Schools

Secret of My Success: Dan Brown

One of Rye's Teachers of the Year shares why a love of the arts has made him a better educator.

Dan Brown, one of Rye's Teachers of the Year, knows a good tune when he hears one.

Brown has been teaching music for 21 years, all of them in the Rye schools. His responsibilities have included middle school and high school band, jazz band, instrumental lessons, percussion ensemble, pep band, and general music classes. The school's performing groups perform at winter and spring concerts, home football games, the Rye Youth Council Dance, and the Milton, Midland, and Rye Little League parades.

For the past five years, Brown also had served as middle school/high school music department chairperson. This year, he was the music director for the spring musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Brown, who is currently working on a doctorate at Columbia University, grew up in Rockland County, attended Gettysburg College, and holds an M.A. and M. Ed. from Columbia University.  

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Brown has spent years immersed in the arts—and his students have benefited from his efforts. Here, one of Rye's most well-regarded teachers shares how his love of the arts has allowed him to better relate to his students.

1. What made you decide to become a teacher?

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I find the arts are a powerful medium for growth— cultures are often defined by their artistic legacies—and I take great joy in sharing my love of the arts with others, in seeing their engagement with the arts take flight.

2. If you could change one decision or action you've made in your career, what would it be? 

I am often changing course as I constantly reflect on my teaching, but as for one change or action—I've been working on the doctorate a long time and would like to have completed it sooner. Overall, I'm thankful for the course I have taken and changing any decision or action might put me in a place other than where I am today. I'm not one to look too far back.

3. What's the hardest thing about being a teacher?

Keeping the arts fresh for the kids and relating the music I like to the music they like. You need to develop some trust and that's difficult if you start by putting down what they value. Often, we like the same thing.  At the same time, I work to give them a critical ear, so they can make decisions about the music they like in a way that is meaningful to them.

4. What are some key lessons you've learned in your professional and personal life that you think everyone can learn from?

I think you need to be a good listener. If the only thing you hear is the sound of your own voice, if worse yet, you become enamored by it and trust only your own wisdom, you'll never reach the students. They often have points of view that prove equally relevant. I find I am as much a student as a teacher.

5. What are the three most important things a person needs to be successful? Why? 

1. A good listener.

2. Patience. It takes time and many attempts to achieve anything meaningful.  Quick change, quick results are often fleeting and superficial.

3. Think like a child. To them the world is a place of possibility and imagination.  As we age, we tend to lose sight of it and end up replicating what already is, rather than creating something new and perhaps better.

6. What is your definition of success?

I feel success when students engage with music in a meaningful way, independent of me.

7. If you could give advice to a recent graduate or someone just beginning their career, what would you tell them?

First, I would tell them that teaching is a noble, thoughtful, caring, and difficult profession. Today is a tough climate for teaching, but if you can shut out the politics, put young people first, and work toward building community, you've set a constructive path and most good things will follow with patience and perseverance. Also, find others who have a similarly constructive view.


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