Strings teacher of the year award honors Hallberg's passion

Ted Hallberg visits with orchestra member Rachel Trammell after rehearsal. Hallberg, who directs the strings and symphonies at LCS, was given the 2008 Teacher of the Year award from Iowa's chapter of the American String Teachers Association. [Click to enlarge]

Or help an orchestra of middle school students see their own potential.

But this is where Ted Hallberg thrives.

The Le Mars Community Schools orchestra instructor was named the Classroom Teacher of the Year by the Iowa chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA).

"He is one of the best teachers I've ever met," said Martin Clancey, former president of the Iowa chapter of ASTA. "I watched him at work with the kids and it dazzled me."

Clancey, also an orchestra teacher in Cedar Rapids, nominated Hallberg for the award. He has known Hallberg for nine years and has seen him teach.

"In a room of 30 kids, they were all paying attention, and he wasn't shouting," Clancey said. "They got it."

Hallberg has taught hundreds of students in his 15 years at LCS, beginning with their first notes as fourth graders all the way until their final performance as high school seniors.

"I have a passion for the music, to get students to feel the music, to learn it." Hallberg said.

One of his students, violinist Lindsey Oetken, said Hallberg makes them take ownership of what they play.

"He asks us, 'This is your class, your group. What do you want to do with it?'" the graduating senior said.

Hallberg said his teaching philosophy revolves around two goals.

One is to give the students as much experience with music as he can.

"We play different styles, we go to different festivals, I tell them about the history of the music, what it is written for, who the composer was," he said.

The other goal: give students the gift of enjoying what they're doing.

"It boils down to being able to ask the students are they having fun," Hallberg said.

"He always has some really good, interesting humor," Oetken said. "We're always cracking jokes -- we have a lot of inside jokes that nobody else understands like exploding cows."

Hallberg's connection with students goes beyond laughing together, Oetken said.

"He always keeps the communication lines open," she said. "He's a great listener."

Laughing and talking together becomes a part of forming the group, Hallberg said.

The orchestra teacher has his hands full at LCS. Every year he gives classroom and private lessons for about 100 students, including the elementary strings, middle school strings and symphony, high school strings and symphony and Cordas de Camara, a select group of strings.

"If they stay in the whole time, I have students for nine years. It's wonderful to see them grow up," Hallberg said. "That's the benefit: seeing that whole part of their life. The biggest drawback is they graduate. That always hurts a little."

Oetken pointed to Hallberg's teaching as the reason she's stayed in orchestra for nearly a decade.

"He always told us he believes in us," she said. "He's someone you want to please."

In addition to directing the strings and symphonies, Hallberg is the LCS director of music, the chair for the Iowa All State Orchestra and festival chair for the Northwest Iowa Honors Orchestras.

Hallberg also plays cello with the Northwest Iowa Symphony and performs in area quartets.

He is married to Carol and has one daughter, Kajsa, a third grader.

Hallberg received the teaching award on May 9 at the All State Honor Orchestra Invitational, an event he helped organize.

The award's full name is the Bruce Eilers Classroom Teacher of the Year Award, named after another orchestra teacher who passed away about four years ago.

Hallberg had worked with Eilers and has modeled some of his life after him.

"To have my name associated with his, that's a huge humbling honor," Hallberg said.

Eilers was a "teacher's teacher," Clancey said.

"He was a great conductor, a great musician, an older version of Ted (Hallberg)," he said. "I couldn't think of anyone who deserved this award more."

The students at the award presentation gave Hallberg a standing ovation.

"Everything I do, I try to do it for the students," Hallberg said. "Awards are nice, but that's not why I'm in this profession. I'm in this for the students."