DAVE'S MUSICAL HISTORY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS!

In all of my years, I have learned a very important and profound lesson.  I DO NOT WISH TO MAKE MUSIC ALONE.
Although I never really thought about it until now, I simply don't believe making music is any fun without other people contributing to it. And I have learned so much from so many different people. Their help has allowed me to exist and thrive in the world of music my entire life.  And I would not trade a moment of it for all of the money or worldly success in the world.  You see, music is not of this world.  It is spiritual in nature, and I believe it pulls people together.  I believe there is nothing in this world that can compare to its nurturing and inspiring powers. 

Everything I have ever done that has been of value has been directly or indirectly influenced by other people. I am not so vain as to believe that any of my successes could have ever been accomplished alone.  In fact, I don't believe successes are all that much fun if you don't have others to share your mutual achievements with, do you?  So let me begin this narrative by thanking all of those teachers, family members, friends, students and casual acquaintances who have so profoundly influenced my life. 

1954-  I was born.  I am not aware of my musical exploits at that time.  My mother told me the Dr. told her I had a pair of very healthy lungs however.

1960-  I began taking piano lessons from my mother, which continued for several years.  I was a very poor student which is evident in my very poor playing today. :)

1964-   I began my adventure playing trombone for the next five long years first in elementary school (5th and 6th) and then in Junior High (7th-9th.)  I did not enjoy it a bit, and quit right before entering high school. 

1966-   With the advent of seventh grade, I purchased a plastic guitar complete with a chord book for two dollars at a toy store and began teaching myself to play.  A year or two later I purchased an old wooden guitar at a pawn shop in Azusa for $10.  Soon I began to write songs using new chords every time I learned one. 

1967-  My brother Robert, my neighbor Steve Medley and I decided to form a band about the time The Monkees came out on television with their wildly popular new television show.  I cannot pretend that their arrival, even more than The Beatles influenced me to want to form a band too.  We called our band, THE GO-GO GUYS!  At the time I thought it was a pretty catchy name.  Now I think it sounds a little feminine, but what did we know?  Anyway, we recorded a couple of songs on Steve's mom's dictating machine (she was a secretary) at the height of our success.  I knew about five chords at the time (G, C, D7, D and Em.)  The songs we recorded, both my compositions were "But You're Mine" (lead sung by Robert) and "Play Around" (lead sung by me.)  Both Steve and Robert played tambourines to accompany my plastic guitar.  I no longer have that recording, but we were pretty proud of it. 
Later in that same year, Robert decided he didn't want to spin his wheels with us anymore, and I can't say that I blamed him, so Steve and I decided to go it alone, renaming our group PENGELUM.  Steve began to learn the guitar as well, and to write his own compositions.  We learned to collaborate with each other by filling in vocal harmonies when the other sang lead, and playing some sort of simple lead guitar while the other one strummed chords.  About this time an old business associate of my Dad's named Dale Smallin heard us sing, and told us that as soon as we had 12 quality songs written and learned, he would take us to a recording studio and record us.  So, we got right to work.  This was the inspiration, the hope that we needed to truly put all of our efforts into our music. 

1968-  Probably beginning in 1968, because I believe I was 14 years old at the time, we began the first of many recording sessions which eventually netted us almost 40 different song recordings.  To make a long story short, we almost got signed by major labels twice, but no cigar.  So, by 1971, I was already a Junior in high school, while Steve was still in 9th grade (junior high school) and we eventually parted ways with me getting involved in high school Drama (and eventually Choir) as well as ASB and girls, while Steve found a new circle of friends.  We both continued to write songs, however, in fact Steve continued to record his music with Dale Smallin. 

1972-  This was my senior year at Glendora High School.  Two monumental musical events occurred in my life, besides the fact that I met Margaret, the love of my life during this year as well. :)  Number one, I took my first semester of high school choir (2nd semester of the year), singing in the Concert Choir under the direction of Don Clark.  Here I began my love for choral music. Better late than never I always say. Number Two, I performed in my first MUSICAL which was a collaboration between Drama and Choir, both of which I was involved with at the time.  The show was OLIVER, and my role was FAGIN.  After this, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a MUSIC MAJOR in college.  I had not been sure prior to these two events happening.  In addition, my best high school friends including Doug Fulton and Mario Subia worked with me in weekly events called BROWN BAG THEATRE where we featured lunchtime entertainment (drawn from the student body) twice a week in the Drama room.  It was here that I learned to produce and host events, speak in public and to continue my collaboration with others in performance.  Thomas Timm Brucks and Harriet Davidson were my Drama teachers then, and I am so grateful that they trusted us as we put on these fun events twice a week. 

1973-   In the summer after I graduated high school, I finally formed the rock band I had always wanted to have.  Everyone was a Glendora HS Drama friend of mine with the exception of the two best musicians in the band, Bill Lake (my former brother-in-law) and a quiet friend of his who played fabulous lead guitar. We called this band, SASSY.  Again, I'm not sure why?  We performed the roller-rink and high school sock-hop circuit that year and then broke-up as Margaret and I both left for college at the University of Redlands the next year. We did record five songs right before the end, the only original one being BEST FOR US, which I have released on itunes by Dave Willert, although in all honesty although I wrote and lead sung the song, SASSY accompanied me.  I just didn't want to put the word SASSY on itunes. :)

1974-   I worked very hard as a music major at the U of R and soon realized how little I knew.  I had to work harder than most, because while I had spent most of my time as a Drama kid in high school, many of my classmates had played piano for 15 years already, and had sung in choir since they were in 5th grade.  I found that I still had a great passion for theatre, and in the next few years I performed in several musicals as well as a straight play or two, all the while singing in the school Concert Choir with Dr. Erwin Ruff and later in Chapel Singers with Jeff Rickard.  My final project involved writing a MUSICAL assisted by my teacher, Gary Krinke.  The final product was "THE MAN WITH THE HYPNOTIC EYES."  The dialogue is not very good, but the show does have some nice songs in it, which I may eventually revisit and arrange for choirs. 

1976-   Upon graduation from the U of R I immediately enrolled at Cal Poly Pomona (a much less expensive school) to complete my TEACHING CREDENTIAL. In the process I spent one quarter in Dr. Charles Lindsley's Concert Choir and Chamber Singers.  This is where I truly learned what a good traditional choir should sound like.  We performed quite a bit, and it was the first choir I had ever been in where I got to wear a tuxedo. (Redlands wore robes.)  But the greatest gift Dr. Lindsley gave me was a detailed understanding of the physiology of singing and specifically all the human parts that go into it. He later wrote a book which I used in my choirs to very clearly explain in scientific terms how to sing. 

Beginning in my second quarter at Cal Poly I began my first of two STUDENT TEACHING assignments.  First, I was placed at Pomona High School teaching in both the Choir and the Drama programs. This school had a major gang and behavior problem. Unlike most student teaching programs, I was basically given the classes from the very beginning, while the teachers sat in their offices away from the classroom.  Drama went fine.  The kids were very accommodating and seemed to enjoy the exercises we did.  Choir was a different story.  The entire class was unruly, and if I could get them to pay attention, singing was another matter.  When I left Pomona High School, my sour choral experience made me strongly question my plan to become a high school choral teacher. But something positive happened. 

My second assignment was at West Covina High School with the most successful show choir program around, directed by Mr. Tom Kessler.  Tom had been a very successful middle school Orchestra and Band  director up until the year before, when they had transferred him to the high school to turn that choral program around.  I had a ball there, although Tom never truly released any of his groups to me.  He allowed me to lead some warm-ups and teach some songs, although he always came out and added anything he felt I had missed.  Tom was the most competitive and thorough teacher I had ever met! It was  his program that introduced me to Show Choir. And at a very high level! I had never even heard of Show Choir before.  In hindsight, my core philosophies of teaching, of competing and of student expectation came from him. I will always be grateful that I was able to have that incredible experience student teaching with him before I set out to begin my own career.  

1977-  After a short summer stint of working at a liquor store on Arrow Highway in Glendora, I received my first job offer.  Norco High School in North Corona. Once I had that job offer, I asked Margaret to marry me, and she found a job nearby in Corona teaching a Special Day Class.
Norco is where I once again learned that I didn't know very much.  But I was a good student, and in the two years I was there the Choirs improved dramatically.  It was here that I taught our current choreographer, Doug Kuhl.  He went on to study music, dance, theatre and art with Young Americans, at the University of Redlands and at Cal Poly  Pomona.  Again I am very thankful of the 30 years Doug has spent as my choreographer and show director.  I might still be in Norco today except that once Proposition 13 passed, my job was changed to include 4 periods at a junior high and only 2 periods at the high school.   Junior High was a challenge, with no accompanist, no budget and my sad lack of experience at this grade level. But again, I learned from it, and little did I know that the day would come when I  would once again be teaching junior high choir. :)  In any case my high school show choir The New Generation came in last at the Aztec Sing my first year and climbed all the way to 7th place the next year.  We never won any trophies in two years, but I learned an awful lot about teaching music...and how to improve. 

There were two additional parts of my musical life during my Norco High School years.  First, I began my first job as a Music Director at a church. I believe it was the Corona Methodist, and I had a very good time there.  There are a couple pictures of me under DAVE'S MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOS rehearsing the choir one morning.  I am wearing what looks like a DISCO SUIT complete with my full beard.  But that was fun. The other musical activity I became involved in was performing with The Corona Musical Theatre Association, directed by Shirley Van der Linde.  From 1978-82, I performed in three shows there, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1978) where I played Johnny Brown, "Damn Yankees" (1980) where I played Joe Hardy and "Oklahoma" (1982) where I played Curly. There are also some pictures of this under DAVE'S MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOS.  My Norco Choirs were nowhere near as busy as our choirs are today. That's why I had time to participate.  It was so much fun, and I am so thankful to Shirley Van der Linde for consistently having faith in me.  I learned a lot about musical theatre while in her care.

1979-   I broke all the rules of correctly selecting a job by spontaneously accepting a Choir position at Nogales High School, an area of La Puente known for having gang problems, which was also a good 45 minute drive away, as Margaret and I still lived in Riverside. The program itself consisted of one period of Treble Choir (20) and one period of Bel Canto Choir (25.)  No show choir, and both existing choirs were completely unauditioned. The rest of my schedule consisted of teaching 3 math classes, regardless of the fact that I had never taken a math class in college.  Times were quite different then. :)

1979-1998-   Developed competing Show Choirs, traditional Choirs and Musicals at Nogales High School with Doug Kuhl, Margaret Willert, Don Cloud, Bo Eder, Kramer Ison & Della Long... as well as many others in the early years.

1998-2005-  Further Developed competing Show Choirs, traditional Choirs and Musicals at Diamond Bar High School with Doug Kuhl, Margaret Willert, Hannah Nam, Bo Eder, Kramer Ison & Don Cloud.

2005-20016-  Further Developed competing Show Choirs, traditional Choirs and Musicals at Brea Olinda High School and Brea Junior High with Doug Kuhl, Margaret Willert, Kurt Nielsen, Hannah Nam, Drew Hemwall, Eric Hendrickson, Kramer Ison, Bo Eder & Alex Willert.

20016-  Dave Willert retires.  Alex Willert becomes Brea Olinda High School and Brea Junior High's newest Choir Director, with Doug Kuhl, Eric Hendrickson, Kurt Nielsen & Drew Hemwall.