Congratulations, Mr. Miller

WARREN — With a career spanning about 30 years, Warren Mott High School Band Director Erik Miller — or as I knew him, Mr. Miller — touched the lives of countless students. It’s why around 30 alumni with varying backgrounds, degrees, families and career choices all came together to honor him in an alumni band.

Over the course of a month and a couple of weeks, we practiced three pieces of music all with a connection to Miller, and even a new piece written with Miller in mind. At the first practice, my nerves were on end. Admittedly, I was scared — scared of how we’d all react to seeing each other once again, some of us with a decade or more since we sat as students. But as soon as we got started, it was like we never left in the first place. We made jokes, practiced the music and helped each other out with some of the musical language we may have forgotten.

From a young age, I knew I wanted to follow my sister’s footsteps and participate in band. In fifth grade, I picked up a flute lent to me by my cousin and started my journey. No matter how hard it got in school, I always reminded myself that high school band was the end goal. I stared in awe at the students in their maroon marching uniforms with matching yellow and white capes knowing that someday I, too, would stand there. Most of all, I heard stories from my sister about how great Miller was and all the fun they had while under his direction.

James McLennan, a former student, said he had an older brother who was in the band program and that’s where he met Miller. McLennan said Miller always gave him the nickname “Eager McBeaver” since he’s always excited to participate in things. McLennan has learned a lot from him.

“He’s very unique. There’s really nobody like him,” McLennan said. “I’ve known a lot of music teachers, and nobody is quite like him.”

McLennan said the idea of an alumni band was thrown around for several years and that two years ago they put the plans into motion. This process included commissioning a song for Miller to commemorate his final year as a teacher at Warren Mott. It proved a challenge since McLennan and a select few others didn’t want Miller to know and the number of alumni participating in the concert was still up in the air. The piece was written by Andrew David Perkins, a composer from Michigan who had worked with Miller before.

The alumni band played at the Warren Mott band program’s spring concert on May 14. Our names were listed in the program as well as the year we graduated. It’s scary to think the last time I walked Warren Mott’s halls as a student was 10 years ago. Time certainly seems to speed up once you become an adult with bills and responsibilities my high school brain could barely grasp.

Miller didn’t know about the alumni band until McLennan told him, and Miller called it incredible.

“I think what it tells me is that you and others that have been a part of this program still have that connection and I think that’s what’s special to me,” Miller said. “It’s like you didn’t just leave high school and kind of forget everything you did here.”

McLennan is also a music teacher, and he was inspired by Miller to take that career path. Over the years, McLennan looked to Miller for help in his career and was even allowed to direct some of Miller’s classes when he was still learning.

“I graduated high school eight years ago, so I’ve spent more time with him as a peer and a colleague than I did as a student,” McLennan said. “Whether it was me feeling like I didn’t know how to solve some kind of problem with my students or with something at university he would even just open the door and let me come in and work with his kids so I can kind of work out any problem I was having.”

He said nobody else would be willing to do that. He said he and a lot of others wouldn’t have done the alumni band without him.

“A lot of music teachers retire, and people don’t gather like this,” McLennan said.

Miller said the last year has been bittersweet and quite hard in an emotional aspect. Over the course of his career, he said, he’s learned a lot more from students than he ever thought he would and that he has given more of himself. He also said he learned about the administrative side of things and so much more.

“I don’t know, I just learned a lot about myself, which probably wouldn’t happen if I wasn’t teaching,” Miller said.

When you have siblings who came before you, it’s a given that teachers and even students will compare you to each other. With family members in administration, that’s even more true. I’ve heard it all: “You’re her sister, aren’t you?” Or “Do you do this the same?” Or any other set of comparisons.

But Miller didn’t do that. He didn’t compare me to my two sisters or vice versa. We were our own individual people, not a trio with the same personalities and set of skills.

Miller said when a new student from a set of siblings joins the program, he has to figure them out first because what works for one sibling may not work for another.

“Even though they may be from the same family, they’re still … they’re different,” Miller said. “I’m always kind of very aware of that. They may be different than the person that was here before them.”

Raven Ross, a former student teacher of Miller’s, said if it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have her career. She explained that when she was a student teacher around 10 years ago, she didn’t have a placement. A supervisor called Miller for a favor and told her to go meet him.

“I walked into the band room, and I remember seeing everybody and being nervous, but it worked out,” Ross said. “And so, quite literally, if he didn’t say yes, I would have no idea where I would be.”

Since her days as a student teacher, Ross has helped as a trumpet instructor at Mott and has seen her students grow up.

As I sat on that stage, the lights glaring down on us and dressed in our best, all the nerves from the first practice melted away. My heart still leapt in my chest looking at the sea of eyes staring at us, but I was ready for the performance to honor a man who meant so much to me and to all of us sitting on stage. Halfway through the last song, I felt tears coming on, but I held it together.

Miller said he wants his students to keep the music in their lives.

“First of all, it’s good for the mind. Second of all, it helps to let you see things in the world differently having that connection,” Miller said.

He also said to keep in touch with others.

“I think that’s the beauty, too, of music. It’s a family and I just ask students to keep that going even when they leave here,” Miller said.

Miller had a long and storied career filled with inside jokes, pranks, tears and lessons that will last a lifetime. My band experience was unique and unforgettable with him as my teacher. He pushed me to become better every day, and I enjoyed my time under his direction. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with different Broadway shows with huge musical numbers and heart-wrenching storylines. But my love for music truly started in Mr. Miller’s classroom.