Two days ago, I received a phone call. It was my mom. She had called to tell me she had gotten word that my former band director at John Glenn School Corporation, Dan Fortlander had unexpectedly passed away.
It was shocking to say the least. Absolute Shock. Extra-ordinarily shocking, actually. Why? Because even though I had not seen him in a couple of years, I talk about, think about, or tell someone about Mr. Fortlander almost every day. He was my teacher for 7 years. Not many teachers have an opportunity to impact a student for that long, and he never wasted a second of that time. From 6th grade when I first picked up a pair of drumsticks, until I graduated high school, he was the one ever-present face in my life other than people in my family.
Mr. Fortlander taught me music. No, Mr. Fortlander taught me discipline. Because music is discipline. It’s one of those art forms that can’t be fully appreciated by anyone else other than the performer. Only the performer knows all of the emotions felt, sacrifices made, hours of sleep lost, hot summer days spent, and long months endured practicing so that one 10 minute performance could be as good as it could possibly be. Story Here
