July 7, 2004
Parrish leaves on a high note after millage passes
Veteran teacher Dave Parrish retires after 39 noteworthy years with TCAPS music department
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Bowing out after 39 years steeped in music, Dave Parrish leaves the Traverse City Area Public Schools music department poised for the next generation - or two.
The veteran music and humanities teacher served as music director for the district for the last six years. He is retiring just after the community passed a millage that will, in part, provide $100,000 a year for ten years for instruments and equipment.
"Thirty years from now we'll be benefiting from this election," Parrish said, crediting the Music Boosters for their work promoting the millage vote. "We haven't had funding for instruments or equipment, there is a tremendous need and it will just do great things for the music program."
"It is probably one of the best financial things that has happened to this music department," he added.
From his perspective as both teacher and administrator in music programs over four decades, Parrish reflected on the district's success. He sees it is a synergy of excellent staff - which has grown from nine to 30 during his career - supportive administrators, broad-based community support for the arts and dedicated parents.
The balance within the music program is another key, with equally strong band, orchestra and choral programs at both high schools as well as at the junior highs. A strong elementary music program feeds the junior high and high schools.
The balance among music disciplines began with Mel Larimer, who was music director for the district at the junior and senior high schools in the 1960s. Parrish noted that the district's choral tradition predated Larimer, extending back into the 1940s and 1950s. Though small, the program was well known for it's excellence.
"When Mel was here, he worked very hard to get the band and the string program going," Parrish said. "He really set in motion the breadth of the program we have today."
"That is what's unusual and unique about Traverse City, because lots of schools have a dynamite band or a dynamite symphony or a wonderful choir," he added. "But you don't find many schools that have it all."
Larimer recruited Parrish from Central Michigan University in 1965, inviting the music education senior to visit Traverse City Senior High before he graduated.
"I was just knocked out by the quality of the program he had going," said Parrish, a native of Walled Lake in Oakland County.
Parrish accepted the position and that fall began directing the junior high choral program. In 1970, he moved to the high school and taught choral music there until 1978, earning a master's in music education from CMU in 1972. For four years, he was part time department head for the music department while also teaching. In 1982, Parrish switched to the humanities department.
"I taught there for 17 years and it was fascinating - language arts, social studies, music, language and art all woven together," Parrish said, who earned a master's in arts and humanities in 1992 from CMU. "It was challenging to teach and fun to teach, too."
Parrish said he really has had three careers with TCAPS, not just one: choral teacher, humanities teacher and music director. He assumed the music director position full time in 1998 when the two high schools split.
"Traverse City has been great because I've been able to stay here and do so many different kinds of professional tasks," he said.
Parrish and his wife, Mary, married for 39 years, also co-direct the Treble choir of the Northwestern Michigan Children's Choir. Mary also is a part-time music teacher with Traverse City Area Public Schools.
A passionate supporter of the arts, Parrish noted that research has caught up with common sense. Progressive administrations, such as those in Traverse City, know that the arts help students academically. This means that even in times of tight budgets and cuts, the district's programs survived.
"Art is always on the chopping block and we've taken our hits, for sure, but we've survived," he noted.
"This community believes that art education is really important, K-12, not just for performers but for everybody," Parrish noted. "The administration and the board are aligned with that, they've acknowledged the worth of all programs and the value to the kids."