Simpson new band director at St. Bernard Prep

Published 8:02 am Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The ability to play a musical instrument is an enjoyment that lasts for a lifetime. St. Bernard Band instructor, Ken Simpson, is encouraging students to participate in performance opportunities at the school to include concert band, chamber music, and small ensembles; and to continue the fine tradition that has been established at the school.

A graduate of the University of North Alabama, earning both a bachelor of science degree and master of arts degree in music education, Simpson replaces former instructor, Lester Harris, who was a fellow UNA student and member of the Jazz Band there.

After his retirement as director of Jazz Studies and Music Technology at Brookwood High School, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Simpson had the opportunity to work at Francis Marion University where he taught music appreciation to college freshman.

Simpson joined St. Bernard for the 2015-16 academic years to serve as band director and to teach music appreciation. Though happy to be at St. Bernard, the accomplished musician admitted that it was not the school that brought him to this part of Alabama. “When our precious four-year-old granddaughter moved to Cullman,” Simpson smiled and said, “We had to come too.”

The basement of Founders Hall houses the music department at St. Bernard, with the help of his wife, Laura, the couple did a lot of cleaning, organizing, and moving of old furniture to make the environment the best it could be for students. “We have some great plans for a newer rehearsal area that the students will really enjoy,” Simpson said.

St. Bernard Prep encourages students to try to find a healthy balance between their academic studies and extracurricular life, to broaden their lives through artistic expression, and instrumental and choral music are wonderful avenues for this. “It is important for students to develop a true love for all types of music and a desire to be a better musician every day,” Simpson said. “I still have contact with people from my first middle school band, and I played with other music teachers in their 80s who still play well and love their music.”

Simpson brings a passion for music to the classroom and years of encouragement and know-how in the business of connecting people with music. Students are intrigued with his teaching style. His excitement in the classroom resonates through the students as he captures each one’s attention by integrating technology into his lesson plans, as well as offering observations and demonstrations of how music works, and how making it should sound.

Will Sciaroni, a senior from Decatur, describes Simpson as amazing. “We have accomplished so much in just a few weeks of class. It’s incredible the amount of information he has available at his fingertips. He just plugs in an iPhone or has everything ready on his iPad.”

During the first week of school, students discovered their new instructor is more than a talented teacher. He is also a talented composer and drummer who uses his skills to play at corporate functions and weddings.

Simpson’s talents have been passed on to both of his children. His son, Drew, is a former Broadway musician and currently a band director in the Atlanta area. His daughter Kate, who is a former ICU nurse and now a stay-at-home mom, plays bassoon. She recently moved to Cullman with her husband, Dr. David Shupe, and their four-year-old daughter, Nora, who wants to play “several” instruments – and, in her family environment, surely will.

“We have done a lot of traveling the past three years, and in the process discovered Cullman. I grew up in Atlanta, but Laura’s family has always been in North Alabama,” Simpson said. “We have traveled across the United States watching my son play in various cities. He toured on drums for several Broadway shows such as ‘Wicked’, and for the past five years was in New York for ‘The Book of Mormon’.”

While Simpson has found St. Bernard to have a great faculty and a very supportive administration, he is most impressed with the students’ enthusiasm for learning. “The students make teaching enjoyable for me at this point in my life.”

Simpson is in the process of creating a wish list to garner new and gently used instruments for his classroom as well as instructional materials. Anyone wishing to donate a musical instrument may drop the instrument off at the school or make a cash donation to the music department.

“We were blessed to find such a talented instructor,” Headmaster Dan Baillargeon said. “We look forward to a wonderful year of the arts at St. Bernard Prep!”