BUTTE VALLEY — “I want it so loud you’re blowing the remains of my hair off of my head,” said Butte College music instructor Ryan Heimlich to his jazz ensemble class Tuesday.
Heimlich, who has been teaching at Butte College for 3 years, recently received the California Music Educators Association John Swain College/University Educator of the Year award.
“I love working with him,” said Butte College student and saxophone player Mathew Lor. “He has a lot of passion, a lot of fire in his energy.”
Students, community
Heimlich’s favorite part of his job is “the students,” and seeing them succeed.
The hardest part of his job is, “the students,” he said with a laugh.
“I mean, I’m kind of joking but you know there’s a lot that needs to happen in order to to see their success,” Heimlich said.
Butte College student and guitar player Sean Harrington said Heimlich gives good “constructive criticism.”
“It doesn’t feel like he’s ever just telling you, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re doing good’ and not helping you improve,” Harrington said. “And it’s also like, he’s not being just mean and telling everything you’re doing wrong.”
One of Heimlich’s student’s, Ryan Cotton, used to go to Chico State for its music program. He said Chico State felt more individualistic, and that he feels a bigger sense of community at Butte College.
Cotton said a big part of the Butte College’s music program is the support Heimlich offers each student.
“He has a way of connecting with people, where he can connect you with the right people that you need for success,” Cotton said. “He’s also just a great person.”
At his Tuesday Jazz ensemble class, Heimlich encouraged students to use earbuds to protect their ears, listen to their assigned music and practice.
“Taking the instrument home doesn’t magically make it practice,” Heimlich said.
During the class Heimlich walked around the room singing the beat of the songs they played, and shouting to cue in sections and give praise
In between songs and sections he asked students to rate their performance, say what they did well on and what they could improve on. He lightheartedly joked with students and encouraged creativity.
“Rhythm section I want you to do something you feel is ridiculous,” Heimlich said.
Background
Heimlich wears many musical hats. In addition to directing the concert, jazz and pop bands, as well as teaching studio instruction and music theory, he is the Performing Arts Department Chair.
Outside of Butte College he plays clarinet in the North State Symphony. He is also in a band made up of teachers called Rigamarole, though he said they don’t play very much these days.
Heimlich is originally from Mammoth Lakes, California. After getting his Bachelor of Arts in music from UC Berkeley, he moved to Chico in 2005 to get his Master of Arts in music at Chico State.
Heimlich grew up in a family that loved music. In fourth grade, he started playing clarinet with his music teacher George Vest whom Heimlich described as, “excellent.”
“He really got me excited about it and I just never stopped since then,” Heimlich said.
The award
The California Music Educators Association is an organization made up of music teachers that promotes diversity and equity in music education.
CMEA is a state-wide organization broken up into nine geographical sections. Heimlich won the award for the northern section, which includes 15 inland Northern California counties.
The award Heimlich received is named after John Swain, who worked in the music department at Cal State Los Angeles for 19 years in various roles. Swain died from colon cancer at 52 years old.
“Ryan Heimlich was chosen for this award based on his wonderful work at Butte College with our future music educators,” said CMEA executive administrator Trish Adams. “More students have access to a high quality and meaningful collegiate music education because of the efforts of Ryan Heimlich at Butte Community College.”
+ There are no comments
Add yours