Crane High School Band Director Daniel Todd will be honored Saturday during a Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale concert event.
Saturday’s performance of “Firebird” pairs professional ballet with the MOSC. The event features not just dance and music, but also a chance to celebrate an area music educator.
Todd was selected as the 2017 Marcia McEntyre Zoffuto Hero Award honoree. He will be recognized during the Midland-Odessa Symphony Concert featuring a performance of “The Firebird” at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts.
Todd will be presented with a plaque, medallion and $1,000 during the intermission of the concert. There is a reception prior to the concert from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Permian Basin CEED Building to honor Todd.
This award is given to recognize the most outstanding secondary music teachers in West Texas and to give added exposure to music education. Recipients are chosen for their contributions to music education and their community. Marcia Zoffuto, an award winning band director and daughter of former Permian band director J.R. McEntyre, died from cancer in 2008, and the award was instituted a year later in her honor.
Todd has spent all 24 years of his teaching career with Crane ISD. He spent one year as the assistant director, and then the next eight as the head middle school director. While the middle school director, the Crane Middle School Band was named the 1998-1999 Class C Honor Band of Texas, and the band performed for the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio.
For the past 15 years Todd has served as the Crane High School head band director. Under his direction, the high school band has earned a trip to the State Marching Contest seven times in a row. Throughout his band career, his bands have always received a 1st Division Sweepstakes Award.
Todd on Thursday expressed how honored he is to receive the award. He said it is humbling to be honored.
“It really makes me appreciative of all the people and students that God has brought into my life. The community of Crane has been absolutely wonderful to me and my family. I have been blessed with great board members and administrators that have helped me grow as a person and teacher,” Todd said.
He said the support the entire community has shown to his program throughout the years has been outstanding.
“I have had great mentors and teachers that have worked with me in our music program over the years. I have a great wife and children that support me and put up with my long work hours,” Todd said.
He also had high praise for what he called “the honor and pleasure of teaching” the thousands of Crane band members that have been in his program throughout the years.
“These incredible students are the true reason why our band program has been so successful for so long. They are more than just students to me. They are extended family that will be a big part of my life forever,” Todd said. “I would really like to thank everyone who has helped me throughout this wonderful teaching journey. I did not grow up in Crane, but Crane is definitely my home, now and forever.”
Amazingly, Todd said that Crane High School has 300 students and that 158 are in band.
Having half the student body in the band is important to note, he said, because it shows how the community and administration support the band’s efforts.
Todd, a New Mexico State University graduate, is also proud of having so many of his own assistants come from the ranks of the Crane student body.
“It’s important that people here think music is important,” he said while adding that winning the award has allowed him time to think about his own career and those who have helped him along the way.
“It’s just so humbling. As you go through life you don’t always remember all your supporters every day,” Todd said. “I’m glad it got me to call people and invite them to the event and to give them a thank you.”
The Saturday show was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghiley’s Ballets Russes with choreography by Michel Fokine. The story is based on Russian fairy tales and premiered in June 2010 in Paris. It was an instant success and also Stravinsky’s breakthrough piece and is now considered a masterpiece work that has been staged many times from groups around the world including the New York City Ballet, the website Briannica.com detailed.
The ballet centers on the journey of hero Prince Ivan who enters a magical realm and captures the Firebird. She begs for her life and he spares her and is given a magic feather.
He eventually summons the Firebird to help him in a fight with monsters and they dance an elaborate dance. MOSC Music Director and Conductor Gary Lewis will conduct the show.
