Benny Westcott
The new band instructor at Sweet Home High School was most recently an English teacher at the school, but she brings 15 years of musical instruction experience to the role.
Born and raised in Sweet Home, Lori Tuter graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1987, and returns to the very same band room that she played in as a student all those years ago.
“This is who I am and where I started,” Tuter said.
The instructor, who officially started in her role earlier this summer, has lots of ideas for revamping the district’s music program.
She will be asking alumni to join the band in playing, and the potential of a community band is in the making. She wants involvement in parades and community events like the Harvest Festival, in addition to Sweet Home sporting events and assemblies. And, she wants the band to perform for the Wiley Creek Senior Living community at Christmastime.
“Lots of growth and opportunity for the community and lots of us giving back to the community is what I’m hoping for,” Tuter said.
Terry Martin, Sweet Home’s superintendent, said of Tuter, “Her enthusiasm to build the music program and passion for music is what makes her a wonderful selection. She is already networking; she visited the Rotary Club and has connected with the great former band instructor Ken Collins. We will work hard to bring music back to its former Sweet Home glory! It will be an uphill battle for a while to amass the necessary instruments, but Lori is already reaching out to see if community members have working instruments to get back into service. Music is great for students, and we are both fortunate and excited to have Lori step up and take on rebuilding our program.”
More instruments are definitely needed to help the program reach its goals – Tuter says the program currently has very few instruments to provide for students in need. “I’m wanting to reach out to the community for some support and possible donations of instruments,” she said. “The whole idea of kind of cleaning out the closet, helping the band program, getting some tax deductions opportunities.
“But mostly I really want to inspire the community,” she added. And, of course, inspire the students. “The benefits of music are just tremendous,” Tuter said. “It builds confidence, self-esteem, and self-discipline. It also greatly improves language and math skills. When you’re playing, it engages both the right and the left brain at the same time.”
She added, “It improves mood and decreases stress, pain and anxiety. And after COVID, every student has been impacted by that distance learning and being isolated at home. And the number of students that deal with anxiety – it’s tremendous. It’s unbelievable how many students struggle. And I believe that music can really help pull kids back to center.”
She said she would love to see the district adopt an elementary general music program that kids start in Kindergarten.
After graduating from Sweet Home High School, Tuter attended the University of Oregon, majoring in music education.
After college she was an instrumental and choral music instructor at the Central Linn School District for three years, holding the same position at Crook County Middle and High School for two more years.
Tuter then became an
elementary music instructor at Crooked River Elementary School in Prineville for 10 years.
Then, in 2009, in the midst of an economic downturn, the school eliminated the program. Tuter has seen the effects of that financial crisis reverberate in the music education scene to this day. “I think in 2009 the arts were really impacted by that lack of funding, and coming back from that has just been a real struggle,” she said.
Tuter’s son was a senior at the time and she wasn’t willing to move, so she recertified and started teaching English. She taught English language arts at Pioneer Alternative High School in Prineville for five years starting in 2009. She also taught the subject for two years at Crook County High School.
Then in 2015 she moved to Sweet Home to be closer to her parents, who live here. She accepted a job teaching English at nearby Stayton High School, where she would remain for six years before teaching English at Sweet Home High School for the last two.
Going into this school year, the district currently has a concert band and wind ensemble at the high school, as well as a junior high band and sixth grade band. Tuter said she will be doing a lot of recruiting at the district’s elementary schools and the junior high.