When Don Shupe was a little boy, he wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up. Instead, he found music and became one of the most successful conductors to ever teach at the state of Illinois. The end of this school year will mark his 36th and final year at LHS.
In a typical story as this, the reporter would write that he grew up in a family of musicians and played tuba with perfection only challenged by Sousa by age five, but that would be incorrect.
Shupe played sports as a young child and didn’t even get involved in music until the sixth grade. Most students began in fourth. His chosen instrument was one that doesn’t seem to be the type future music teachers choose. He began as a drummer and all that it entails.
“We could only afford one drum at a time,” Shupe said. “I used to use pots as cymbals and my drum case as tom toms.”
Though Shupe started the race rather late and didn’t even begin with all of the necessary parts, he caught up soon enough. By eighth grade, Shupe was first chair percussionist in his school band.
“For me, I never really found it difficult in the beginning,” Shupe said.
Shupe was in various rock and roll bands in high school though, he never really dreamed of becoming a rock star as a career choice. He preferred performing in classical bands and hoped to make a career of it.
Shupe continued to play sports during his first year at Proviso West High School. After freshman year, his mother made him choose between athletics and music. Since he wanted a career in music, he gave up sports and focused on music and his studies. Though he quit formal athletics, he still runs.
“I don’t really think that the world of professional sports lost much when I quit,” Shupe joked.
After graduating high school, Shupe attended Northwestern University and studied music. Like many who go into music, Shupe aspired to become a performer. He had no interest in conducting.
“Over the summer in grad school I had the opportunity to teach. My director saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” Shupe said.
Shupe found that he loved conducting. He found it to be more stimulating and challenging than just playing his instrument alone.
“I can be a bit hyper at times,” he said. “Working on all of the global parts is far more exciting to me, and it’s nice to get the parts to come together.”
After grad school, Shupe was offered a job at LHS as a one year replacement for a conductor on a leave of absence. The students felt so strongly about his conducting that they petitioned for him to be rehired. Because of this petition, he was rehired to conduct a few bands on the side when the other teacher returned. A few years later in 1978, the other conductor retired, and Shupe took full control over the band.
Ever since then, Shupe was thankful for his job and enjoyed every minute of it.
“Making music at the level with really great and dedicated students has been really fulfilling,” Shupe said.
Shupe’s has many fond memories of LHS. One of his biggest accomplishments was being named Honor Band every year but 2005. Another was performing at the Midwestern Band and Orchestra Clinic multiple times. He also loved sharing the excitement and emotion of the performances with his own children when they were in band.
Shupe took the band on its first major trip in 1988. They went to Florida, but have gone to various places over the years. He loves the excitement of the performances, oftentimes performing at amusement parks or on cruises, and the fun moments that occur on the trips.
One year in Texas, two boys went running through the woods and got severe poison ivy. Another year, there was a horrible storm and a tornado nearby. Kids screamed at the sound of the falling hail.
Each year, the Wind Ensemble either competes at University of Illinois’ Superstate competition or performs as the honor band. 2005 was the only year they did not win or play as the honor band.
“For that I really only blame myself. The students were talented but I changed the music a few weeks before the competition,” Shupe said.
Shupe loved his years at LHS and feels that he learned just as much from his students as they have from him.
Next year, Shupe will conduct various talented groups as a guest conductor. Ideally he would like to find one group of musicians to conduct in his retirement.
“I probably will never have as nice of a band to work with as Libertyville’s,” Shupe said.
Over his 36 years of conducting LHS, which didn’t seem long, Shupe only has two regrets. The first is that he didn’t create the Wind Ensemble sooner. The second regret is not shaving his moustache sooner.
photo courtesy of Don Shupe