Document text
Baton passed from teacher to student By MEG LANDERS Inspiration came full circle this week for Talent Middle School's band and choir director. At the school's annual concert, Marianne Robison was presented a rosewood, teak and sterling silver conducting baton by her former middle school music teacher, Bob Miles. "He made us feel like we could do anything," said the 41-year-old director. "If he told us we were capable of doing something, by gosh, we rose to the occasion." Miles was the music director in the Troy, Mont., public schools for several years in the early 1970s. When he left his position in 1973, the school band, including Robison, presented him with a beautiful baton. Miles said he was touched by the award, knowing students gathered their nickels and dimes together to purchase a gift that he estimates is now a collector's item worth hundreds of dollars. "That baton spoke of our musicality together," he said of the gift he's polished and cherished over the years. Yesterday "Mr. Miles", as Robison still refers to him, arrived in Talent after a 900-mile drive from Whitefish, Mont., to Talent in order to present Robison with the very baton he had been given 28 years ago. Having attended the middle school's 2000 concert, he said he was inspired by their performance. The poise, pride and dedication he saw in her students were the signs of a good educator, he said. "The thing that I recognize is all the hard work that goes on in the band room and the choir room," said Miles, 56. "The kids have an attitude that what they do is important." Miles at one time was paralyzed from the waist down from polio, which he contracted when he was 8. He recovered, however, and went on to become a musician and play in the U.S. Army Band in Europe in the mid-1960s. It was during that time that he felt a calling to be band leader. By the end of his first year in the Montana town, judges gave the band its first superior rating in Troy's history. What began as a small band of a dozen students grew to 250 students in just two years. "He turned podunk little Troy, Montana, into a great music department," remembered Robison. In 1986, Miles developed polio-related health problems and decided to leave teaching. Then, in 1997, both Robison and Miles attended an all-school reunion in Troy. Miles said Robison approached him and he knew right away who she was. "She said, 'You're the reason I do what I do,' and I said, 'What do you do?' and she said, 'I'm a band teacher,' " Miles recalled. That's when he decided to visit for a concert in Talent to see his former student in action. Now Miles' polio is causing loss of muscle function throughout his entire body. His crutches soon will be replaced by a wheelchair. "I can't do what she does anymore," Miles said on Thursday, smiling at Robison and keeping an upbeat attitude. He said it was time to pass along the baton. "It needs to be with her because she is carrying on exactly what we did in Troy," he said. Robison was thrilled and overwhelmed about accepting this award from her mentor. "This is the highlight of my career," she said, adding that they share a connection and an understanding of the value of students feeling enthusiasm with each piece they play. "That's what music should be about," said Robison. "Pride, joy and accomplishment." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.