Mike Andersen hangs up the baton after 21 years at Worthington Middle School

Jun. 19—WORTHINGTON — After 21 years teaching in Worthington, Mike Andersen has retired from his position as band teacher at Worthington Middle School, after a career in education that began in South Dakota in 1981.

Andersen graduated from Miller High School, in Miller, South Dakota, and studied at South Dakota State University, earning a master's degree from the University of South Dakota. He's been teaching part-time at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for nearly 20 years.

Prior to his work in Worthington, he taught for about 10 years in Clark, South Dakota, and then Canton, South Dakota.

He took the job in Worthington because it gave him a chance to be a pure band teacher, rather than needing to teach other music subjects. He's also been able to offer private lessons, often for students attending Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls who are auditioning for all-state band.

Typically, band teachers have a working knowledge of all the instruments their students play, but as musicians they've also specialized in a few instruments over the years. Andersen's main instrument is the tuba, but he's also an avid bass trombone and bass guitar player.

"(They say) you're drawn to certain instruments because you either like the sound better or you hear the sound better," he said, noting that he'd had more success in middle school band than in vocal music, describing his young self as "a failed trumpet player."

Because the band needed more brass instruments, and particularly more tuba players, Andersen obliged, and developed a lifelong attachment to the tuba.

"Band director was the next logical choice," he said.

These days, Andersen doesn't play in bands as often as he used to, but has focused on orchestras instead, including the South Dakota Symphony. That's one of the reasons he stayed at Worthington Middle School, too.

"I like to perform, and a high school position just has too many extracurriculars attached to it," he said. Middle school band instructors, by contrast, generally work during the day, but not after school or on weekends.

Plus, there's the middle school students themselves, who are young enough to have plenty of energy but old enough to have a bit of sarcasm, Andersen said. They learn and grow at a fantastic rate, compared to the more gradual improvement typically seen in high school students.

"It's incredible the amount of progress they can make," he said.

Teaching band has changed since Andersen first took up the conductor's baton.

"Kids nowadays are involved in so many more things. You basically can't count on outside work," he explained. Instead, much of the practice needs to be done at school, in the band room. "There's not as much at-home practice. It's tough to find the time to get things polished; it's all done in school."

The music itself still varies, with plenty of popular music and traditional band standards, but the general idea is always to choose good music that students like, that also has something to teach students, Andersen said. After all, all music has the same basic elements.

"John Williams used them. So did Mozart. So did Beethoven," he said. "It all depends on what you pick for the kids to play."

One thing that hasn't changed is the requirement for quality and standards, so that kids understand they really are achieving things. Even youngsters are aiming at good music and good performances.

"It's still music. It's still art," Andersen said. "... if it sounds awesome, you just feel awesome. That's one of the reasons (to play) — the feeling of accomplishing something like that with music, and you want to be able to share that with the kids."