El Camino High School Music Program

I've heard a smattering of times that it's good to remember where you come from. I wonder out loud to myself, "Why is that? Is there some sort of special advantage to be had from remembering one's origins?" Certainly, there's value in determining the original source of one's success in order to replicate it. But why carry a homage to something that has perhaps only sentimental value, or worse, is a poor memory of distant hardships long left in the dust?

I may never know the answer to the latter two questions, because this was a damn good school for music.

"If you can make it at El Camino, you can make it anywhere", said the principal, despite knowing the metaphor was wasted.

El Camino High School was in the midst of the beginning of its golden era in the music program when I first attended. A great new band director, Mr. Glaser, had been slowly but surely building up the scene for some years prior to my arrival. The choir was...well you know, it was a good enough choir. I tried it once. Fun times. The theater department was interesting, as were its students.

The right face is your face. The left one is your face once you've joined a high school theater department.

Anyway, the programs for jazz and classical respectively were chugging along at a locomotive's pace, unwavering, building up to a strong hum semester after semester, and in 2001 I found myself caught up in the swirl.

When I first tried the sax out in my middle school jazz band, I got in because the band teacher pitied me. He wanted all older middle school students to have a shot, and I was grateful to get one. The music we played soared through my veins and gave the distinct impression that some part of me was beginning to fly for the first time. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that I had many dreams back then of soaring over the clouds. It was also a great time for my physical health. The teacher relegated me to the lowly task of bari saxophone, and cured my asthma for all intents and purposes.

Move ahead one year- coming to El Camino I was much more well-equipped to introduce myself to their world of music, and initially I was O.K. So you know, pretty awful, but still in tune half the time, as long as it wasn't a D or very high or very low, etc etc.

And then something magical happened. I'm not sure when the combination of Mr. Glaser's teaching us to be unafraid and my urgent desire to make something new lit a fire. You see, Mr. Glaser's students, by and large, were fearful of soloing, with the exception of one or two other kids. So when I volunteered for every single song, he permitted it, even encouraged it. At first things were pretty shaky, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, a raging flow of music and creative ideas exploded from my head along with a surge of unspeakable joy. I had become linked to music and creation in a way I had never really experienced before, and to this day it remains one of the most beautiful and happy memories I'm capable of recalling.

Caveat: Improvisation also leads to neural-electric overload. 

I guess what I'm driving at is that as long as Mr. Glaser or his legacy remains at that school, it will be, in my opinion, the finest school of music the San Juan Unified school district has to offer. Because unlike virtually every institution I've been to, no one I've met has fostered creativity, fresh thinking, and innovation while still recognizing the value of tradition like Mr. Glaser has.