Glenn holland music teacher biography

Gasket Inc. Deeds Goes to Town. Corbett's Ghost. Coffee, Inc. Bricolage S. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Hulot's Holiday. Inside, Mr. When his son, Cole, is found to be deafhe is severely disappointed that he will never be able to share his love of music. He fails to learn American Sign Language properly, leaving him unable to communicate with his son and creating a rift between him and Iris, who has to raise Cole mostly by herself.

As the years progress, Holland grows closer to his students at Kennedy High and more distant from his own son. An argument with his teenage son finally makes Holland realize the error of his ways and he learns to communicate with his son and help him visualize the music he can't hear, and repairs his relationship with his wife. InWolters who is now the principal shuts down the school's arts programs, citing further cuts from the Education Board and the need to prioritize reading, writing and math, and Holland is laid off as a result.

Holland makes an impassioned plea to the Board to no avail and becomes despondent, believing that his teaching career has amounted to nothing. On his last day, Holland's wife and son, now a teacher himself, help him clear out his office and quietly leave the otherwise empty school. Passing the auditorium, Holland finds it is packed full of current and former students who greet him with a standing ovation.

Gertrude Lang, a struggling clarinetist from Holland's first year teaching, now Governor of Oregongives a speech praising Mr. Holland, that his legacy is more than just the symphony; it is all the people he has helped and influenced, all the lives he has touched, over 30 years. She joins past members of the school's orchestra, who have been practicing the symphony in secret, on stage.

Holland conducts them in its premiere performance. The movie was written by Patrick Sheane Duncandirected by Stephen Herekand was filmed in and around Portland, Oregonwith many exterior and interior scenes taking place at Ulysses S. Grant High School. Johns neighborhood and Hollywood District. Archival footage seen in the film includes:. The film features an orchestral score by Michael Kamen and many pieces of classical music.

Kamen also wrote An American Symphony "Mr. Holland's Opus"the work on which Mr. Holland is shown working throughout the movie. Kamen's arrangement won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement. Two soundtrack albums were released for this film in January One is the original motion picture scoreand includes all of the original music written for the film by Michael Kamen.

Glenn Holland's school district, in an attempt to trim its budget, slashes the music and arts programs, forcing his retirement. Such circumstance, though perhaps a bit melodramatic, isn't so far-fetched. Utica's music program, Beno said, has remained solid and has even grown through the years.

Glenn holland music teacher biography: His way of teaching music is

Even so, in these days of fiscal belt-tightening, music and arts educators across the nation too often are targeted by budget-cutters who simply are not clued in to the values the arts provide. These programs help kids develop aesthetic potential and provide an outlet for self-expression. Music fuels creativity. It helps us understand relationships and provides an opportunity for some students to excel in an area when all else may seem lost.

Music introduces us to new people and new ways, and can teach us respect and sensitivity. Our music educators do a terrific job providing our children with a gift that can last a lifetime. School music and arts programs should not be forced to cower beneath a sword of Damocles. These are not fringe benefits. They are an integral part of a child's whole education, and if such programs are to be scrutinized at all, let it be in order to make them stronger.

Glenn holland music teacher biography: The film stars Richard Dreyfuss in

To cut or eliminate the arts from our schools is cultural genocide. Communities must never let that happen. Just as The Hangover jokes about dentists not being equal with other doctors, he finds himself on the lower peg as an arts teacher. Let me tell you: That attitudinal adversity seen in the movie is far from fictional. To borrow a modern saying, the struggle is real.

Glenn holland music teacher biography: In , professional musician and

Stories then and now tell of teachers taking second jobs or needing a second income from a spouse to live above the poverty line and raise a family. Glenn Holland jumps on summer work teaching driver education for some extra scratch beside his dedicated wife Iris the late Glenne Headly. That financial stress grows when Glenn and Iris become parents to a severely deaf son, Cole.

There are orchestras, bands, and performances to lead and coordinate. Before curtains open each time, tedious practices and rehearsals fill extra hours. It is in these duties over the years that Glenn Holland finds a double-edged sword. The harmful side is that the hours poured into his dueling passions of music and teaching pull him away from his family at home, particularly his disappointed teenage son.

The positive treatment of special needs is remarkably admirable. Moments like that also celebrate the importance of the arts and the blend of popular and traditional music in a solid, well-rounded educational experience.