Eleanor Roosevelt welcomes a talented new band director to its music department. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, Miss Rachel Zephir majored in trumpet performance and music education, and earned a Master’s degree in wind conducting. Her interest in music arose when she participated in a high school music program called “Side by Sides”. This program gave students the opportunity to play “side by side” with the Baltimore Symphony once every year. 

Originally, Ms. Zephir said she “didn’t have any desire to be a teacher,” but when she became a student teacher in Howard County, she described the experience as “really awesome,” saying that she really enjoyed it. After that, she taught at a high school in Carroll County for three years, and then, respectively, worked five years in Baltimore County. In the past two and half years, she worked for the Baltimore Symphony, mainly focusing on the OrchKids program. This program originated from another program in Venezuela, called El Sistema, which brought music into indigent areas in inner cities. It provided many children with instruments, giving them “a neat and rewarding experience,” said Ms. Zephir. “These instruments are the first thing many of these kids would really have for themselves,” she explained. 

Ms. Zephir said she ended up at Roosevelt because she was fond of the school. While she was a student at Severna Park High School, she was part of the All State band and  there were always “a ton of kids from Roosevelt.” She then recalled Ms. Wagner as being a pioneer for in the band directing field for women. There aren’t a lot of women that teach secondary schools, she explained, and when Ms. Wagner was rising through the ranks, “it was a stigma.” She “opened the doors for many women to have that opportunity,” while creating the legacy here at Roosevelt. Ms. Zephir said isn’t intimidated, and is confident in taking on the challenge of continuing that legacy, however.  In fact, sophomore Justin Drummond said that she’s “amazing, a perfect replacement for Ms. Wagner.”

Thus far, Ms. Zephir said she feels that everyone has been supportive. “They kind of knew what they were getting into,” she said, concerning working alongside Mr. Hawk and Dr. Yarborough, after her two auditions for the position. Mr. Hawk has said that she “impressed at auditions,” and that he expects a lot from her. Ms. Zephir expressed her plans to recruit in surrounding middle schools, and arts magnet schools. She also said that she wants to open a partnership with the University of Maryland, in order to “expose them to more professional musicians in the area.”

When asked about what she expected in terms of competition, she said music “isn’t really a competition, it’s art.” She “didn’t want students wrapped up” in that mentality, Ms. Zephir explained. Music should be about “working together, teamwork, camaraderie, building social skills, building one’s musical awareness, historical references to pieces that we play, and where they fit in a timeline in history,” and that’s more important than simply winning a trophy.

Fun fact: If she was to go back and play something else other than the trumpet, it’d be the cello.