Meet Our New Instrumental Music Teacher

Northwest Academy hired Mark Lighthiser as a replacement band teacher after the previous instructor resigned last month.

Lighthiser, an experienced jazz percussionist, recently served as the Interim Director of Upper School Music at Catlin Gabel and he has directed many band programs for Portland Public Schools.

“I started teaching private drum lessons when I was still in high school and then I started teaching at high schools once I graduated,” Lighthiser said. “So basically for about 26 or 27 years I’ve been doing some form of teaching in the music field.”

Lighthiser was selected from a pool of applicants after much consideration. According to Wade Willis, Arts Coordinator, Lighthiser stood out because of his talent and love for music.

“While Mark is an expert musician and he brings a plethora of professional experience to the classroom, what makes Mark a good fit for NWA is the same attribute that all of our teachers possess,” Willis said. “He brings the same passion, fun, mastery and rigor that is common among our teachers.”

According to Willis, Lighthiser is already getting along well with those he teaches.

“In just two days he has already earned the respect of many students,” Willis said. “And, not unlike our other teachers, Mark treats each student as an individual and cares about their education and well-being.”

Lighthiser also has quite a bit of professional experience as a musician after playing with many touring, studio and session bands.

“I’ve been playing my whole life,” Lighthiser said. “I moved to Portland for the first time in 1996. During that time I was playing primarily in rock bands and then I started doing stuff through PCC and the Tualatin Valley where I was in a big band playing more jazz stuff.”

After living in Portland for a few years, Lighthiser moved to Eugene where he began attending graduate school at the University of Oregon.

“Down there I was getting into everything I could do,” Lighthiser said. “I played with the Eugene Symphony, I played with traveling acts that would come through that played at the Hult Center, which is where the symphony plays at. At the time I was playing with three or four different jazz groups.”

Once he graduated from the University of Oregon, earning his master’s degree in Percussion Performance, Lighthiser also lived in New Orleans for multiple years. There he played in several jazz bands, particularly in one band named Gravy that toured for many years around the Southeast.

According to Lighthiser, the interaction with students is part of what makes his teaching career so enjoyable.

“I’ve always enjoyed interacting with students who are inquisitive, who like to be challenged, who want to work,” Lighthiser said. “That, along with my desire to create great experiences for students, is why I enjoy teaching music. Regardless of what you’re going to do, music and art are invaluable experiences to rounding out your being, to developing neural pathways and so I really believe in the power of music and art education.”

Lighthiser found the school’s intimate class sizes appealing.

“There were many different places that I looked at and I saw this job and was like ‘Wow, this looks really cool,’ so I applied,” Lighthiser said. “I personally think that it’s a really good fit for my skills and what I believe in educationally. I think what Northwest Academy is trying to do is a very contemporary, progressive and exciting thing.”

Willis, along with Scott Kerman, Associate Head of School, and Rachael Torchia, Middle School Coordinator, created the job description and conducted interviews for potential band teachers.

“We received over a dozen resumes,” Willis said. “Scott and I then looked through them to see who might fit our school and music program. After a bit of research on each candidate, we invited several to interview for the position.”

After the interview process was complete, three candidates were selected to teach sample lessons at the school.

“We had several discussions over what we observed,” Willis said. “My role as Arts Coordinator was to bring my knowledge about music to the discussion and how each of the candidates might fit and energize our music program.”

The school was looking for an instructor who could teach students of varying age and skill level.

“What we wanted to see, at least at the middle school level, is something more aligned with guitar classes and vocal music classes, real educational opportunities,” Kerman said. “We have students in those classes who have sometimes been playing instruments for a long time and we have students picking up an instrument for the first time.”

According to Kerman, the high school level music classes are different because the students are often very accomplished.

The previous band teacher, Jim Little, who just started teaching at the school in September, was difficult to replace. Not only did he provide students with many instruments, he created a performance-based band that allowed students to experience the process involved in putting on live shows.

Little’s teaching style was different than what Northwest Academy was looking for, leading to his resignation.

He was also the second band teacher who left the school recently. Little’s predecessor, John Savage, resigned at the end of last school year.

“Jim was hired late in the summer because we only learned from John [Savage] I think in August that he had taken a different job,” Kerman said. “Mary [Folberg] knew Jim for about 30 years as they used to work together over at Jefferson High School. So having just found out before school started that we were without a music teacher, she picked up the phone and called Jim.”

Not much information about Little’s resignation is available.

“I am at liberty to say that he resigned, he was not fired,” Kerman said.

Other than that, Kerman said he is unable to discuss the issue further for legal reasons.

Many did not wish to discuss Little’s resignation. However, one sophomore, Elijah Shulman, believes that Little was very talented as a music and performance instructor.

“He was very good at what he did,” Shulman said. “He had connections, got people to practice and set up a Show Band that had everyone motivated well and playing at a very high level and he got me to practice which was new.”

The band is no longer connected to the school, but still exists as a separate entity under Little’s supervision.

Although some students, such as Shulman, chose to quit Show Band, many still are part of the Pacific Northwest Heat Wave Show Band which is continuing to perform around Portland and California.

According to Kerman, the staff is considering starting a new Show Band that will once again focus more on the performing aspect.

“We’ve been thinking that there might be room in our program for something like that [in the future], where the focus is on performing, maybe even for students who are thinking about becoming professional musicians,” Kerman said. “That was an interesting thing that Jim brought to us, that experience he has helping people become professional musicians.”

However, Willis believes this may be difficult, due to the lack of time before Arts Week.

“With only five weeks until Arts Week it will be difficult to create something like Show Band,” Willis said. “One of the things that made Show Band so successful so quickly was that Jim recruited many students from other schools to play with students enrolled full time at NWA.”

With this limited time, Lighthiser and the Northwest Academy Show Band students are prioritizing working on a performance that they will showcase during Arts Week.

(Additional reporting by Issac Monti)