Where Are They Now?

Mr. Larsen's Path to Hicksville

Mr. Larsen started his path to Hicksville when he was an undergraduate at Buffalo State University and happened upon a Hicksville graduate who told him all about Hicksville and what it had to offer, musically. Don subsequently attended Hofstra University, working on his teaching degree and where one of his teachers helped him join the Hicksville Community Orchestra, at that time run by Dr. Charles Gouse, who was Director of Music and Fine Arts at Hicksville. Don played in what was then known as the Hicksville Community Orchestra circa 1971-72. He became aware of a music teacher who would be retiring from Hicksville and requested to do his student teaching within the High School. The rest, as they say, is history.

Following peak student enrollment and decreasing student numbers at the end of the baby boom, Don was eventually moved during the 1980s to one of the elementary schools, where he took on the important task of developing the feeder programs to keep talented students performing and enjoying music until they would be self-motivated to continue playing at the High School level. Later in Don’s Hicksville career, he was moved into the Middle School where he would teach students in the 7^th and 8^th grades. One of the challenges of being a music teacher in the middle school is the need to develop and send a balanced mix of instruments to the High School each year. Part of that problem was getting kids to actually stay with the music program. Middle School could be a tough gig. To keep students interested, you needed to choose fun but challenging music. Typically, the music program would lose students between 7^th and 8^th grades. Don recounted that he would get a list during each summer of who was considering dropping music. Then he would call them up and try to convince them to continue. His approach did have a positive impact on students. His creativity and ability to be a role model for students allowed the program to keep talented students who enjoyed music, to have an important place to explore the arts.

At the same time that Don was trying to keep students performing, the decrease in student numbers took a toll on the number and makeup of many of the instrumental groups that would be supported by the school district. Eventually, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Concert Bands were merged into a single Symphonic Band, impacting the number of faculty required in the High School. The loss of the Wind Ensemble represented the end of an era, which eventually pushed many of the old guard faculty into retirement.

During our conversation, Don was curious about which teachers we had during our tenures in the district. The names of Mr. Pownall, Mr. West, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Sitterley were mentioned from the Middle School. Of course, in the High School, at least during the ’76-’77 school year, in addition to Mr. Abt, Mr. Buttice, and Mr. Arnold, we also had Mr. William Goleeke and Ms. Debbie Litwak manning the choral groups. All were truly amazing teachers.