thedrifter
02-08-08, 05:32 AM
J’ville resident Gene Inglis honored
By: Jennifer Bacchus
News staff writer
02-06-2008
For some people, music is part of their life as far back as they remember. Gene Inglis is one of those lucky people.
“My parents sang, my dad when he was in World War II in the Marines he had some opportunities to play in the Marine band. He played percussion,” he said.
Inglis, a resident of Jacksonville who has taught band for 35 years, is in his fifth year of teaching at Saks High School. In honor of his years of service and the way his programs both at Saks and his prior schools in Rome, Ga., have impacted the students, School Band and Orchestra Magazine named him one of their ’50 Directors Who Make a Difference.’
That’s quite an accomplishment for a man who couldn’t read music when he entered college.
“I was a drummer in a high school band and I heard the Jacksonville [State University] drumline and I wanted to be in it, so I came and met Dr. Walters. I got in that group and I hung around, the next thing I knew I was a band director,” said Inglis.
Each year, the magazine chooses one band director from each state who they feel has made an impact on their students. Their nominees come from band parents, award recipients, school administrators and other music professionals.
Upon graduation from JSU, Inglis started teaching in Scottsboro. Then it was on to Rome where he taught in the city school system for 29 years, retiring at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.
He and his wife wanted to come back home to Alabama and, more specifically, they wanted to be near their children and the university where they met and where they remain active alumni.
“My wife and I met in Jacksonville and we just love that, we love that whole thing,” he said, talking about his alma mater, JSU. “I still do some things with the university a little bit. I’m the president of the Gray Echelon, which is the band alumni group.”
The way Inglis has impacted the lives of those around him is obvious in the way his students think about him long after they graduate, which is evident in the Christmas cards he receives each year from former students.
“The things that stand out are really the interactions with people,” Inglis says of his favorite moments as a teacher. “When people work hard together in something like band it winds up being like a family because you have to learn to work together and even though each part may be different it all works together.”
Behind his desk, a cross-stitched quote from Plato hangs in a frame. “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
Music not only fills his life, but the lives of his children as well. He and his wife, Shenley, have three children – son Tony was a band director for a few years after graduating from JSU where he played trombone, daughter Gena teaches band at Gaston High and his other daughter, Allison, an elementary teacher in Dearmanville, is married to a percussionist.
For Inglis, music is not a job; it is a calling, and one he answers willingly.
“I get to do a wonderful thing. I get to stand up there and interact with their music,” he said. “We work hard together, we go at it hard, but once you find you’re getting to that place of a performance, gee what a neat job to have.”
About Jennifer Bacchus Jennifer Bacchus is a staff writer at The Jacksonville News. She can be reached at 256-435-5021 or via e-mail at jbacchus@jaxnews.com
Contact Jennifer Bacchus Phone:
E-mail: 256-435-5021
jbacchus@jaxnews.com
Ellie
By: Jennifer Bacchus
News staff writer
02-06-2008
For some people, music is part of their life as far back as they remember. Gene Inglis is one of those lucky people.
“My parents sang, my dad when he was in World War II in the Marines he had some opportunities to play in the Marine band. He played percussion,” he said.
Inglis, a resident of Jacksonville who has taught band for 35 years, is in his fifth year of teaching at Saks High School. In honor of his years of service and the way his programs both at Saks and his prior schools in Rome, Ga., have impacted the students, School Band and Orchestra Magazine named him one of their ’50 Directors Who Make a Difference.’
That’s quite an accomplishment for a man who couldn’t read music when he entered college.
“I was a drummer in a high school band and I heard the Jacksonville [State University] drumline and I wanted to be in it, so I came and met Dr. Walters. I got in that group and I hung around, the next thing I knew I was a band director,” said Inglis.
Each year, the magazine chooses one band director from each state who they feel has made an impact on their students. Their nominees come from band parents, award recipients, school administrators and other music professionals.
Upon graduation from JSU, Inglis started teaching in Scottsboro. Then it was on to Rome where he taught in the city school system for 29 years, retiring at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.
He and his wife wanted to come back home to Alabama and, more specifically, they wanted to be near their children and the university where they met and where they remain active alumni.
“My wife and I met in Jacksonville and we just love that, we love that whole thing,” he said, talking about his alma mater, JSU. “I still do some things with the university a little bit. I’m the president of the Gray Echelon, which is the band alumni group.”
The way Inglis has impacted the lives of those around him is obvious in the way his students think about him long after they graduate, which is evident in the Christmas cards he receives each year from former students.
“The things that stand out are really the interactions with people,” Inglis says of his favorite moments as a teacher. “When people work hard together in something like band it winds up being like a family because you have to learn to work together and even though each part may be different it all works together.”
Behind his desk, a cross-stitched quote from Plato hangs in a frame. “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
Music not only fills his life, but the lives of his children as well. He and his wife, Shenley, have three children – son Tony was a band director for a few years after graduating from JSU where he played trombone, daughter Gena teaches band at Gaston High and his other daughter, Allison, an elementary teacher in Dearmanville, is married to a percussionist.
For Inglis, music is not a job; it is a calling, and one he answers willingly.
“I get to do a wonderful thing. I get to stand up there and interact with their music,” he said. “We work hard together, we go at it hard, but once you find you’re getting to that place of a performance, gee what a neat job to have.”
About Jennifer Bacchus Jennifer Bacchus is a staff writer at The Jacksonville News. She can be reached at 256-435-5021 or via e-mail at jbacchus@jaxnews.com
Contact Jennifer Bacchus Phone:
E-mail: 256-435-5021
jbacchus@jaxnews.com
Ellie