Swiftly moving his hands conducting the orchestra, David Jarrot, the new Bowie orchestra teacher is excited to be a part of the program. With many years of orchestral experience under his belt, he has high hopes for the success of the Bowie orchestra this year and many more to come.
This is Jarrot’s first year teaching at Bowie but he’s not new to teaching as he’s built up multiple school orchestras such as: Kealing Middle School and schools in the Hays Independent School District and he said he doesn’t plan on leaving Bowie any time soon, as he hopes to get the orchestra to be a top tier program.
“I was actually considering retirement from the classroom,” Jarrot said. “I got a call from a couple people that really loved the Bowie orchestra and they said look David, they really need you, and you should apply for this job over there and so I did and now I’m here.”
Bowie has had three different orchestra directors in the past four years. Senior Emilano Martinez is one of the leaders in the program and he said he was happy with his new director.
“He is more dedicated than all the other teachers, and his style is more on technique,” Martinez said. “It’s more about how he interprets the music and then we learn a lot more about it.”
Not only is Jarrot leaving an impression on the upperclassmen but also younger students who haven’t been with as many directors.
“Mr. Jarrot talks and explains a lot more than Mr. Kennedy did.” sophomore Sophia Shaw said. “It’s more organized, very structured and it’s more welcoming.”
Jarrot is gaining respect and trust with his students according to Martinez. Jarrot said he is enjoying getting to know everyone here and feels he’s right where he should be.
“Actually I feel really, really at home here at Bowie. In the process of coming to interview here, I was reminded that I had wanted to run this orchestra for a while,” Jarrot said. “But I find everyone wonderful. The whole fine arts department is just super cool and supportive. The students are all wonderful, all cooperative and easy going.”
The orchestra does many after school rehearsals and in that time he gives out snacks, lets the students talk and hangout and interacts with them before getting to work on their music, according to junior Sophie Webber.
“This year is about building relationships,” Jarrot said. “I’m trying to rock the boat as little as possible, I’m kind of in a steady phase.”
In the classroom Jarrot really focuses on making sure his students are understanding their music. He uses different technique based warmups like intonation scales and vibrato exercises Webber said. Jarrot also takes his time to help students learn by having them play small sections of their piece until they get it right, Shaw said
“My goal is to create real musicians, and if I take that as the goal and work backwards from there it’s gonna be great.” Jarrot said.
