David Wheeler 1954-1980  

David Wheeler was the longest tenured band director in Torrington High School history.  From 1954 until his retirement in 1980 David Wheeler directed the band, chorus, orchestra, brass ensembles, Glee Clubs, started a Humanities course, brought in various performing groups and was Chairman of the Music Department.  

David Wheeler was born in 1924 in Burlington, Vermont and served three years in the Army as a combat engineer, in both the European and Pacific Theaters. In 1950 he graduated from the University of Vermont and received a Master of Arts degree in 1959 from the University of Connecticut.

He came to Torrington and headed the music department at Torrington High School until his retirement and was the director of Humanities, a cultural awareness program.

He received the Torrington Probus award, Torrington High School Teacher of the Year in 1963 (the first music teacher to ever receive Teacher of the Year) and the 1963 yearbook was dedicated in his name.

As the general chairman of the Connecticut All-State Festival and Northern Region Director, he was in charge of the Connecticut State Bicentennial and served on the Connecticut Advisory Commission on Music in 1976 and 1977.  He taught at the University of Connecticut, Torrington, and was a member of the Phi Beta Mu, a national band organization, as well other local and state music organizations. He was a member of the Litchfield Amateur Astronomy Club and the founder of the Harmonious Brass Choir.   He was a sailor and had built his own 24-foot sailboat that slept four.

David Wheeler was a man that dedicated himself to music education and to the Torrington Public Schools.  Composer Samuel Hazo (b. 1966) wrote “Music teachers devote themselves and their lives to enriching young people through a wonderful art form.  Moreover, these educators are aware that even though very few of their students will choose music as a career, all students will need to have a dimension that appreciates and understands music so that one day, perhaps far in the future, a seed nurtured in the rehearsal room will blossom into a gratifying part of someone’s life.”  This statement is a true embodiment of what David Wheeler meant to his students. 
Upon hearing of David Wheeler’s passing on October 25, 2001, a former student wrote

“Of all the teachers I ever had anywhere and indeed of all the individuals I’ve known David Wheeler had a decided influence on me and the manner in which I conduct my life. The sense of discipline and professionalism that he required of us is something rarely found in schools today. Where did the time go? All the friends and people pass with time but there are those individuals who will always be with us forever because of this influence they have made on our lives. David Wheeler is one of those individuals” - Lucien (Zalienski) Douglas

During his career at Torrington High School he brought the level of musicianship of the band to a height of which was never seen before and seldom afterwards.  More students were accepted into Connecticut All-State and New England Music Festivals during Wheeler’s tenure than any other director. His compassion, dedication and love for making music made him an iconic figure in and out of Torrington High School. 

“In 2001 months before he passed away he called the school and asked if he could come and sit in rehearsals.  He spent an entire week just listening to what the band was playing. I asked if he wanted to speak to the band but he declined.  On that Friday he thanked the band for letting him come in and listen.  I didn’t think much of it then but as the band was leaving the room he just stood there and looked around the room and waited for them all to leave.  I believe he was saying goodbye.  Goodbye to the place where he brought the love of music into the lives of so many”.  - Wayne Splettstoeszer

David Wheeler 1967 Concert in THS Little Theater

Remembrances of David Wheeler and his influence
By Bob Byrne, THS Class of 1967

When Arthur Perkins, the instrumental music teacher for the grammar schools in Torrington, came to Torringford School in the late 1950s, I was immediately interested in learning to play a wind instrument and was particularly drawn to the trumpet.  I took group lessons with Mr. Perkins and later played in the combined elementary school band, which rehearsed and performed concerts at what was then Torrington High School at the corner of Prospect and Church Streets.  I was not a particularly talented player but I knew I enjoyed being part of the band.   The name “Mr. Wheeler” was known to us even then, since he was the THS band director and, by the 8^th grade, we looked forward to being “promoted” to that august group.  The new high school on Major Besse Drive had just opened in the spring of 1963 and my class became the first to enter for a full freshman year that fall.  Without knowing why, there was a sense that our new director was a special person.  I had no idea how big an influence the band and David Wheeler would be on my life.  

My first impression of Mr. Wheeler was of a no-nonsense man in the mold of a Harry Truman (who had been president of the United States only about 10 years earlier – what now seems the blink of an eye.)  There was an air of military discipline about him -- probably the result of both service during WWII as well as growing up on a farm in Vermont -- though one wouldn’t call him stern and he enjoyed cajoling his students in a friendly way to assume a similar discipline.  One of my fondest memories from those years is turning the corner of the “D” wing corridor to see and hear Mr. Wheeler urging us to “get the lead out” and hurry into the band room so we could get to work.  (He had a strong, easily identified,  baritone voice that could be heard from a distance.)  During rehearsals, he would laugh and use humor at certain times, employing his inventory of analogies, but at the same time be very serious about what we were trying to accomplish and we came to know what was expected of us.  Levity and gentle scolding were alternately used appropriately to both make rehearsals fun and make the best possible music together.  There were the inevitable rehearsal “train wrecks” and you didn’t want to be the last player making sounds when the baton was being hit against his music stand to call for quiet.  Standards were high and we always had something to reach for.  I think one of his most oft-quoted remarks is that he hated to hear an audience member say that a performance was “very good for a high school band.”   As far as he was concerned, it was either good or it wasn’t and we were very much aware of the excellence he wanted us to achieve.  Of course, there were some students who thought he was maybe too much of a “task master” at times but that was generally not the case with those who took the music seriously and wanted to learn and become the best players, both individually and as a performing ensemble.

Unfortunately for me (which ended up being fortunate for me), despite private lessons with a teacher in Hartford, I was not becoming a very good trumpet player and I struggled for my first year or so in the band due to a continued problem with my embouchure.  I also took individual lessons with Mr. Wheeler, so he knew of my difficulties.  To this day, I don’t really know what he saw in me (or perhaps something he heard from me) but, instead of writing me off as someone who would continue as a mediocre player at best, he suggested that I consider playing a low brass instrument, particularly baritone horn, which was his own main instrument.  It turned out to be a natural fit and I succeeded on baritone in ways I otherwise never would have, including being accepted to the All-Connecticut Band during my junior year.  This gave me the vehicle to learn and demonstrate the musicianship I had within me and further fed my interest in music that has continued since then.  I never before had such as sense of accomplishment doing something I truly loved.  I was especially honored (and very nervous) when he loaned me his own euphonium for the solo in the first movement of the Holst Suite No. 2, for Military Band.

I also had reasonably good academic success in math and science so that when it came time to think about applying to college, I was encouraged by others in the direction of engineering, which I ended up majoring and working in for the early part of my career.  But when I told Mr. Wheeler of my plans, he made a telling prediction that I would eventually end up pursuing music.  In many ways, I wish I had pondered that more carefully.  I did go to engineering school and played baritone horn in the band and brass choir.  I also did what I couldn’t schedule in high school and joined the glee club and discovered the joys of vocal music, which eventually took over as my main musical interest.  I found that I had a certain talent, became a soloist with the club, and had great experiences touring several major cities of our country as well as England.

Again, after my college senior year, it was suggested by the music director that I might consider a graduate program in music (are you seeing a pattern here?) but I didn’t think that was practical and took a position as an engineer in Wethersfield.  But I was far from being finished as a musician and went on to study voice at what was then Hartt College, became a church and concert choir singer and soloist and continued to study and do church work after moving to the Boston area in the 1980s.  However, in 1992, at the ripe age of 42, I finally did what Mr. Wheeler said I would – began studying for my Master of Music degree at UMass, Amherst.  One person I made sure I called to share this news with was David Wheeler.  I finally received my degree in 1997, 30 years after graduating from high school!

While I have never earned a full-time income as a musician, I have been one at one level or another for much of my life.  Though I may well have made different choices earlier on, it was Mr. Wheeler’s comments so many years ago that influenced me to continue in music at whatever level I was able and his was a significant voice in the back of my head when I made the decision to finally pursue more intensely what, deep down, I wanted to do all along.  I have reaped more personal satisfaction from that than any other material or professional success I might have otherwise achieved.

I was very saddened when my former director became ill some years ago and I spent time with him before he passed away.  One of the last times I saw him, he talked about his years as a music teacher and the students he had worked with.  In spite of being very ill, his face lit up as he recounted his experience and the hearty laugh was still there.  As bad as I felt for what he was going through, I thought that it couldn’t get any better than to have done what you loved and then be able to look back with such joy and pride.  I know that I am only one of many students he influenced, including a number who have become highly successful teachers and performers -- each with a story to tell -- and am sure we all have a very special place in our heart for such a great teacher and friend.

An anecdote 

There was a low brass player in the band who was a known “cutup” with a habit of interjecting comments during breaks in rehearsal.  During one such break, after which he couldn’t seem to get the kid to be quiet, Mr. Wheeler made a point to dress him down for always having to have the last word.  The rehearsal continued and, after not getting the desired musical result, Mr. Wheeler stopped and told the band that it sounded as exciting as a “warm bottle of coke.”  Without missing a beat, from the back of the room came, “with the cap off,” in the voice of the kid who had just been given a lecture.  Mr. Wheeler looked up at him in frustration but then, sensing the humor in the situation, quickly broke into his hearty laugh, immediately joined by everyone in the room.  Band was my favorite period of the day.