By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Talking with Shawn Hudson about his 29 years as orchestra director with the Bowling Green City Schools, the concept of collaboration comes up a lot.
Hudson, who is retiring after 34 as a music teacher, makes it clear he shares the string duties with colleague Janet Fu. They both direct the orchestra and teach strings from grade 5 through high school.
Fu joined the BG teaching staff six years ago. Hudson has been in Bowling Green since 1996. “It’s not like I’m the head orchestra teacher and she’s my assistant,”he said. “That’s not the way we established the program, not how I wanted the program.”
When it comes to leadership within the orchestra those roles are shared. The students violinists who are the strongest players rise to the top. This year Katherine Tyson, who is going on to major in music education, was concertmaster and Samuel Challu also was a leader in the violin section.
“The kids who want that responsibility, we allow to do that,” Hudson said.
That eliminates the challenges in the ranks. “We know where they play, so we rotate them around and mix them up, and it’s made the group sound much, much better,” he said. “And there’s not the drama involved with the ‘I’m first chair’ thing.”
BGHS students have a rich menu of musical activities. For example, graduating senior Isaac Sands played trombone in band, violin in orchestra, sang in the choir, and performed with the drama program, both in musicals and in straight plays. Last fall he played the title role in MacBeth.
Hudson is on the fence as to question of whether young people drawn to playing an instrument are already high achievers or whether playing an instrument fosters academic achievement. “I think it’s some of both.”
He’s sure about one thing: “I couldn’t ask for better students to work with.”
They want to work together, he said, and that’s the attitude the program encourages.
Hudson himself got his start in school in Cincinnati. He played cello in orchestra and euphonium in band. “But I always loved the strings and playing the cello.”
When he played in the Cincinnati Youth Orchestra, he realized that “I love this. This is a lot of fun. I think I would be good at this.”
The 1986 graduate of Northwest High School, he had attended a string camp at BGSU and enrolled there. He studied with Alan Smith.
Hudson didn’t give up the euphonium though. His first two years at BGSU he was a member of the Falcon Marching Band. That’s where he met his future wife, Teresa, who played saxophone.
Marching band is a great group, Hudson said. “It’s a fun group to be in,” adding, “and not a fun group to teach.”
He directed the marching band one year at Perrysburg. “It wasn’t horrible, but I’m glad I’m a string teacher.”
After a short time substitute teaching, Hudson was hired in 1991 in Perrysburg to found the orchestra. Teresa was hired in North Baltimore, and they settled in the area.
After five years, the deck of area orchestra teachers was shuffled. Pam Thiel moved from Bowling Green to Sylvania Northview, Hudson took the podium at BGHS, and Michael Smith replaced him in Perrysburg.
Hudson inherited a firmly established program. The challenge was to build it further, which he has done.
He and Fu teach at all levels from grade 5 through grade 12. The key is to attract students early.
Once in orchestra, he encourages those who are more serious to do summer camps either at BGSU or further afield such as Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. They can also perform in the Toledo Symphony’s program which includes three orchestras. Hudson also encourages students to take private lessons. Not as many as he’d like avail themselves of that opportunity. It’s a challenge for the incoming strings teacher, he said.
In Bowling Green, Hudson worked with drama teacher Jo Beth Gonzalez to launch the all-school musical. In the past the musical had been a choir activity. “We made it available to anybody in the high school,” Hudson said.
The first was “Working” in 2004, presented in the Cla-Zel. Gonzalez and Hudson drew more and more departments into the production to make it an inclusive collaboration.
In the past few years, he’s done the sound mixing and design, something he did in the Triple Nickel Air National Guard Band. Choir director Beth Vaughn conducts the pit orchestra, which is a mix of student and local professionals.
Both Shawn and Teresa Hudson were members of the Triple Nickel Air Force Reserve band. Shawn Hudson separated from the service in 2009 after 13 years. The Air Force Reserve eliminated its band program a few years later. Teresa Hudson transferred to the Army Reserve and now commands the 338th Army Band.
Hudson said he really enjoyed playing bass with the Triple Nickel Big Band. He’s hoping to get his bass out to sit in at jazz night at Arlyn’s Good Beer. He’s also looking for opportunities to play cello.
Beyond music, Hudson is an amateur radio operator and will continue pursuing that hobby.
The Hudsons live in a rural plot on the edge of Bowling Green. Their three grown offspring are in Kentucky, Colorado, and Toledo.
They plan on doing some remodeling and staying put. “I’ve always felt very much a part of this community.”
