CRANE At the end of the year, Daniel Todd will wrap up 29 years directing bands at Crane ISD.
Todd is head band director for Crane High School and has devoted himself to it. Along the way, the band has racked up many honors and awards.
Todd is the first to give all the credit to his students.
“I am incredibly proud of all these band honors, but what means the most to me is the love, respect and relationships that I have had with thousands of Crane band students past and present. I am so blessed to have had the community and school district of Crane take in my family and I and treat us so well for so long. My band students have been a true blessing that will never be forgotten. …,” he said.
McCamey High School Band Director Sara Hill will step in as head band director after Todd departs. She previously worked with Todd for nine years and knows the program.
“It was an absolute blessing to have spent nine years teaching with such a passionate and dedicated mentor, friend and colleague as Daniel Todd. He has made a huge impact on me, on the Crane community and the people in it,” Hill said in a text message.
“I can truthfully say that this man is dearly loved by so many. What an inspiration he has been to students, to fellow teachers and to those who aspire to bring out the best in others,” Hill added.
Todd said it was weight off his shoulders knowing that Hill will be taking over.
“I feel incredibly confident that Crane band is in wonderful hands with Sara Hill,” Todd said.
Through the years, Todd said he has put in “some crazy hours” and he can see he is slowing down a little bit.
“I don’t want to be the weak link here. I love this program. It’s the only program I’ve known. I bleed purple and gold and I always will,” Todd said.
He added that he has had some health issues. He had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.
“I’ve had three neck surgeries,” Todd said. “Really what I want to focus on is being a father and a husband, which I don’t feel like I’ve been able to do that to the best of my ability. … The hours I’ve put in over the last 29 years have been very intense. I’ve been very fortunate that my wife did stay home with the kids for 12 years. She was actually the elementary music teacher for 12 years and then she took off 12 years to raise our children and now she’s back and she’s teaching kindergarten at the elementary. Because of those 12 years, she can’t retire. She’s going to keep teaching. She loves her job.”
He was hired as the assistant band director for Crane High School his first year and then took over as middle school band director for the next nine years and head high school band director after that.
“I was fresh out of college. This is my first and only job. I joke that not many coaches or band directors are in the same place their whole career. I’ve been very, very blessed to stumble upon this place and lucky enough to get hired here,” Todd said.
He oversees all the band directors.
“We team teach everything here. We’re all in every single band class, but I am the head of music here. …,” Todd said.
There are currently 135 members in the high school band; 95 in the middle school band; and about 60 sixth graders.
Originally from New Mexico, Todd went to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, taking a bachelor’s degree in music education.
He started off as a finance major in college, but he figured out that no amount of money was going to make him happy unless he was doing something he loved. He switched his major to music.
Todd grew up mostly in Las Cruces and Albuquerque.
He and his wife, Deborah, have two children. His daughter, Bethany, who they adopted when she was three days old, is a junior and his son, Brayden, is in fifth grade. The Todds have also informally adopted, a former drum major who is now an instructional aide in Crane, named Dominic Rivas.
Todd said he and his family plan to stay in Crane. He noted that Crane high school band program has only had three directors in 39 years.
Scott Mason turned the program around and made “it an incredible program.”
Jesse Lotspeich hired Todd and was his mentor for nine years. When Lotspeich retired, Todd took over for him.
“It’s been really vital for the success is that we haven’t had a ton of turnover. We haven’t gone through head director, after head director, after head director like a lot of programs do. …,” Todd said.
In high school, Todd played football and trombone in band. The band directors and coaches believed in him, spurring him on to finish high school and go to college.
“I wanted for be for some kids what my directors and coaches were for me,” Todd said.
In some districts, students have to choose the events they participate in, but Crane lets them do all the activities they want, which Todd really appreciates. He had to choose between football and band when he was in high school.
“A couple of years ago I had 22 varsity football players in my band program,” he said. “I’ve never heard of it. I used to joke that we could field a band team out there.”
He added that he is going to miss the district when he retires as of June 30, but he plans on staying involved. “… I’m going to be involved with music. I plan on judging. I plan on clinicing; maybe do some contract teaching for different schools. I really love going to different schools and helping out other programs. I’ve done quite a bit of that in my career. I plan on continuing to do that …,” Todd said.
Crane band honors
The Crane High School Band earned all 1st Divisions (superior ratings) at every UIL (University Interscholastic League) band contest (Marching/Concert and Sight-Reading) for all 29 years; Crane Middle School Band won the Class C Middle School Honor Band in 1998 and performed at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in 1999; Todd’s band has the most all-state band members in Association of Texas Small School Bands 31-year history; the band has made 13 appearances at the State Marching Contest (10 with Todd as head band director back to back); Crane is tied for the sixth most State Marching Contest appearances for the entire state of Texas 6A-1A.
