips to Europe with the jazz band in the past and has gone the extra mile in planning the trip for this coming year even though he will not get to go.

Kevin Alexander, a junior music education major, has played the trumpet in Shiver’s band for the past three years and said he’s sad to see Shiver go, but knows that it is best.

“As someone who is going to be a future education major, I understand that it will be good for him and his family to take an administrative position. Our jazz band was planning on going to the Czech Republic next year and we were planning on going with him, but everything is still on,” Alexander said. “He is definitely not leaving us out to dry. He was prepared to leave and he is preparing the school for his departure too.”

Posted by Joanna Sullivan on Apr 9 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry