Mr. Vazquez is a band teacher at Iselin Middle School (IMS). He is an excellent performer and is very passionate about music. He has been teaching even before he graduated and is teaching ever since. Today we are interviewing him about his story and accomplishments.
Panther Press: First of all, thank you for having us.
Panther Press: How did you get started teaching band and everything? In general.
Mr.Vazquez: I started my first teaching job when I was still in college, when I was 20 years old. I taught the drum line at Edison High School, and then a couple years later I was teaching there full time. So I started even before graduating, which was pretty cool.
Panther Press: So, how many years have you been teaching “IMS?”
Mr. Vazquez: Out of all of the years I have been teaching, I’ve been teaching IMS for about five years, and before that I was teaching elementary. Also I’ve been teaching at Rutgers University for about 14 years now! Which is a little crazy.
Panther Press: Why did you choose to be a band director?
Mr. Vazquez: I chose to be a band director because music was the first thing I wasn’t naturally talented at. I had to really work hard to play my instrument’, so it really taught me the value of hard work and dedication. That’s why I decided to choose, and use music to teach my students the value of hard work and dedication
Panther Press: What made you interested in band?
Mr. Vazquez: So, I was in high school, and I mean, I’ve always wanted to do music. I’ve always wanted to do drums ever since I was a little boy. I would watch tv shows with my parents, they would have Spanish tv shows, there would be kids playing drum sets and stuff and I always wanted to do it. But it was just never an opportunity for me to do it until when I got to high school, I got to do it. I’m like okay I’m doing the drums so much. My band director almost threatened to not put me on drums and I looked at him and I said, if you put me drums I promise I won’t let you down and here I am today.
Panther Press: Just to confirm, out of all these amazing instruments what was the first instrument you learned? And when did you first start learning it?
Mr.Vazquez: It was percussion. Percussion was the first instrument I formally learned, and then I learned clarinet, then trombone, and after that it just went along.
Panther Press: And when did you first start learning it?
Mr.Vazquez: When I was 16. I was 16 when I learned how to pick up sticks and I learned what a whole note was whenI was 16 years old.
Panther Press:What is your favorite instrument right now?
Mr.Vazquez: That’s a good question. I mean,I’ve been playing a lot of tuba recently,so it’s starting to become one of my favorites. But obviously, you know, my heart will always go to my instrument, percussion, so definitely one of my favorites.
Panther Press:Why did you like this instrument so much?
Mr. Vazquez: I’m not entirely sure.Something just kind of called me to it, and somebody told me as a percussionist, I could play multiple instruments, and that, for some reason,made me want to work even harder. It’s harder to learn more instruments, so I did.That was just something cool that I wanted to do, and I got to do it, which is nice.
Panther Press: So a different topic. I heard that you performed for someone famous?
Mr.Vazquez: I performed for a couple of famous people. It depends on who you’re talking about.So, back in 2013, I performed with Taylor Swift and Fall Out Bay. Back in 2016, I performed for former President Obama. I am on the credits of a Disney movie. I performed for a Disney movie, which was a really cool thing to do, and I also performed with a hip-hop group back in 2014, the Wu-Tang Clan. So, yeah, I’ve performed for a lot of famous people.
Panter Press:What was your first big achievement?
Mr.Vazquez: Going on a Broadway show tour. So, right after I graduated college, I had my education degree and usually as an education major you’re not expected to really be a good performer, right. But as an education major, I got to perform for a year on tour. I got to go to Japan, Canada, 38 states in the United States and just played music all the time, which was cool.
Panter Press: How was your experience?
Mr.Vazquez: It was the coolest thing being able to travel, meet new people, and just play a show professionally every night. I was really only there for three hours a night.So, it was kind of nice, you know, I had the whole day to myself and then showed up to the gig at six and we were out by like 10, 10:30. We had the rest of the night to ourselves, which was kind of cool, and I got to see the world, so I loved it.
Panther press:Did you try to achieve it or did you just get chosen to do it.
Mr.Vazquez: That is a very good question. I was prepared for an opportunity that just so happened to come right in front of me. That’s why I always tell my students, you know you never know. We always want to be prepared for anything. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.They’re ahead of me, and I took it and won it. So, yeah, I was a very lucky person, but really was it luck? No, really it was hard work.I worked really hard and an opportunity presented itself.
Panther press: So like both?
Mr.Vazquez: Yeah, exactly.
Panther Press: So what was your hardest accomplishment you had before?
Mr.Vazquez: Hardest accomplishment like the thing I think was the hardest?
Panther Press: Yea that’s what we mean.
Mr.Vazquez: So it had to be my master degree while working full time. I got my Master Degree in Performance while I was working full time which is crazy.
Panther Press: I have also heard that you have been in a movie?
Mr.Vazquez: Yes, yes I have been in a movie called “The Night Earlier.” That was a pretty cool experience working for Disney and going to New York City. It was just really cool.
Panther Press: So how does this overall make you feel?
Mr. Vazquez: I feel like I can tell my all students something like hey, like if you practice really hard then you will be really successful. Right and a lot of times, your teachers say that and they don’t have the accolades. Especially music teachers, like my band director never really did anything big. He never really played. I feel like me doing all those things and being able to show you guys my name on a movie. It’s like look, I proved it to you that if you do your work really, really hard, you can be really, really good. I think that’s the reason why I think l love it so much. It’s just like, hey look guys you could also do this one day if you really want to.
Panter Press : What are you most excited for the future?
Mr.Vazquez: I am most excited to see what my students accomplish. I mean you guys are very young and I started five years ago. I think my first graduating class is coming out of high school now. I don’t care if my students are musicians or not. I just want to see them become great people, and I want to see them do well in their careers. Again I just want to see them be great people whether they decide to do music or not. That’s what I am most excited for in the future. It’s seeing what you guys can accomplish. I’m going to keep growing, I keep on doing things and I know my career is going to keep being better, but I’m more excited for yours.
Panther Press: Once again thank you for having us interview you and spending your time for this interview.
Mr.Vazquez: Absolutely.Thank you for having me.That was very enjoyable.
