Chris Elliott knows he has some big shoes to fill.
Elliott is the new director of bands for the Gurdon School District, which won the Class 2A Marching Band State Championship last year at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“More so this year, I want to maintain the level of hard work and the success they have had,” Elliott said. “I do not want to waiver below it, but instead, build upon it.”
Elliott said he will also spend his first year learning the job, and after that, he may want to implement some things, but “as of now, I don’t want to jump in and change anything right off the bat.”
“I want the students to be comfortable, and I want them to know how things are run and understand the system and the different duties they have,” Elliott said. “But I do want to raise the bar the longer I am here because I believe this school has amazing potential to go further than and beyond what it is now.”
Elliott said that after seeing the students and hearing about their success, initially, he knew he had to live up to it.
“Once I found out the students are practicing over the summer and emailing to get music, I understood that their own work ethic is very high,” Elliott said. “It makes me feel a little less stressed.”
Elliott is replacing former director Devin West, who left the school to take the same position at Pottsville. West and Elliott were students together at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where West served as a mentor to Elliott.
Elliott said he was a freshman at HSU when he met West, and West was a junior.
“He came from a school district that did not have a super strong marching program, and he kind of struggled at first,” West said. “The level of output that we were doing, as far as technical difficulty, it was easy to write Chris off.
“But I noticed right away that Chris had a work ethic that is similar to mine. [Like me], he may not be the smartest guy in the room, but he has the chance to be the underdog, which he thrives on. Chris was silent, but he worked very hard, and that was something I could respect.
“If he didn’t know something, he was going to figure it out.”
West was at Gurdon for four years, and he said he built the band program from the ground up.
“I set them up for success. It is up to Chris and the rest of the students to take the wave and run with it,” West said.
“I knew he was getting ready to leave [Gurdon],” Elliott said.
“And I saw the hard work he did and the passion he had for the kids, and I really wanted to continue that. I saw their passion, and I know they are a good bunch of kids,” Elliot said. “They are respectful and hardworking, and I figured it was a really good place to start, as far as a first job.
“I’m not saying I wanted to walk into something perfect — and they still have some growing to do— but it is a little easier when you know what you are going into.”
West said he has regular conversations with Elliott and said he can come to West anytime with questions, knowing that he will give him a straight answer.
“The greatest thing about the Gurdon School District is not the administration or the location, but it is all the students,” West said. “For the majority of the population, you’re it. If you want the homework to be done, you are the person to make sure it is done.
“As their teacher, you have to make sure they are handling their academic side of the contract, because they are students first. … I went to bat for the students so many times, whether it was with the administration, parents or organizations, because otherwise, it wouldn’t happen.”
Elliott is originally from Little Rock, having graduated from McClellan High School in Little Rock in 2013, before graduating from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia with a degree in music education in December.
Elliott said that even before interviewing for the position, he had visited Gurdon quite a few times, and he said the people are very friendly — “a lot more friendly than I could have imagined.”
“From the faculty and the parents alike, I haven’t had any issues, and I have been down here for a month or so,” Elliott said. “Everyone is showing promising signs of good working relationships as well.”
Elliott said he wanted to become a music teacher because throughout high school, his class had several band directors, each leaving for a different reason. He said he wanted to be somewhere where he could bring a sense of stability to the role.
“I’ve had band directors that I have admired, but throughout high school, they have been scarce,” he said. “We had one band director who showed up and left within weeks, and another who had cancer, and another who left to finish a degree.
“I want to be able to instill in the students the same love of music I have. Usually, band gets students who don’t want to be there or think it is going to be an easy A, but I want them to find more of an appreciation of music.”
Right now, Elliott is planning on being at Gurdon for quite some time.
“There are some fifth-graders that I will teach, and my hope is to at least see them graduate. I want to show them I can stay here a little longer because I know how it feels when the director leaves,” he said. “I’d like to show the students some stability, because once you build those relationships with students and they are comfortable with you as a teacher, the output of work grows exponentially.”
“I remember being little and watching older cartoons that didn’t have voice actors, but would use music to convey what is happening in the story and move along what you are watching. So I would be a little interested in listening to it; then when I would flip through the radio, I would recognize that music being played, and I would listen to the song on the radio.”
Elliott said his love of music started at an early age, as his dad, mom and brothers sang in the choir at church. He said once he started band in the sixth grade, he never quit.
“I would describe Chris as a goal-oriented and hardworking person,” West said. “If he wants to be successful, he is going to put the work in to make it happen. I saw it firsthand at Henderson State.”
Elliott said he saw Gurdon perform at last year’s show and was very impressed.
“One of the first things you see when you enter here is the trophies, the different things the students have worked hard for,” Elliott said. “It seems a little overwhelming because with being new, I haven’t been able to see all of that and the absurd amount of work and talent each student puts in.
“I can’t help but be proud of them already, and I haven’t even met them.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.