Page 4
who's still teaching. I'm having too
much fun so I'll stick around awhile,”
he said when asked about any retire-
ment plans. He's in the running for
state levelMSBOATeacher of theYear.
He also teaches the Hillside Middle
School eighth-grade band. In the early
1980s, band was nearly gone from
Northville High and he's proud now of
the 300-piece Marching Band, Jazz
Ensemble, and Symphonic Band 9, 10,
and 11-12 which have garnered varied
MSBOA festival honors including state
championships.
“I love the creativity. Love teaching,
love seeing students become artists.”
He said he believes music is the “most
abstract of the arts. We're trying to
express ideaswithout words.”
The Marching Band, which per-
forms at all home high school football
games, will be in the Northville Fourth
of July Parade. “We call that our sum-
mer Marching Band,” Rumbell said,
adding the students also do the
Memorial Day Parade and cere-
monies.
“It has a great deal of intense feel-
ing, as it should. Memories of loved
ones. The kids don't understand it until
they experience it,” Rumbell said, not-
ing the students then feel pride.
He noted research proving that
music develops the entire brain.
“When you play an instrument, the
entire brain lights up,” he said. In very
simplified terms, most classes develop
the left brain and accuracy, with right
brain developing things like, 'I like the
color blue'. And you have to be trying
to play it well. The intent is what really
activates the brain,” Rumbell
explained.
“It's a great feeling of accomplish-
ment. We do something other artists
don't do, we recreate art.”
Some Northville graduates pursue
music careers, and others continue to
play for their own satisfaction.
Band
from page 3
Michael Rumbell
