The Marysville High Marching Band recognized Band Director Bill Thissen, who announced his intent to retire after 28 years at the local school district, during a recent playoff game by spelling out his last name. (Photo submitted)
Marysville High School Band Director Bill Thissen, who helped grow one of the top marching units in the state, has announced his intent to retire after nearly three decades.
His retirement will be effective June 1, making this 28th marching band season his last. Friday’s playoff game will feature the final home halftime performance with Thissen leading the band.
“It’s just time,” he said.
Losing Thissen will be a blow to the program but, drum instructors John “Maddog” Maynard, Dan Jones, Jeff Zimmerman and color guard instructor Tracy Zimmerman will also be leaving at the end of the year. Maynard and Jones have dedicated 25 years to teaching the young percussionists. The Zimmermans have worked with the band for 10 years and decided to leave after their youngest child graduates.
“It’s hard to do what we do without those additional instructors,” Thissen said.
He added that late Friday night football games and traveling for contests on the weekends “wears on you.”
“It’s time for a new injection of blood,” he said.
Thissen has overseen about 200 members annually in the marching and concert bands.
“We’ve (had) around 200 kids (annually) since the year 2000,” Thissen said.
He credits “the philosophy of team teaching” for the vast interest in band at the local school.
“When I got here, we were allowed to team teach, where I would go over and teach at the middle school,” Thissen said. “I would go over and teach at the elementary building.”
The Marysville school district’s band instructors have been assisting each other for years, which helps students become familiar with them. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Thissen travels to Creekview Intermediate School. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he travels to Bunsold Middle School. Instructors at Creekview and Bunsold, in return, help teach high school students.
“We’ve been really fortunate with our recruiting numbers,” Thissen said. “We’ll get over anywhere from 50% to 80% of the eighth graders in the high school band, and that’s not common. Most schools are lucky if you’re getting 30% and 40%.”
Before his 28-year career at Marysville High School, Thissen worked at Westland High School for three years as the assistant band director, at Syracuse University as a graduate teaching assistant for two years, at Madison Plains High School as a band director for two years and at Grove City High School as an assistant band director for a year.
Thissen is an Ohio State University (OSU) alumnus, following in his father’s footsteps. He and his father performed in the Ohio State Marching Band during their college careers.
“We’re just a very musical family,” he said.
Thissen enrolled in the university as a music performance major.
“While I was at Ohio State, I started teaching high school drum lines,” he said. “So, in the fall, I was a drum instructor at a bunch of different schools, writing the drum parts out for them, going to the football games, going to band contests, making practices at night for like three or four different bands.”
He also taught individual drum lessons for “gas money to college” because he was a commuter.
The experience made him “realize how difficult it is to actually be a performance major” as well as how much he enjoyed teaching students.
He ultimately graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s in music education, which allowed him to grow his greatest passion – watching students have a love for music.
“When they want to play after they graduate high school, I feel like we’ve accomplished something with the student,” he said. “Maybe they’ll pass that love onto their children, or they’ll play in a college band or a community band.”
His proudest accomplishments go beyond trophies and parades. Marysville has developed into one of the top marching bands in the state, scoring top marks at competitions year in and year out.
“For us, we just enjoy the kids and hope they enjoy doing it too,” Thissen said. “We’ve been successful, but success isn’t always winning a trophy.”
He also thanked parents of band members for their contributions to the program over the years.
“We’ve got some really good ones,” he said. “I’ve just been blessed with good band booster presidents over the years.”
He also commended the current and past band booster treasurers and parent volunteers at football games.
A great band is made up of the “support from the parents, the administration (and) the school,” Thissen said.
The band honored Thissen at last Friday’s playoff game in front of the home crowd. During the band’s halftime performance, members arranged to spell out the director’s last name.
“It’s going to be hard to walk away from the band program here and I’ll miss everybody,” he said. “I was really touched by the ‘Thissen’ spell out.”
The Marysville High School Band will compete in the state finals on Sunday at the University of Dayton’s Welcome Stadium at 8:45 p.m.