After 41 years, music teacher still finds joy in classroom
Hollister music teacher Joe Ostenson fondly remembers teaching
concert and jazz band to a particular student when she was in
junior high. She was fairly accomplished, but her name drifts out
of memory. When she graduated, her teacher received a note that
simply read
”
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of something.
”
Ostenson, or
”
Mr. O.
”
as he’s known to generations of students, has been a fixture in
the Hollister School District for 41 years. Throughout that time,
he has taught more than 400 students to appreciate music and in
like fashion, they have taught him to appreciate music more.
After 41 years, music teacher still finds joy in classroom
Hollister music teacher Joe Ostenson fondly remembers teaching concert and jazz band to a particular student when she was in junior high. She was fairly accomplished, but her name drifts out of memory. When she graduated, her teacher received a note that simply read “Thank you for allowing me to be a part of something.”
Ostenson, or “Mr. O.” as he’s known to generations of students, has been a fixture in the Hollister School District for 41 years. Throughout that time, he has taught more than 400 students to appreciate music and in like fashion, they have taught him to appreciate music more.
“Not all students are athletes, or can be involved with student politics, or excel at scholastics, but music is another choice for many of those students. It’s something a lot of them can excel at,” Ostenson said.
He started teaching music in Hollister in the fall of 1965. He remembers the town as a very different place then, one that had just one stoplight. He’d attended San Jose State University, where he had graduated the previous January.
It would have been hard to leave here after he met his wife, Frances, Ostenson says. The couple will be married 40 years come September.
Sustaining a passion for music over all this time might not seem feasible to some, but not for Ostenson.
“Life is music. It’s what I’ve done since I was 11. I play in bands, the Pacific Brass Band and the Watsonville Band. I also enjoy being with the kids; handing that passion off to them and I find it very difficult to stop.”
Throughout his tenure, he’s had many wonderful students, some more prominent than others. He remembers one former student, Kathy Larson, now of Los Angeles, who has made a career for herself teaching and playing. “Professionally, I remember she toured with the group Yanni for a while.”
To try to make a living as a musician is very difficult, Ostenson admits. For more of his former students he said it’s a pastime, but the students talk to him about playing with various groups and he can tell the passion for music is still alive within them. Sure, they’ve been a few professional musicians, but Ostenson can’t name any of them off the top of his head. With many thousands of students in his past, who could blame him?
Despite the fact his days start as early as 7:30 a.m. and often don’t end until after 5:30 or 6 p.m., he still has the passion to perform after he gets through. “I’m usually at rehearsal by 7, playing my horn. I have a gift to play; I would be remiss if I didn’t use it.
As a performer and a teacher, Ostenson enjoys the challenges of music. He enjoys the beauty of each piece, the rich palette of colors and the sounds of the groups he plays with. “It all comes back to that little girl, I like being part of something.”
Unsated, Ostenson actually enjoys listening to music occasionally too. He admits that though it might make his music teachers in college roll their eyes, he enjoys listening to a lot of classic rock, but he also appreciates classical music. His favorite type of music to perform is probably big-band jazz. “So long as whatever I am listening to is live. I’m not really into electronics, music that’s machine-produced.”
When he was going through school Ostenson had some great teachers, some of whom he didn’t appreciate until later. The ones he remembers most, teachers like Duke Campagna, took him all the way through high school. “Then there was another guy, he taught me to play the trumpet. I didn’t appreciate him until later. As you grow there will be bits and pieces of everyone you’ve met and worked with. I think I’m still learning today. Meeting new people and using new concepts.
“I want to believe that in doing this I’m preparing new generations for later. Hopefully young people pick up the baton and carry it on.”
Though the materials may change, the students don’t. Still, Ostenson’s found that kids are musically progressing faster today. One of the things he really notices now is the difficulty of the music he can challenge students with. “Maybe 20 years ago the students were probably just as capable of performing the material, but we didn’t think them up to it.”
Ostenson reflects on a boy he knows who plays alto saxophone. He’s the first chair in the Central Coast Section orchestra. He is one of the strongest players Ostenson has ever seen or worked with, but that is not to take anything away from the other kids he plays alongside of.
“Junior high kids have more energies than any child or person can imagine. Music can show the discipline that students are capable of demonstrating. The kids don’t run amok in my room. They know and respect music.”
This is what Ostenson loves. It’s sustaining that passion for music through the kids. It’s how he’s able to get back what he puts out through his efforts.
So long as the students want Ostenson there, he’ll be there. He has no plans of retiring anytime soon. “I’ll do it for as long as the kids want me to continue with it.”
