New director brings expansive knowledge to county
Robbinsville – “One thing that I am is full of energy. I’m one of those people that believes the kids get their energy and excitement from you, so when they walk in the door and I’m exuding that, they will.”
Spend five minutes with Michele Filip – the new band and choral director for Graham County Schools – and you, too, will be full of enthusiasm.
“I enjoy this,” Filip said. “It’s fun to me. You hear this from many, many people, but I specifically remember Dr. (Scott) Emmons at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee saying, ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’”
Sliding into music
Most recently a resident of Nashville, Tenn. – but as she self-describes herself, she’s from “everywhere,” which began in Port Richey, Fla., then saw stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, from where her family originated – Filip was enamored with music from an early age.
“Music has always been a part of my life,” Filip said. “By nature, I’m a trombone player. I was one of those really practical kids.
“At the end of fifth grade – when we got to choose if we really wanted to be in band – I knew we had a trombone in the house. My father and a few of his brothers played (the trombone). My dad’s mom was a violinist with one of the local symphony orchestras in Wisconsin, for 43 years. I had taken piano lessons as a little kid.
“I knew I was going to be able to do this. I took to it immediately.”
Filip’s aspirations covered such a wide range, she even attempted to perform as both a member of the band and the color guard, a notion her band director struck down.
Still, she remembers her middle and high school band career – spent at Kennedy Middle and Germantown High schools in Wisconsin – fondly.
“Our program was stellar,” Filip said. “Like, super-strong. My parents helped build the band boosters from scratch, along with some other parents. To this day, they raise a ton of money for the band program.
“My eighth-grade band director swapped with the high school director, so I had the same director for five years in a row … which was a lot.
“He was challenging at times, but my class was the one he always referred to as, ‘You’re good, but you’re not the Class of ‘95.’”
College influences
Filip went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Division III institution where Filip endured two grueling summers of band camp while in middle school.
“I chose to go there for camp, because it was far away (from home), but not too far away,” she said. “After my second year of camp, I knew I was going to go to college there; I just wasn’t sure if it was going to be for accounting or music.
“At the camps, Dr. Glenn Hayes (still the Warhawks’ director of music) and Steve Wiest (former director of jazz studies and trombone performance at the university) were recruiting me. I did junior audition day while I was in high school and was basically told, ‘We’ll accept you.’”
Filip was a member of the Warhawks Marching Band as a freshman and even joined the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, quite the feat for a new student.
“That was a really great experience, because I got to play next to these upper-classmen who were just phenomenal,” Filip said. “I was able to dig in and really challenge myself, and sit underneath Dr. Hayes’ direction for several years.”
Summers were spent working at a radio station in Milwaukee, which opened the door for the next chapter of her life. Filip would graduate from the university with a double major in music and electronic media.
Michele Filip is ready to delve deep into the Robbinsville band program.
Greener pastures?
Filip has parlayed her musical tastes, influences and instruction into a 10-year career, which also contained a stop at the William Morris marketing agency.
“Here I am at 22 years old, and I’m moving to Nashville to work at one of the top agents in country music,” Filip said. “I was shocked, excited and floored that one of the artists we represented was Kenny Rogers, one of my all-time favorites. He was the sweetest man.
“But it didn’t last very long, because I wasn’t ready for that cutthroat environment, coming from, you know, Wisconsin.”
Eventually, Filip found her way into teaching music, as she went back to school and obtained a teaching certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Today, she is equipped with a scale of knowledge, ranging from teaching elementary to college-level students how to play guitars, perform in musicals and of course, coordinating and running halftime performances for marching bands.
“I knew that I had a lot of energy and I can be a really fun person, so I thought it would be really fun to work with kids and get them fired up,” Filip said. “Going back to those times at band camp, or being in that family, with people that are doing the same thing you are doing, because they enjoy doing it – not necessarily because they want to become the next Mozart – but they’re doing it because it’s fun and it’s engaging. It really expands your brain in a lot of different directions.
“For me, I wanted to give that opportunity to kids. That’s why I’m a band director.”
Switch to Graham
So why is Robbinsville the perfect fit for Filip?
“I grew up in cattle country: Wisconsin,” Filip said. “All I wanted to do was live in the city. So I lived in the city – Milwaukee, Nashville.
“But then I realized that I’m not a city girl. I finally came to that realization. I want quiet: I don’t want planes flying over my house 50 times a day. I’m done with that.”
Filip’s interest in Graham County grew exponentially once she realized one of the area’s claim to fame.
“I was at a point where I could really go anywhere,” Filip said. “I was looking in a 3-4 state area. This job popped up, and I had visited my aunt in Del Rio, Tenn., last year and absolutely loved it.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the mountains anyway, so when this (job) came up, I did my research and I began to wonder, ‘Where is Ronnie Milsap from?’ Turns out, I was right. It just seemed to fit.”
Plans for band
The unique world we currently live in has left more questions than answers for returning Graham County students. That certainly includes the band program.
But Filip has one profound – albeit detailed – mission in mind.
“I want to get the program back to where it was,” Filip said. “I have a knack for getting people excited about stuff. This year is going to be weird and different, because of all the stuff that’s going on with the pandemic. But patience, right? Give it a couple of years, and we’ll start really turning it in that direction.
“I would love to build it, and get it to be a big program at the middle and high school levels. I would love to get a jazz band back in here. I want to get back in marching-band competitions. I would love to have two different levels of band at the high school level, to give the more advanced players something to really sink their teeth into. There are those students that need a little bit more.
“I want to build the excitement and make this a huge source of pride for the community and students. I want to keep students involved. You’re going to lose kids as the years go on – as they become interested in other things – but my goal is not to create as many music majors as possible: my goal is to help students become better individuals when they walk out of my room.
“If it’s through music, that’s how I’m going to do it.”