Six years after leaving my job as an elementary music teacher, I am back at school….sort of.

For the past two months, I’ve been leading a group of musicians called the Music In Our Schools group (MIOS). We’ve been traveling around to various elementary schools in Lancaster County, putting on assembly presentations to students, and introducing them to the instruments in the brass and percussion families.

MIOS is a long-standing program run by our local musicians union, American Federation of Musicians, Local 294 (AFM), of which I recently became president. I think the MIOS program has been up and running for about 40 years! This is only my second year of involvement, and my first as leader. I played trumpet in the group back in 2023, which is the last time the brass and percussion families were highlighted. We performed at about 70 schools that year and are headed towards a similar number this year.

The program was run for a few decades by Dave Leithmann, a local school and community orchestra director. Dave actually helped me out a lot when I got my first teaching job, as a long-term elementary school strings teacher in the Hempfield school district. I really didn’t know what I was doing in that job at first, but Dave was helpful and encouraging, making me feel comfortable and confident. 

Dave retired at the end of last season and I was offered the chance to take his spot as leader.  I like it because it’s just enough school for me. I enjoy seeing the kids in large groups, the presentation only lasts about 45 minutes, we can do two or three of them in a day, and I don’t have to deal with any of the headaches or problems that typically accompany a full-time teacher’s life.

The MIOS program runs on a three-year cycle, with each year highlighting a different family of instruments. I would like to expand that cycle to include a few other topics as well, but we’ll have to see how that plays out.

At Ross Elementary where my cousin is principal.

MIOS is made possible through a large grant from the Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF). This is a national fund that is managed by the musicians union. Every time somebody purchases music in some way or buys concert tickets, a few pennies from that purchase go into the trust fund. The fund has been around since 1948, is well-invested and effectively managed. Those funds grow, and are then used throughout the United Staes and Canada to support a whole host of community concerts and educational programs, administered and run by AFM locals. 

Our local asked for, and received, special grants for MIOS over the last few years. I don’t know how long the funding will continue, but we see about 20,000-25,000 students every spring so I hope we can keep this thing going!

And any rate, it’s been fun to be back in the classroom again, but in a way that’s much more detached than the “everyday classroom teachers” experience. I play trumpet in the group, and that’s fun too.

So, if you’re flipping through my monthly photo journal and wondering why there are so many pictures of me and my bandmates in elementary schools – now you know! Thanks to the MPTF and our local union for providing this program. It’s a good source of income for me and a nice way to dip a few toes back into the classroom waters.

Here’s are a few more pics:

John demonstrating the “hoseaphone”.
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