Retired music teacher and French horn player Carol Reynolds was honored by the California Music Teacher Association earlier this month.
More than 3,000 music students and teachers attended the conference held in San Jose.
Reynolds was singled out for her 50-year career teaching music, including 31 years in Placentia and Yorba Linda.
Reynolds, who wrote a paper for the International Society for Music Educators in 1970 entitled “Music and the Teaching of Human Values,” presented her work in Moscow.
She was voted the outstanding music teacher in Orange County in 1995, was a mentor teacher, and for years participated on her school district negotiating team to ensure that the music kept playing in the Placentia schools as a required subject.
At the dinner, Reynolds was seated with John Tebay, a former student.
“We got a standing ovation when John told everyone that when he had had me in second grade music he had gone home from school and told his mother that when he grew up he wanted to be a music teacher!” recalled Reynolds, who taught Tebay music over seven years through intermediate school.
Tebay’s 100-member a cappella choir from Fullerton College also performed at the conference.
“It was a most glorious time for me and many other music teachers,” Reynolds said.
“It was a grand music teacher night knowing that music and the arts are alive and well and once again the legislature has declared that all the arts–music, art, drama, and dance — are required subjects in grades 1-6 and must be taught,” said Reynolds, who has continued her advocacy for music in the local schools. “Laguna has had a teacher/administrator workshop this year to make this happen,” she said.
