By Peter Kolkay
Special to PN
To my childhood mind in Naperville in the mid-1980s, Ron Keller was a celebrity. Everyone in town knew who Mr. Keller was, as long as they were in Central Park on Thursday nights for the Naperville Municipal Band concerts during the summer. The fact that Mr. Keller was going to be my band director at Jefferson Junior High was intimidating—he was famous, after all!
I’d started the oboe right before junior high. By the time I’d gotten to the seventh grade, Mr. Keller had given me a bassoon, which he rightly sensed would be a better fit. He connected my parents with the lady who played bassoon in the Municipal Band, and I had my first two years of lessons with her.
I will never forget Mr. Keller’s telling us the story about how he brought in a very difficult piece of tuba music to one of his lessons when he was our age. His teacher told him that he could learn it one note at a time—and that’s what he did. One note at a time adds up, and eventually that piece that was a beast becomes an old friend. I use this anecdote with my own students to this day; something that may seem impossible in the present will become less so with diligence combined with patience.
When I was in high school I was able to join the Naperville Municipal Band for four years—my first “gig.” It was such a thrill to sit two rows back and play for Mr. Keller leading the band through all kinds of music. If I close my eyes I still see him leading the Washington Post march or the Armed Forces Salute—or a showtune with Ann Lord singing.
I’ll forever be grateful to have known Mr. Keller—not only was he an excellent musician who found such joy in music-making, he also understood the power music had to build and sustain a community. He will continue to inspire me as a musician and teacher.
Peter Kolkay is a 1994 graduate of Naperville North High School; he studied music at Lawrence University, Eastman School of Music, and Yale University; and now teaches at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.
