We Love Mr. T

Did you happen to notice that Mr. T stopped by my blog recently? That he took the time to comment on Dr. D's splinter dramedy? Did you wonder to yourself, "Hmmmm, I wonder how The Gang got to be all chummy with Mr. T?" Did you start humming the theme to The A Team? Did you mumble to yourself "I pity the fool!" when you saw his tag line?

Well, calm yourself. This Mr. T is our friendly school band director. Dr. D's French horn teacher for now and, hopefully in the fall, LadyBug's band teacher as well. Since he took a moment out of his busy day to de-lurk himself (ha, I knew you read this blog and now I have PROOF!), I thought I'd introduce him around to the rest of you! And show him some bloggy love, in honor of his hard work and dedication to the students that he loves.

Bloggy friends, meet Mr. T.

Mr. T, meet my bloggy friends.

There, now you all know each other.

Here at the Gang's house, we love our Mr. T. He's bright, energetic, and has just the right blend of dry humor and light-heartedness to capture (and hold!) Dr. D's attentions. He has a way of inspiring our little French horn player to stick with it, to try harder and to do more with his skills. Mr. T keeps incredibly busy running the band programs & group lessons for two elementary schools, teaching private lessons for aspiring trombone players, and being a hubby and new dad. I'm sure there's tons more that he does that most of us don't even know about. He goes out of his way to answer all my questions as we navigate this new territory of Concert Bands, Wind Ensembles and musical talent. These last few weeks in particular, he has gone above and beyond the call of duty, helping with our search for a used horn of good quality and affordable pricing. He even inspected it for us and gave us his honest evaluation of the horn.

Our experiences with this elementary school band program have, so far, been absolutely a pleasure and we are very excited at the prospect of LadyBug participating next year. In fact, The Boss and I have been talking about what future participation in the school band program might look like for The Gang. Given that our district's high school marching band has won countless awards, it will almost certainly guarantee a very busy household. But we are so grateful for the start the kids have now and the foundations that are being set - largely due to Mr. T's passion and excitement for his job and "his kids" in the program.

When I asked Dr. D what he'd miss the most when he left 6th grade to move on to middle school, his first answer was "band with Mr. T." I think that says it all!

So, Mr. T - in this blogging mom's view, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a "marching band mom." I look forward to it!

Special thanks to Dr. D
for helping me write this tribute
to one of his favorite teachers!