Kevin Egan, music teacher, has been teaching band for 41 years throughout Oregon and Washington. He first started teaching at a small 30-person program at Riverside High School in Boardman, Oregon, and now teaches at West Linn High School with over 150 students in the band program. But throughout his four decades of teaching, Mr. Egan has continued channeling his dedication to inspiring students. 

“I think my favorite part is that I don’t really feel like I’m teaching music. I think I’m just teaching potential. It just happens to be that I’m teaching it through music,” Egan said. “I think music is just the conduit through which I am watching somebody get better.”

Since the beginning of his career, Egan has aided students in developing a love for music and has focused on helping them grow their skills.

“The key to any good teacher is to provide opportunities for students to grow, give them the support they need, whether it’s helping with an instrument or encouragement or actually sitting down and spending time one-on-one, or whatever is providing them the opportunity and the support, and then getting out of their way, because different people are going to learn and grow and develop in different ways,” Egan said. “I try not to try not to institute this is the way you should do it. I think there are lots of ways to get better, and then I think you just try to appreciate the successes, wherever they are. Sometimes they don’t; everybody doesn’t need to be the best. So to me, a success is somebody who’s gotten better, better than yesterday. I hope that becomes an encouraging moment.”

Mr. Egan has taught thousands of students, but some stick out to him more than others.

“[I enjoy] teaching the children of some of my old students, because now we get to see each other as adults, and I get to see them as parents, and so that’s really fun to know that I’m involved with generations,” Egan said. “I taught the grandchildren of my high school band director. I have great admiration for them. It made me a better teacher to make sure I was always doing a good job. But probably what I am most proud of is that my son is now a high school band teacher.”

The world has been changing rapidly since 1984, when Egan first started teaching, whether it be with technology, culture, or curriculum, but importantly, one thing that has not adjusted is music education. 

“It hasn’t [changed], but if you get a teacher who is passionate and interested, who is trying hard with a group of students who want to be there and want to get better, then great music is great music. And making great music, the process hasn’t changed for 1000 years,” Egan said. “So there are a little more technological things, maybe, but the bottom line is, you still gotta blow through the horn and make beautiful music, and you still have to show up and be there and be a doer. I don’t think any of it’s changed at all, and I think that’s one of the things that I have [tried] to keep, it’s just a good place to be, making music.”

Ultimately, Egan believes music education is more than just teaching music. 

“I really do think musicians make better people. They listen better than most other people. They’re used to the community. They’re used to coming together collectively to create a single entity where everybody benefits. So I hope they take those non-musical goals and aspirations away from the program,” Egan said. “But I also think there’s just nothing better in my world than music. I think music is one of the few things that keeps humans human, especially with this increasing technology and this increasing technocratic society we live in. If we lose music, we lose a lot of our humanity.” 

After 41 years of teaching and thousands of students, Egan continues to share his passion and dedication towards working with new generations of students. He hopes that all his students have carried on the values that he has tried to instill through music: passion, dedication, and a care for one another.