It's nearly impossible to say how many students Delta College Director of Bands M.J. Wamhoff has educated in his career of more than four decades, both at Delta College and at his previous institution, Santa Rosa Junior College.
Suffice it to say, some of them have become band directors themselves, and they're still in touch after all these years.
The California Band Directors Association recently honored Prof. Wamhoff with the David Goedecke Lifetime Achievement Award, with former students from as far away as Texas attending the ceremony.
The best part: Friends and former students from across the state have commissioned a piece in Prof. Wamhoff's honor, which will be performed for the first time at the Delta College symphonic band concert on March 4 at 7 p.m. in Atherton Auditorium. The public is welcome to attend.
And yes, he'll be conducting, in a scene right out of the Hollywood hit "Mr. Holland's Opus."
"I was surprised and it's very touching," he said. "I never expected anything of the sort."
The new piece, "The Hour of Pearl" by James David, is a musical representation of the hour between dawn and full daylight. The composer wrote it specifically for Prof. Wamhoff.
He heard a digital preview of the piece for the first time in recent weeks, but the piece has never been performed. That will change on March 4 at the band concert, and on March 5-6 at the Delta College Band and Orchestra Festival.
"It's going to be great," he said. "It's a pretty hard piece, slow and lyric and beautiful but some complicated details that we really have to work on."
Asked what he loves about music, Prof. Wamhoff said: "I love the beauty of it. If it's not beautiful, then I don't know why we do it."
