Experiences teaching overseas - by Jeff Pellaton

We moved to Illinois quite suddenly in 1975 to help with the care of my wife’s grandmother after her grandfather suddenly passed and because my Father in Law and his Father before him graduated from Eastern Illinois University, I enrolled. I had no idea that I had stumbled into the land of Johnny Lee Lane, Allan Horney, Dr’s Allabaugh and Krebeil and all the great teachers who were waiting for me. Because of my overseas service history, Prof Lane dubbed me (and I am to this day), Jeff “International” Pellaton (or Jeff “I” for short). When it came time for me to perform my student teaching, my father in law hooked me up at a Department of Defense School in Germany. He had been impressed with the program at Mannheim American High School and they accepted me as a student teacher. For four months in 1978 my wife and I lived in Heidelberg (with the in-laws) and I got a taste of living and working in the DoD school system. Living in Europe was fabulous (again). The only problem was that I hated my student teaching experience. My supervising teacher and I did not see eye to eye on anything. She conducted rehearsals with a microphone to “out-shout” the competition. The band played schlock but they played it loud. In my idyllic state, I wasn’t smart enough to check out some other DoDDS schools while I was in the area. I just assumed that DoDDS wasn’t for me.

So, it was back to Eastern for a “Summer, Fall, Spring, Summer” Masters Degree in Percussion Performance and the first Grad Assistantship in Percussion and Jazz. What a blast. I got to focus on my own performance, teach a couple of Johnny’s students and lead the Number II Jazz Band. Prof Lane always promised that if you got a Master’s degree with him that he’d get you a job and he did not lie. I graduated on August 9, 1979 and on August 16, started as an assistant professor at Mississippi Valley State University.

I stayed at MVSU for six years but was never completely happy with that experience either. I was delighted that I was able to work with such fine students like Ricky Burkhead (now director of percussion studies at the University of Mississippi) who graduated from our program and then went to study with Prof Lane at Eastern, and Pedro Orey (Bethune Cookman director of Percussion Studies), Ricky McCou, United States Navy Band and many, many others. I had just not found the right fit for my young family and me. We made the leap in 1985 to try the overseas experience one more time. I was hired in June of 1985 by the DoDDS to be, now hold on to your hat, the choir director/general music teacher at Kubasaki High School in Okinawa, Japan.

My teaching certificate says “Music K-12”, but you can imagine how freaky it was to try and imagine what a high school/jr high school music class even looks like. You see, I was never in a school band, choir or general music class. However, I did earn two degrees at Eastern Illinois University (and I have always been very proud of the education I received there) and my motto became, “Whatever it takes”.

A couple of things immediately struck me about the overseas package. First, the pay was good, and if we did not live on base, we received a housing allowance. This means your salary doesn’t have to be used for rent (mortgage) and utilities. (Retirement is also competitive with good stateside programs and we are paid to travel home in the summer, either every year or every other year). Second, the school system really loved you if you were interested in sponsoring extra-curricular activities. I immediately became the Golf Coach at Kubasaki High School. Third, there is not the remotest possibility that your program will not be funded. DoDDS takes great pride in assuring parents that their overseas school experience will be representative of quality stateside programs. Fourth, and most important, about forty percent of our student population rotates out every year. Remember, these are dependents of military members and department of defense civilians. Many students would work tirelessly toward the end of semester activities yet would never take their performances to the stage because of their rotation date. Collectively, this means you can’t build a program through any kind of feeder scenario. You have to make it happen every day and you certainly have to start over every year. Students that you thought would be there in the fall would often be gone by August due to retirement or sudden change of station. When I spoke to high school band or choir people when I was at MVSU I was always concerned that when I asked how their program was going, the answer was never, “I’m having a blast”, “I’ve got the greatest group of kids”, or “We’re making some good things happen”. It was always, “We made a one at contest last year but I’m not sure about this year”, or “we made a this or a that”, or “the funding is just not there”. I have always loved the fact that I have made it my goal to give each and every student a positive musical experience not in April or May, or at the Christmas Concert, but every day. My hope is that someday when these students are parents that they might look back on their experience in music as positive and might encourage and support their children in similar endeavors. I think thirty or forty years ago, many schools trained musicians as if they were going to move on to conservatories. Today, I think we’re successful if we build audiences for the future. My goodness, how many adults do we have to teach about what you do and don’t do at a concert???

So professionally, the overseas experience has been a good fit for me and a big win for the program. I built a very successful choral program at Kubasaki High School to include a vocal jazz group, Jazz Limited, which really developed into something special toward the end of my tenure there. I became a master at sequencing on Korg digital audio workstations and would accompany the group with the use of the Korg with me playing live drums. The Marine Corp Band was close by and contributed soloists on a regular basis. The big win for the DoD school was that I also coached the wrestling team for sixteen years, football for three, and women’s volleyball for seven. When we moved to Okinawa our children were four and one years old. We left seventeen years later when our youngest graduated. One of the most wonderful of all our many experiences was the high school experience that I shared with my daughters. Both were in the choir for four years and both were in the jazz choir as well. As I also taught an advanced Physical Education class, I often had my girls for two or three periods per day. Many educators miss their kids during this time yet we were there every step of the way and every time we are together now, our conversations are filled with the multitude of fabulous experiences shared during that time.

Now the travel; while in Okinawa we embraced the “Oki” lifestyle. Slow, relaxed, laid back, are but a few of the ways to describe the island life. The Japanese food is fabulous and it’s fabulous for you. As Okinawa is on approximately the same latitude as Miami, Florida, we could be actively outside, running, swimming, playing golf, cycling, cave hunting and or sight seeing 365 days per year (we hunkered down for a few typhoons). Nearby, we discovered and explored the Phillipines, Micronesia (Guam, Saipan, Tinian, the Palau’s), Korea, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and of course mainland Japan with its three distinctively different three large islands. If we never had another overseas station, the overseas experience we were able to share with our children certainly would have been enough. Both girls spoke Japanese and one even earned a minor in Japanese in college.

Without a doubt, the most impressive aspect of an overseas experience in the DoDDS school system is the ability to transfer to other regions. I observed immediately as within my first few years, many opportunities arose for me to make changes in my career, that there was no excuse for me ever to experience burnout. If I didn’t care for a situation, I could change it. This makes the educator happier, more motivated and more effective. After seventeen years in Okinawa, we took the transfer plunge and headed for my international roots in Germany. We are now 60 minutes by low budget airlines from any country in Europe. Often the price of a hotel room is more than the round trip airfare. There is no reason why you can’t see it all here. We have only been here four years and even though I’m still living the school experience (teaching, coaching, heading up the European Honor Jazz Festival), we’ve been to Italy six times (just can’t see it all), England, France (we live forty minutes from the fabulous Alsace region), Austria (you haven’t skied until you’ve skied Austria), the Netherlands, Belgium (Battle of the Bulge), Poland, Czech Republic (Prague is our favorite), not to mention sights in Germany; The castles of the Rhine and Morsel valley’s, the early Celtic history and later, Roman history.

On any given day, we can get in the car (or on our bikes) and in one hour or less arrive at the most picturesque, quaint, or historical site spot that’s completely new to us. You often have to get back to work to rest up. The sad part is, we are absolute rookies compared to some that have been in Europe for many, many years.

So there you have it. Anyone interested, just holla.

Regards,

Jeff “I” Pellaton
Instrumental Music
Ramstein American High School