Kelly Detwiler

Mountain lions. At the end of this school year, both K. Detwiler and L. Detwiler are retiring. Both have taught music for over 30 years. “[Retirement] was a decision my husband and I made together,” K. Detwiler said. “This is 35 years for me, and that’s kind of when retirement age comes with teachers. Both of my children this past summer have moved out of Altoona. That was a big factor in it as well. We want to be able to go and visit. We are a very tight family, and we just haven’t been able to see them. We’re deciding it’s time to put them first. They have sat second for a long time because of these jobs we have.” [From left to right: L. Detwiler, K. Detwiler] (Photo contributed by Kelly Detwiler)

Jazz. Orchestra. Music. Home. For Kelly and Larry Detwiler, the AAHS music department has encompassed all of these things since the early 1990s—and even before that. At Penn State University, the couple discovered the power of music. For the past 30 years, it has been their home.

K. Detwiler, AAHS orchestra director, is retiring after 35 years of teaching a jazz band, directing the string ensemble and symphonic orchestra, teaching AP Music Theory, conducting the drama club’s spring musical pit orchestra and advising the majorettes. L. Detwiler, AAHS band director, is retiring after 32 years with the district teaching guitar, directing concert band and marching band, conducting the jazz bands, advising the pep band and directing all other band activities.

But the Detwilers’ lives haven’t always been set on music.

Da Capo (from the beginning)

Larry Detwiler attended Penn State University after playing trumpet in high school; however, he did not attend with the intention of studying music originally.

“When I went to Penn State, I was not a music major,” Larry Detwiler said. “I actually went in as an architectural engineering major. My first semester in, we had this big required course. It was a five credit class, every day from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It was like the major class for architecture, and I was skipping it three days a week to go to Blue Band practice. That was kind of like the wake up call of, ‘Hey, if you’re skipping the big required class to go to band, you probably need to change your mind.’ After that first semester, I took my audition and became a music major. I came back the second half of my first year as a music major.”

Kelly Detwiler was introduced to jazz music in high school and continued to pursue her interest in college.

“At the beginning of my college career, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to go [into] music or math,” Kelly Detwiler said. “I started Penn State as a math major, and I went two strong years as a math major with great grades and all that good stuff—but I wasn’t really happy. And, of course, I never gave up music. I was playing in a jazz band. I was playing with the show choir. I joined the orchestra. I was taking bass lessons, and I just started to hang out more and more and more at the music building. I realized that was my happy place. Once I realized that, I switched my major and I knew that education was the way to go. I love playing, and it’s certainly an important part of my life and what I do, but, in education, there was just no doubt. I love being with the students and being involved in all the activities and all the excitement that happens, and to introduce this music to them and to create what we create. There’s just never been a question. I love it.”

Soundtrack of their lives

Music has held an important place in the Detwilers’ lives since high school.

“[Music] has always been a big part of my life,” K. Detwiler said. “It’s been a big part of my family’s life. It is the place where I found all of my friendships, all of my good friends. It’s a place where I was able to let go emotionally. It was a place where my leadership skills came out. With all the wonderful teachers I had, they let me be a leader. They let me help. Even in high school, they put me in charge of helping to hand out uniforms and making sure everyone was properly dressed and that kind of thing. It has just been my home since I really got involved, particularly in seventh grade when I joined the junior high program, and it’s just never gone away. It’s always been there for me.”

K. Detwiler discovered her love for orchestral music in college.

“I was very big into jazz, and even in high school, I played in the top jazz band,” K. Detwiler said. “In college, I played in jazz, but of course, with majoring in double bass, I was part of the orchestra there and a couple other chamber orchestras, and we played one of the Mendelssohns. I remember this because I absolutely loved it; it just spoke to me. In my education courses, we had to take a score, and we had to analyze it—kind of break it down— and learn how to teach it and write a whole paper on it. I chose that piece. The more I looked into it and analyzed it, the more I fell in love with it. That was really a turning point when I truly fell in love with orchestral music.”

For L. Detwiler, music represents a form of expression for everyone.

“A lot of people have trouble expressing themselves, especially in a kind of group setting,” L. Detwiler said. “[Music is] that concept that everybody has an outlet to express themselves. I also like the fact that everybody can participate in music. Not everybody can be on a sports team, not everybody can swim. Some people can’t swim fast enough. Some people can’t be on the football team. Music is one of those things that everybody fits in. I like the fact that everybody participates. It’s not just the starting team on the field. When we do something, everybody does it. Everybody’s a part of it. Everybody can participate, and it’s literally things that you can do for your entire life. You don’t age out of music. How many people still play sports after high school? How many do a lot of their activities once they graduate from high school or college? Music’s one of those things—you could pick up a violin forever and play. How many 70-year-olds can still go out and play basketball? As musicians, we can literally do that forever. That’s a joy we can have in our lives forever.”

“One big happy family”

One of the goals K. Detwiler had when she accepted the position for orchestra director at AAHS was to create a fine arts program where all groups would work together.

“I feel from the beginning, we kind of had our own separate programs,” K. Detwiler said. “There was band that didn’t really interact with chorus, that didn’t really interact with orchestra. And I can strongly say that today, we are all one big happy family, and we’ve brought drama in to make it the fine arts program and have that aspect as well. We certainly try to work together, and I think that’s built a better program and a stronger program, and that’s why we have excelled in these past 15 years.”

L. Detwiler hopes to encourage a team environment between and within the classes.

“My goal is not that people walk out of the room and want to be a music teacher,” L. Detwiler said. “My goal is that they walk out of the room with an appreciation, a love of music, and that sense of teamwork, that sense of responsibility, that sense of time management and all those extra things you learn from being in that group. I want them to walk out being responsible, productive people in society when they come out of the room.”

Coda

Looking back, L. Detwiler’s favorite career memories can be traced back to Disney and a music festival.

“Marching down Main Street the last time we were at Disney was a thrill,” L. Detwiler said. “The other [moment] that definitely sticks out was in 2018. The jazz band was invited, auditioned and was accepted to play at the PMEA [Pennsylvania Music Educators Association] All-State festival. Our youngest daughter, Mackenzie [McGinnis] was the bass player in that band. Actually, Avery [McGinnis], who is now her husband, was the guitar player in that band. So not only were we able to play at the festival and do this really cool thing, Mackenzie [McGinnis] was with me to do it, which was super cool. [K. Detwiler] was there because she was at the festival, and so that was the other big highlight.”

K. Detwiler has many fond memories, but one sticks out to her.

“I entered the orchestra in a competition, and it was a composer competition,” K. Detwiler said. “This was back in the late 1990s, early 2000s and I had to write an essay, and I had to send in some video and some recordings of the orchestra. We actually won. The composer spent the week here at Altoona, and he wrote us a piece that was about Altoona’s heritage. It was about the railroad, and it was really special. When we performed it, it was just an incredible performance. We had been working on it so much, and the composer actually sat in the audience and was in tears. That hit me. That moment, that was a pretty special moment.”

For K. Detwiler, the small moments are what she will remember from this final school year. She is walking away from her teaching career with patience, kindness and a judge-free mindset because she learned “you don’t know what’s happening in someone’s life.”

“I’m going to stay busy,” K. Detwiler said. “I plan to be a little more involved with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra. My hope is to get a community orchestra started within that all of these Altoona and Hollidaysburg graduated string players will have somewhere to go and play. That’s one of my big things I want to do. Of course, I want to travel, I want to visit my children and I want to stop and smell the roses.”

L. Detwiler is also looking to spend more time with his family after retirement, but he will also continue to keep music in his life.

“My hope is that when people look back, they will say that I cared about the kids,” L.Detwiler said. “The one thing I would hope they say is, he cared about the kids. He always tried to put the kids first.”