3
 IssuesJune 6 - June 12, 2013 briefs Former BHUSD bond firm scrutinized in L.A. Times Page 3 !7EEKLY%XCLUSIVEsPAGES briefs Planning Commision looks to expand outreach Page 3 briefs Christiansen charges dismissed; will the BHUSD have to repay the $6.6 million settlement?  Page 2 Joel Pressman Reflects on 38 years at Beverly High Beverly Hills’ Music Man

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IssuesJune 6 - June 12, 2013

briefs Former BHUSD bondfirm scrutinized in L.A. Times Page 3

!7EEKLY%XCLUSIVEsPAGES

briefs Planning Commilooks to expand outreach Pag

briefs Christiansen charges dismissed; will theBHUSD have to repay the $6.6 million settlement?  Page 2

Joel Pressman

Reflects on

38 years at

Beverly High

Beverly 

Hills’

MusicMan

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Page 8 sBeverly Hills Weekly

BEVERLY HILLS’

MUSIC MAN*OEL0RESSMANREFLECTSONYEARSAT"EVERLY(IGH

"Y!NDREA!LDANA

coverstory

You’re retiring after 38 years, what does

that feel like?

There’s no short answer. There are so

many highs and lows [and] so many indi-

vidual experiences with people and of events

that it is hard to imagine it all sort of stop-

ping. But it doesn’t really stop because therestill are contacts. There are still connections

to the school and to the people that I don’t

see stopping.

As many of our readers know, you grew

up here. Your father was prominent

rabbi at Temple Beth Am and in 1975,

you returned to Beverly High as a young

choral director. Tell us about that.

My high school teacher, [the late] Robert

Holmes, gave us a lot of opportunities to

do things. He would ask me to take over

rehearsal while he would go and take care

of some sort of business in his office, or if 

he was absent and the substitute teacher was,

let’s say a golf teacher, I would take over

rehearsal. When I went to college, he would

sometimes call me and say, “Can you come

in and work with the choir? I’m going to be

away with Madrigals or I’m going to be at

a convention,” so I never really broke that

connection [to the community] and it seemed

like a funny idea when he retired to apply

for the job knowing that I wouldn’t get it

because I was young and just finishing my

Masters and 38 years later, here I am.

Where did you go to college?

USC. My mentor was a man named

Charles Hirt and he was also a man who

gave us lots of opportunities. He made me a

teaching assistant, had me conduct a group,

do a lot of business managing and programdeveloping and all kinds of experiences that

were unusual for somebody my age and that

also helped prepare me. And he had a love

of language -- a love of language in rehearsal

and a love of language in the music -- that

definitely resonated with me and encouraged

that part of me in terms of my own artistic

directing.

Can you expand on what you mean by

“love of language in the music”?

Singing is not just about notes. If you’re

an instrumentalist, you play the notes and

there are all kinds of communication there,

but the subtleties of language go far beyond

that. This year, for example, I really looked

for pieces where the text meant something

important [and] where I thought it would

connect with the students and the audiences.

For many years now, I’ve tried to approachthe performance not in terms of, how well

do we sing? But of, how well do we commu-

nicate? And some of that comes from vocal

technique, but a lot of it comes from what is

it you’re trying to say? What’s the message?

What’s the feeling? Do you want them to

laugh or cry or both? Do you emphasize this

particular syllable a little bit more in order to

exploit more meaning? It’s like Shakespeare.

Where the emphasis falls can tell you a lot

about what he was trying to say.

When you were first hired, there was

some resistance to hiring you because

some faculty felt you were too young?

I switched out of the music education

program at USC because I didn’t feel I was

learning very much. I got my bachelor’s in

voice [at USC] and most of the choral con-ducting classes, I took with the conducting

majors. I got my Masters in choral conduct-

ing and therefore I had almost everything in

the credentialed program, but I did not have

the teaching credential. At that time, they

had what was called a provisional credential

where the school district would agree to hire

you if the college would agree to give you

the credential and the college would agree to

give you the credential if the school district

agreed to hire you, so they got together and

said, “We will do this with this person.”

When I went to my interview, they said

the very logical question, “Why should we

hire you when you don’t have a teaching

credential?” And I handed out multiple cop-

ies of a chart that I’d made saying, “This is

what’s required for a teaching credential and

this is what I’ve had” and in most cases it

was double or triple what was required for

the teaching credential in terms of teaching

experience, coursework, [and] conducting

experience, so that pretty much quieted that.

There were two members of the perform-

ing arts department in the theater program

who were not at that interview who felt thatI should not have been hired. They wrote

letters to the Beverly Hills papers saying

that it would destroy the performing arts

department, that I wasn’t qualified, [and]

that it was all political. [Superintendent] Ken

Peters had made the final decision. The com-

mittee had narrowed it down to four finalists

and he interviewed each of the four of us. It

was a fabulous interview. I don’t remember

anything we said; I just remember being

blown away by how good he was in terms of 

this interview. He called me and said, “This

is not an attack on you. This is an attack on

me because I hired you. You just go and

teach.” And that’s exactly what happened.

How has choral music and musicinstruction changed over the time you’ve

been a teacher?

When I was a student at Beverly Vista [in

the 1960s], the boys glee had over 40 boys

in it singing four part harmony. Everybody

read music. Everybody took instrumental

music lessons. Now, there are not 44 boys in

the school district singing in choruses. The

district programs are much more diverse.

The AP program has siphoned off some of 

our brightest kids. I still get kids who are

taking seven or eight classes of APs, but it’s

not the same numbers as it used to be, so the

gene pool is smaller. There are fewer kids

to draw on that have been raised in the arts,

so that makes it harder. Plus, when I started

teaching, all four schools had a yearlong

chorus program in the middle schools. Now

some of them just have a musical in thespring, which is great training for theater,

but does not necessarily keep their skills up

musically.

The Madrigals Singers are a nationally-

recognized program. You’ve won

numerous national awards. What makes

this program special?

I don’t think that we are a better program

than a lot of places. I judge choir festivals

and I hear some absolutely magnificent

choirs and some absolutely wonderful teach-

ing. I think the thing that we bring, which is

less usual, is what I said about co

tion. There are choirs who sing w

pitch, better tone, better phrasing

choirs ever do, but after 30 sec

go, okay, now what? And it is a

who really takes each piece and

small drama out of it and finds th

give that audience something tha

connect with. I’ve never had any

up to me after a concert and say, “

way your sopranos lifted the soft

the ah vowel,” even though that’s s

we spend a lot of time with. Theup and they’ll say, “You brough

my eyes” or “how joyful” or other

talk about the emotion of the piece

nection of audience and perform

something that we emphasize an

had judges who have heard us at

festivals say, “This is one of th

things about your choir.” It’s not u

it is rare.

Many of your students have gon

fame and fortune in the entertai

industry. Do you find this fulfilli

I will go see anything or watch a

rent anything if a former student i

a huge chauvinist for [Beverly Hi

cially performing arts. A numbeago we had a board member w

much care for the arts. He said,

I’m not impressed if our graduate

rectly identify Beethoven on the m

he’s cleaning the toilets at Burger

students need to be able to suppor

They need to be able to program on

puter and build a website.” So I w

and I called [drama teacher] John

initial colleague in my teaching, a

down and off the top of our heads

a list of 250 grads who were s

their families. Everything from t

that you’ve heard of like Richard

and David Schwimmer and Nicola

people that you haven’t heard ofdoing props for Spielberg, who ar

who are directing, who are doing

theater and composing -- there

many people out there. Michael

who is an actor/director, said in an

once: he can hardly ever walk o

where he’s directing and not find

nection to Beverly High performin

son and daughter think that it’s

that we sit through the credits for e

and I’ll say, “Beverly grad. That’s

grad.” There are a lot of us out the

A number of your former studen

also found success in other indu

outside of entertainment. Tell us

that.I’ve had a lot of people say, “T

dence that I got by standing up a

to sing in front of people helped

teacher, as a lawyer, as a doctor,

tor,” [and] that there is a direct c

to putting yourself out there in a p

situation. I’ve also had people co

me and say, “You are the only r

I stayed in school.” Now, they do

mean me. They mean having a plac

and make music every day. One gi

me and said, throwing up hurts he

said, “Yes, have some yogurt and

“When I was a student at Beverly Vista [in the1960s], the boys’ glee had over 40 boys in it 

singing four part harmony. Everybody read music.

 Everybody took instrumental music lessons. Now,there are not 44 boys in the school district singingin choruses. The district programs are much more

diverse. ” -- Joel Pressman

7/28/2019 Beverly Hills' Music Man

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June 6- June 12, 2013 Pa

ple of days,” and she said, “What if you

every day?” We talked and of course,

had anorexia or bulimia and we got

ounseling and it was because she was

erned about her singing that she said

hing. It was that important to her. To me,

s as important a teaching victory as a kid

wins an award in a singing competition.

that you’re retiring, do you know

the plans are to fill your position?

ave not heard much. I’m hoping to be

of the process. I think I have some-to offer in terms of perspective of the

ram. I know there are some wonderful

ers out there and I’m hoping that we

uick enough and smart enough to get

body like that.

ve been critical of the Board of 

cation in recent years. Explain.

e constant comment that I’ve made

at according to its own standards, the

ornia State School Boards Association

out the responsibilities of a school board,

idual members, and school administra-

School boards are not supposed to

omanage. They’re supposed to set broad

y goals and then allow their adminis-

rs to work with staff to find the bestto achieve those goals. Recent school

ds have micromanaged to an extent I’ve

r seen before. They ignore the recom-

dations of staff way too often. We had a

ol board president say at his installation,

ve done our homework. We know what

. Trust us,” and then proceeded to say

individual school board members would

sponsible for enforcing this policy or

policy and that’s not their job. I’ve seen

many really good people drive off the

pus after having been fired by the school

d because they weren’t “yes men” or

women,” and I’ve seen too many people

because they could not do their job with

rity. This is not universally true of alld members, but as a general trend, over

ast 15 years or so, it is a change.

hen I started, the feeling was that the

ol board was honored lay people to help

e business of running a school district.

same Ken Peters, who was the one

hired me, made it really clear what the

d’s role was, what the superintendent’s

was and what the administration’s roles

He trained the school board into what

proper function was and I don’t mean

that he ordered them around. I meant that

what exactly is in the state standards was

what I think was much more what was hap-

pening at the time.

Tell us some colleagues and

administrators you’ve particularly

enjoyed working with.

Toni Staser who is my assistant principal

now -- she [oversees] the performing arts

department -- is a former music teacher, is

insanely dedicated, [and] is one of those

people that says, “What can I do to help?”and not “You’re doing this wrong, stop it.”

Over the years, we’ve had many administra-

tors who have come in and said, “What’s

been working for you, you can no longer do

and the reason is because we didn’t do it at

my old school district.” Toni has been great.

[Former Principal] Ben Bushman, I was

actually surprised. All I knew was that he

was a head football coach, and I thought,

what does he know about the rest of the

school? And he dedicated himself to that

school. If a custodian was called to clean

something up and they didn’t come, he went

to a custodial closet, grabbed a broom and

cleaned up. If you called him and you had a

problem and he wasn’t available, he would

show up on your doorway during the morn-ing and say, “How can I help?”

I think he set a good tone for [former

Principal] Dan Stepenosky who followed

him and I complimented [Principal] Carter

Paysinger last week because he has really

opened himself up. The same way that he

was dedicated to the sports program, he’s

dedicated to the entire school. I think most

people feel that he is in their corner. I think

it has been difficult for him because he is a

principal in an era where people at the dis-

trict do not want their administrators coming

up with reasons to do something different

from what the board is proposing. They

don’t particularly want that much input.

We’ve seen people driven out because theydid not bow down. We had a superintendent,

who I will not name, who left and just prior

to leaving said to me, “I have never been in a

district with so much bullying.” I said, “Are

we talking about the kids?” He said, “No,

I’m talking about parents, board members,

[and] teachers.” There’s an adversary rela-

tionship that is not healthy.

I know there are people in the district who

are trying to change that, so this is not a blan-

ket indictment of everybody at the district

office because there are some tremendous,

supportive people there, but as a tone, things

still need to shift back towards something

that is more collegial. Over the years, I’ve

stood up at teacher’s union meetings and at

board meetings and told the grownups when

I thought they were not behaving in a mature

and respectful way. I’ve been bawled out by

both sides for that, but generally speaking,

I haven’t had to backtrack because what’s

right is right and while opinions about pol-

icy may differ, the way we treat each other

shouldn’t.

Are there any other colleagues you’d like

to mention?

Well, there are so many. I’m very fortunate

that when I do what I do, I go out in public.

There’s an audience and people applaud and

you get that kind of feedback. There’s a lot

of teachers who are here countless hours,

go home, work countless hours more -- far

beyond what they’re paid for-- and are bril-

liant teachers. Their students notice, but the

community doesn’t necessarily notice. If 

your kid is not in that person’s class, they

may not know. There are plenty of people

who have not gotten the kind of attention

I’ve gotten for retirement, and I think it’s

because what I do is much more public, soI’ve always tried to take the opportunity of 

a bully pulpit to speak up on behalf of all

the teachers because not everybody gets the

chance to spout off like I do.

What are your plans now that you’re

retiring?

To heal. My number one priority is to get

healthy and then see what I’m up for like

continuing to judge choir festivals, teaching

voice lessons and traveling. I want to go to

New York and see some Broadway shows.

I want to go snorkeling. I’m waiting to see

how quickly things change.

How do you want to be remembered aspart of the Beverly High faculty?

I want to be remembered as somebody

who really cared -- sometimes, too much

-- and who made a difference, whatever

that is. Whether it’s the relocation of the

wheelchair ramp outside of Salter Theatre,

which was going to replace the stairs -- I

interrupted the architects who were there

with their plans and said, “You know there’s

a theater in there.” And they glared at me

and I said, “Well what if you start it there

and ran it around the side of the build

You could have your stairs and you co

also have your ramp.” And they said, “

our job,” and then they did what I wa

and I’m sure took credit for it. There

lots of little things all over the school. I

problem solving and the kids have allo

me to meddle and it’s been fun. I can th

of very few jobs where you would have

opportunity to do as many different th

as I’ve done with the technology comm

and with the facilities committee -- not

anybody listens to the facilities commiWe would have these long discussions

great detail and do our research and

school board would say, “Yeah, but we w

to do this.” Anyway, people are complica

I would hate to say I want to be rememb

in 25 words or less.

Looking back on 38 years, would you

have done anything differently in your

teaching career?

I probably would have spent more tim

the teaching and less time on all the o

committees and outside things becau

know I have not been as good at recr

ing as some of my colleagues and I kno

haven’t taught everything I would have

to have taught, but who knows? It’s onthose, each according to his gifts. I seem

be interested in things beyond just the mu

I told a teacher once who said, “I don’t

about that. My job is to teach chemist

“No, your job is to teach kids,” and th

how I feel. I don’t know. Every day I s

have to do something different. And ev

time you have a bad day you say, what

I do differently tomorrow? If I had any

or year or decade to do over, I would

something different. I had a communica

from a board member recently that s

“Teachers have forgotten how to fail. T

cover up their failures. They hide beh

their unions.” And I so disagree with t

Teachers know that they fail every day. difference is that you get back out of

and you go back in and you try someth

different the next day. My students h

heard me say, “My mistake,” or “That di

work,” or “Let me try it differently.” I d

understand why anybody would make s

a statement that we’re afraid to fail. W

not necessarily allowed to, but we fai

the time. Anybody who is paying atten

knows that, that’s human beings.