Excellence in music education flourishes in Westfield

By AMY ADAMS
news@readthereporter.com

When Yamaha released its 2024 “40 Under 40,” a collection of outstanding young music educators from across the country, both Andrew Muth and Adam Bodony found their names on the list. Both musicians have turned their passion for music into their professions. Both are also  Hoosiers, DePauw University graduates, and now call Westfield home.

Muth is director of bands and director of performing arts at Westfield High School. Bodony is the artistic director of the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra as well as director of orchestras at Purdue University.

Yamaha, maker of instruments from pianos to percussion, began its “40 Under 40” music education advocacy program in 2021 to recognize young leaders who are making a difference in the world of music and in the lives of young people.

“Yamaha does a lot of work with music advocacy in the community and supporting teachers in schools,” Muth said.

The Yamaha program accepts nominations from students, parents, teachers, and community members across the country. From the hundreds of nominations, Yamaha then selects 40 educators who “elevate their communities through their passion for music” and possess “action, courage, creativity, and growth characteristics while going above and beyond” in their music programs and in their communities.

“You just get an email one day that says, ‘Congratulations! You’ve been selected,’” Bodony said. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

Muth said he was at the Westfield Middle School band concert before Christmas when he received notification and is thankful to the colleagues and parents who nominated him.

As members of the 2024 class of Yamaha “40 Under 40,” Bodony, Muth, and the other selectees will provide educational resources and tips to others in the larger music community.

Muth said he is happy to share every mistake he has ever made in the hopes of helping other music educators avoid those pitfalls.

Having come to WHS in 2019, Muth has seen the department grow in staff size as well as the more than 300 students who participate in some way. The hard work of all involved has paid off, as The Pride of Westfield marching band has been selected to march in this year’s Indy 500 Festival Parade and Westfield Washington Schools was recently recognized by the National Association of Music Merchants as one of their 2024 Best Communities for Music Education. For the second year in a row, WWS joins Carmel Clay Schools and Noblesville Schools, which have been on the list for the past 12 and 10 years respectively.

In 2015, Bodony took over as artistic director of the IYO and as conductor for the Symphony Orchestra. The following year, he conducted the Symphony Orchestra in its debut performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2023, the Symphony Orchestra received the 2023 American Prize in Orchestral Performance in the youth orchestra division. Currently, nearly 200 students from across central Indiana play in one of three IYO orchestras. In the fall, a fourth orchestra called Prelude will debut for students in third through fifth grades. The organization is also working toward growing the pre-college conservatory and chamber music programs within the IYO.

In addition to his work with the IYO, Bodony travels back and forth to West Lafayette each week, working Monday through Thursday at Purdue.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “It’s like saltwater and freshwater. But I balance it by giving myself a little less time for other things I might enjoy doing. I love to use downtime to make sure everything is set with both orchestras. I love to work.”

Muth shares that love.

“I always knew I wanted to be a state champion band director,” Muth said. “Although now I understand winning is great, but it’s secondary to a lot of other beautiful experiences.”

Those “beautiful experiences” are the relationships he builds with students and families and the relationships he sees being built within band families.

“That’s the most important thing we do,” Muth said. “It’s all about relationships.”

Bodony agrees.

“We need to be people who are dedicated to doing good things on earth,” he said. “The purity of doing good things with young people is a beautiful activity. There’s no question about it.”

The IYO will be performing its final concert of the season at 5 p.m. Sunday, May 12, at Hilbert Circle Theatre at 45 Monument Circle in Indianapolis. The orchestras are also now accepting auditions for the 43rd season. For tickets and more information, visit indianapolisyouthorchestra.org.

The WHS Spring Choir Concert will be Tuesday, May 21, and the Westfield Band Spring Concert will be Wednesday, May 22, both at 7 p.m. in the WHS Auditorium at 18250 N. Union St. For tickets and more information, go to whs.wws.k12.in.us/students/performing-arts.

For tickets and details for the AES 500 Festival Parade at 11:45 a.m. on May 25, visit 500festival.com/parade.

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Heralding the next generation

WHS Senior Charlie Epstein plays trumpet at both WHS and with the IYO Symphony Orchestra.

Epstein said that, at school, Muth focuses daily on bettering each individual player whereas weekly orchestra rehearsals are geared toward how all the musicians come together.

“I have learned professionalism from Mr. Bodony,” Epstein said. “I’ve learned a strive for excellence from Mr. Muth.”

Epstein has been able to take different concepts he has learned from both directors into an internship working in the classroom with bands at Westfield Middle School.

“The biggest leap I had to come through this year was finding my ‘teacher voice,’” he said.

Epstein also just finished a six-week Side-by-Side program with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra where students from across the area shadowed orchestra members and then played with the ISO in a performance on March 20.

After graduation, Epstein plans to study trumpet performance and music education at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was one of only three trumpet players accepted out of hundreds of musicians who auditioned.