Retirement won't end his tunes

To call Bob Jenkins a music man is no exaggeration.

He has played in the Omaha Symphony — oboe and English horn— since he was 18, with a couple of years off for graduate school.

He was principal oboist in the Nebraska National Guard's 43rd Army Band until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 last year. He records with Mannheim Steamroller and plays for the group's in-town Christmas concerts.

And then there's his day job.

Jenkins has served as band director at Westside Middle School since its inception more than 20 years ago. This spring, he put down the baton, retiring after a total of 36 years with District 66.

Jenkins stands out, according to fellow music educators, because of the depth of his teaching. He went beyond simply getting kids to play — and play well — to teaching them the theory and history behind the music.

“He's considered one of the finest teachers in the United States at the middle school level,” said Roger Groth, Westside High School's band director.

In February 2007, Jenkins was featured in the Instrumentalist, a national magazine and must-read for music educators.

Diane Diffey knows Jenkins both as a fellow music educator and as a parent. Her two daughters played for Jenkins, and the elder took private oboe lessons from him.

She said she was always amazed at the performances Jenkins was able to produce at the middle school level. He wasn't afraid to pull out a more advanced piece if he thought a group could handle it.

“He has a way of inspiring kids to work to his expectations, way beyond what they think they're capable of doing, but not compromising his standards,” said Diffey, who teaches elementary band and strings in the Omaha school district.

Jenkins started his career with Westside in 1974, teaching junior high band and elementary strings. He made the jump to high school a year later and stayed with it eight years, with a year off as an instructor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But his outside commitments, plus family responsibilities, conflicted with the busy high school band schedule.

Groth, too, was looking for a change. So the two, who'd attended UNL together, got permission to switch jobs.

Jenkins comes from a musical family.

His wife, Deb, a bassoonist and pianist, teaches elementary music in the Millard Public Schools. She spent 28 years as a middle school band director.

Both of their daughters, Carrie and Julie, are musicians. Julie will begin teaching elementary music in the Millard district this fall.

Jenkins also has two children from a previous marriage, both of whom played in high school and college. Peter played the cello, and Kristin the violin.

Jenkins said he enjoyed teaching middle school students because of their liveliness and spontaneity.

Every day brought something “that was really funny to me,” he said.

“That doesn't mean there wasn't something that was really frustrating. But they definitely balanced out.”

And Jenkins is known for his sense of humor. He also believes it's important to add a bit of excitement to a performance.

He's fired a 12-gauge shotgun — blank rounds, of course — during the “1812 Overture.”

When the California Raisins were hot, he had the band march in wearing brown garbage bags while the jazz band played, “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” When he was still at the high school, he had students march with lawn mowers.

Diffey remembers when Jenkins conducted the song “Creepy Crawlies” during Bandorama, a mass band event featuring elementary and middle school players, with a flyswatter. Trumpet players buzzed their mouthpieces like mosquitoes. When it came time to swat bugs, Jenkins splatted a large rubber spider that he'd filled with pistachio pudding. He'd put plastic sheeting on the floor, but a few kids got splattered.

“That was one for the books,” Diffey said.

At the middle school, Jenkins led two jazz bands, which met on alternating days at 7 a.m. He directed four seventh-grade bands and two eighth-grade bands. After school he rehearsed small ensembles.

“If you're not on and enthusiastic about your own area, how are the kids going to get enthusiastic?” he asked.

As much time as he devoted to teaching, Diffey said, Jenkins' continued involvement in performing also taught the lesson that music can be a lifelong activity. That's something she tells her beginning students.

“He was just living that example that you can make music all your life,” she said.

Jenkins has no plans to quit making music, either. He plans to continue performing with the Omaha Symphony.

“They're going to have to tell me when it's time to go,” he said.

He has some other options in mind as well, including offering volunteer help with oboe instruction to area high schools.

He also wants to work with first-graders at his neighborhood elementary school who struggle with reading.

“That I'm looking forward to doing more than anything,” he said.

Contact the writer:

444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

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