A bird's-eye view of the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony. (Special to The Columbian)
If Clark County ever had anything like a pied piper, that was Larry Gookin.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin, you’ll recall, was that German fairy-tale figure whose music was so magical, it brought rats — and then children — under his control.
Gookin never aimed his musical powers at rodents, but he sure has inspired generations of music students to follow his excellent example.
“So many of our local music educators see him as their mentor,” said Rich Carr, president of the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony. Many of those mentees will join together Sunday afternoon to play in a Wind Symphony “Musical Legacy” concert in tribute to their teacher. The concert will even feature a piece commissioned in Gookin’s honor by a consortium of music groups, including the Wind Symphony.
That piece is “St. Francis,” by David Maslanka, a popular contemporary composer and friend of Gookin’s. Maslanka posted on his website that he wrote the piece because of Gookin’s “fascination with St. Francis. … The heated compassion of St. Francis is mirrored in Larry’s lifelong devotion to the movement of young lives through music.”
Gookin was a music professor and director of bands at Central Washington University for 34 years. During that time, he said, he frequently made “the long, long drive” from Ellensburg to Clark County to teach classes, adjudicate music competitions and conduct the Wind Symphony. He retired from CWU last year.
It’s “a little weird,” he acknowledged, how many of his CWU students came from Clark County and then returned again to teach music here. (Plus, two more conductors of the Wind Symphony, founder Mark Lane and Lewis Norfleet, both went on to become music faculty at CWU.)
“There’s such a strong musical connection between Central Washington and music education in Clark County,” Carr said. According to his careful counting, 70 percent of the players in the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony are local music educators — and 40 percent of those educators were taught by Gookin.
Mark Claassen, the band director at Union High School, said you probably couldn’t count all the local music teachers, at every level, who were taught by Gookin. Claassen was emailing from Indianapolis, Ind., where his wind ensemble was one of 18 invited to perform in the National Concert Band Festival; Claassen in turn extended the invitation for Gookin to guest conduct his students there.
“He really is a musical father to so many and I wanted to share my musical ‘Dad’ with my own musical ‘kids.’ It meant the world to me that he would be willing to come and share his wisdom with my students,” said Claassen, who studied with Gookin for seven years.
Sam Ormson, the band director at Mountain View High School, studied with Gookin for four. ” ‘You have to love the music, and you have to love your musicians,’ ” are great words of Gookin wisdom, Ormson said. “When he comes and visits my high school bands, they immediately get better, and they are laughing, smiling, and enjoying every second of the rehearsal. I also see this among the adult musicians in the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony. He is a master of his craft.”
Another Gookin student was Natalie Neshyba, who will perform the flute solo during Georges Bizet’s “Carmen Fantasie” on Sunday. (It’s not a Gookin connection, but Neshyba is the daughter of Mark Neshyba, a music teacher at Wy’east Middle School and trombonist with the popular Portland dance band 5 Guys Named Moe.)
“The most rewarding thing you can do as a music educator is pass the torch,” Gookin said when The Columbian caught up with him by phone in Indianapolis. “I see all these great musicians down there who are dedicated to teaching.” And it’s especially heartwarming to see them coming together and playing together under his baton as guest conductor, he said.
“Looking out at the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony and seeing all my former students — it’s extremely rewarding,” he said. Don’t forget all his excellent former students who are doing great things but don’t happen to be in this particular band, he added.
The free “Musical Legacy” concert is set for 3 p.m. March 20 at Union High School, 6201 N.W. Friberg-Strunk St., Camas. Learn more about the 50-player Southwest Washington Wind Symphony at www.swwindsymphony.org.
“Community music education is important,” Carr said. “We want people to be aware of the caliber and talent of our music educators in Clark County — and the ‘father’ of so many of them is Larry Gookin.”
If You Go
• What: Southwest Washington Symphony “Musical Legacy” concert.
• When: 3 p.m. March 20.
• Where: Union High School, 6201 N.W. Friberg-Strunk St., Camas.
