Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • April 2016
15
Teaching an Old Art Form in a Modern Age
which gives you a wonderful opportunity
to discuss attention span and why it is
harder to keep a slow pace than a fast one.
Again the important aspect, or
educational element, is to empower
not enable and allow the students
to discover how we as a species
are able to feel time.
So where does all this lead? Well to the
stage of course. Music is a performing art.
It is meant to be shared with others. When
students have been empowered with the
fundamentals of ear training and are able
to adjust pitch by ear they will be much
more successful at maintaining a high level
of intonation within an ensemble when
it is most important…in performance…
on stage. The same is true with allowing
students to discover their ability to feel
and maintain a steady tempo and rhythmic
subdivision. Students within an ensemble
will perform with rhythmic accuracy and
rhythmic stability in performance if they
have been taught to feel time.
I urge you to slow down and guide your
students toward the human experience of
feeling pulse and hearing pitch. Empower
them with this ageless gift. Allow them to
discover and embrace the greatest tuning
device and metronome ever created…the
human mind. Teach them to be patient, to
slow down, to embrace and celebrate the
balance of mind, body and soul as they
study the art of music. It is what makes us
human.
Wallace Dierolf earned his B.A. Degree from St. Mary’s University, with honors, and his
Masters degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. While attending St. Mary’s
University he was inducted into Delta Eplison Sigma, an international academic honor
society for students attending private universities. Mr. Dierolf served the students of North
Side ISD(San Antonio) for twenty-nine years as both a Middle School and High School Band
Director. Band programs under his leadership received numerous TMEA and UIl awards.
In 1998, Mr. Dierolf opened Sandra Day O’Connor High School in Helotes, Texas. The
band program at O’Connor earned six consecutive Sweepstakes Awards and rapidly grew
to become one of the largest 5A programs in Texas. While at O’Connor he also served as
the Fine Arts Department head and was the school’s first “Teacher of the Year.” Mr. Dierolf
has been blessed with many teaching honors including receiving the outstanding Alumnus
award in the field of music from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2003. Soon after
announcing his retirement, the North Side ISD School Board voted unanimously to name the
new band hall under construction at O’Connor the Wallace C. Dierolf Band Hall. Wallace
Dierolf is currently a student teacher supervisor and lecturer at Texas State University.
