Brandon Roberts
August 16, 2020
In high school, the drama room was my home.
But the choir room was my office, and I worked for Jim Foxx.
Like a lot of teachers, Mr. Foxx had a slight edge - which he showed especially to newcomers.
If one could get past that, though, one could start to know a man with a heart of gold.
Demanding? The best teachers always are - but he didn't demand perfection; he simply demanded one's best.
Impatient? Sure, when the seniors were goofing off (again.)
On the other hand, he was impossibly patient in his work of teaching music, and the love of music, to class after class, year after year.
It was so obvious how much he loved those two things: his music and his students.
I'm sure each graduating class thought they were his favorite and I'd guess they were all correct: they WERE all his favorite.
Looking back, I'm pretty sure I was a pain in the ass... sometimes.
But every time I stopped by his room after graduating he had a smile and kind words.
When I showed up to vocal coach the CHS musical in the early 2000's, Mr. Foxx was thrilled.
It didn't occur to me until much later that he could have found that inconvenient or irritating despite having had a solid teacher-student relationship a few years before.
But I think - I know - he was glad.
Because I was one of his own and because he believed I could do a good job for those students.
Because I wouldn't dare let the old man down. And... maybe because he wouldn't have to be at the theater at 11 p.m.
The bottom line is this: Jim Foxx, like every great educator, wanted his students to be the best people they could be. And, if they sang pretty good? That was ok, too.
I thought I might end up in music education and didn't. And I coached my last musical in 2016. Every now and then, though, I still have an opportunity to try and teach something, musical or otherwise, to a young person. So my pledge to whoever's reading this, and your kids, and their kids - I will strive to teach them half as well as Jim Foxx did.
A threat, dear children? No. A promise.
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