Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Wimmer.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I came to the United States after being adopted from South Korea. Our family lived in Mississippi before moving to Nebraska, where I would say I grew up. We lived in Millard for a few years before moving to Gretna where I went to middle school and high school. After graduating from high school, I attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) to pursue my Bachelor’s in Music Education. After graduating from UNO, I taught high school and middle band in Gretna. During this time, I got married to my wife. We met at UNO and after she graduated with her degree in music education, she pursued master’s in flute performance before teaching middle school band, orchestra, and music technology in Omaha. After five years, I left public school teaching to pursue my Master’s Degree in Education with an Emphasis in Wind Conducting at Kansas State University. I stayed to pursue my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Conducting and Music Education. During this time, my wife and I welcomed our two daughters into the world (while she was a full-time K-8 music teacher and I a full-time graduate teaching assistant). After graduating I then remained at Kansas State University as the Assistant Director of Bands, and now I am the Associate Director of Bands.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have definitely been bumps and unexpected turns in the road. However, I would not have changed any part of this journey as I would not be who I am without living and working through the course life has led me on!
As I mentioned earlier, I was adopted (and so was my younger sister and brother). My mom is Vietnamese and immigrated to the United States during the Vietnam War. My dad was born in Nebraska and came from a German American family. I remember my parents explaining my adoption to me at a young age, were I realized that adoption allowed me to have more opportunities than if I were to have remained in South Korea. I count my blessings every day for my parents and their family for loving me, accepting me for who I am, and treating me as one of their own. The majority of people I have encountered and interacted in my life have done the same, and I strive to treat others the way I would want to be treated!
All this to be said, I quickly learned that not everyone had (and has) this same point-of-view. I was taught by my family and still firmly believe that everyone should “treat thy neighbor as thyself.” However, I often struggle when I experience the exact opposite or see others being treated indifferently for being different, looking different, or having different opinions. From a young age I had to quickly learn (and am still learning) what it means to worry about what I can control. For me this is my response to others through controlling my emotions, being patient, and doing my best to understand the other side (especially when I did nothing wrong). I was often silent and seemingly non-combative, because I knew speaking up/defending myself would do more harm than good. I learned that you cannot change people and that they are going to do whatever they are going to do. I know some folks will see this as “letting them win,” but life is a marathon and not a sprint. The flip side to this is that I came to realize that one’s actions can have an influence on people, and that influence could help change someone else over time. What good would that have done, using my raw and negative experiences to fuel and perpetuate even more negativity? My parents taught me, “How do you show unconditional love to others, you love them unconditionally whether you want to or not or whether you think they deserve your love or not.” Though this tries my patience, it continues to prevail more than it lets me down. Seeing this occur gave and gives me hope for the future.
I have had few experiences where my patience was further developed. One was applying for jobs while I was student teaching. From December through April of that semester, I completed ten job applications before even getting an interview. This was when application packets had to either be physically mailed or personally delivered to school administrative offices, where you were contacted about interviews only by a phone call, and you were notified about positions being filled by mail (if that, I only got three letters notifying that positions were filled). All my peers were applying for the same jobs, getting interviews, and being hired over me. It was a stressful, anxious, and frustrating time to say the least. However, I was offered interviews and job offers for my eleventh and twelfth applications, the last of which being from the Gretna Public Schools.
A similar thing occurred when applying for jobs during as a PhD student, when I was again applying for jobs in my last spring semester before graduating. My closet friends and colleagues were getting one step farther than I was, including being named finalists for jobs while I never made it past a Skype interview. In addition to this, our youngest daughter was born in January pushing the completion of my dissertation back to the summer of that year. With a delay in completing my dissertation and no job prospects, the idea of supporting a young family (a two-year old and newborn) with my wife (the only one of us who had a full-time job) became daunting. I was fully prepared to stay at home with my kids, work the nightshift at the local grocery store, and finish my dissertation. Luckily for me, my predecessor got accepted into graduate school to pursue his doctorate degree and I was brought on to be the Interim Assistant Director of Bands in late April.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As the Associate Director of Bands at Kansas State University, I direct the Wind Symphony (second auditioned concert band), Cat Band (basketball pep band), assist with the Pride of Wildcat Land (marching band) with teaching, arranging music, and writing drill, and instructor of undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, arranging, and marching band techniques. I also serve as the faculty sponsor for Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. During the summer I coordinate the K-State Summer Music Camp and K-State Leadership and Auxiliary Camp, and serves as one of the Assistant Directors of the Manhattan Municipal Band. I am also President of the Kansas Bandmasters Association.
I am proud to be surrounded by incredible people who put the needs of the group over their own. Whether they are students, colleagues, spectators at events, or community members, they make every aspect of creating, performing, and responding to music mean more than just ink on paper. Sharing with others what music gives to everyone and helping people feel through music is where it is at for me; it is why music is vital to human existence, the two are dependent upon each other and cannot be separated.
I am just human being like everyone else who is trying figure out how to make the world a better place. I hope people see that I am willing to work hard, no matter what, and do my best so that others can be positively contributing members of society. This is why I wanted to become and why I still teach music. Music is the only thing that brings everyone together, regardless of previous experience and ability level, to be part of something where everyone benefits in only a positive way. We need more of it in the world.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The first group of people I need give credit to are my middle school and high school music teachers. My middle school band director (who also co-taught high school band) allowed me, a seventh grader, to play percussion in the eighth-grade band where there very few and that was the only class period I had open. I had a lot of catching up to do, but she got me there and pushed me beyond what I felt I was capable of. She also taught me how to practice effectively, that hard work always outshines talent, and was the first to encourage me to become a band director. She and I would later work together when I taught in Gretna, where I learned she was a well-respected band director by her peers. It was a “full circle” moment, and I was incredibly grateful work and continue to learn from her!
My high school band directors and choir director did the same but helped push me more with the leadership opportunities available in high school and more challenging music. I was involved in a lot while in high school; football, powerlifting, soccer, band (marching band, concert band, jazz band, and pep band), and choir (concert choir, show choir, and musical). My high school music teachers helped me connect the similarities between music and sports; that high expectations, hard work, being process oriented, good leadership, and serving the needs of the group/team by doing your part were the same. Everything my music teachers would say were really the same things my coaches were saying, I just needed to discover how to build bridges to make connections and translate everything from one side to another. This guidance and mentorship allowed me to earn leadership positions in all of ensembles I was performed in, elevated performance opportunities as a soloist and earning positions in honor bands and choirs (including All-State my senior year), and scholarships that helped get me into college. I speak to these folks more in this article because this is where my music career started.
The next group of people I need to give credit to are to all of the music teachers I had in college! It is really challenging to isolate just a few; every music theory, instrumental/vocal techniques, music education, and conducting teacher I have ever had has left a profound impact on who I am right now. Because everything is connected from my undergraduate to being a public-school teacher to being a masters/PhD graduate student; my ability to do something now is only because of what was taught/inspired by someone previously. I know that is a very cliché and vague answer, but it is 100% true. I could easily triple the length of this article by just speaking about these folks!
The next group of people I need to give credit to are my parents and family. Another cliché thing to say, but this article would not exist without my parents adopting me and raising me the way that they did (I spoke more about them in a previous BoldJourney article). Me being a band director would not be possible without my parents first pouring everything they could into me, turning me around from being a failure as a kid by forcing me to hard work, seeing my commitments through, giving up my time to do things I needed to do versus things I wanted to do, and learning that the truth is better than be sheltered from it. Nothing I have or who I am today would have not been possible without them. Same goes for my younger siblings and the rest of my extended family. It did not matter what did or what I wanted to do, my family was (and is) always there to support me no matter what!
The last people I need to give credit to is my beautiful wife and two daughters. Their impeccable patience, never failing love, endless support, and faith have gotten me through thick and thin. They are my shoulders to lean on, my partners in crime, and the loves of my life. They keep me grounded and I know that they will always be right there with me, no matter what life brings next!
Contact Info:
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Austin Fuller
Bradley Jensen Photography
Frank Perez Images
K-State Athletics
Marketing Images by LBJ
Scott Sewell Photography
Travis Turner
Whitney C Photography