Bigfork music teacher reflects on her journey

Two weeks before Bigfork Schools first day of class in 2009, the future music teacher caught wind of a band teacher job opening.

Seven days later, she left her Ohio home and was driving back to her home state.

“Teaching jobs in Ohio were hard to come by, but I was also always looking to come home,” said Randi Tunnell, a Custer, Montana, native.

With just a few days before classes started, Tunnell broke the news to her husband she wanted to move to the Flathead — to a place she had vacationed as a child and for a school that was suddenly out a music teacher.

“He couldn’t leave Ohio yet because he had to finish his master’s, so his response was probably along the lines of, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Tunnell said. “But he knew it was what I wanted and supported it. But we were both surprised as it happened.”

Music had always been part of Tunnell’s life.

Her mom was a music teacher in her home town, so Tunnell had played piano since second grade and discovered her niche with trombone by fifth grade. Today, one of her brothers teaches band in Stevensville and the other is a musician in Seattle.

Music had been her comfort zone. So it was jarring that her passion led her at 28 years old to leave her cozy setup in Ohio with her husband — who would join her after finals wrapped up that winter — and make a sudden move to a town full of strangers.

Tunnell finalized her agreement with the schools and picked out a craigslist condo with her husband. Then, she packed pieces of her life in her car to make the cross-country trip alone.

“It was a period of transition, for the schools and me, so it was a pretty crazy couple of weeks,” Tunnell said. “I didn’t know we would be here still today, that this would be where I raised my kids, but I’m happy it is.”

Seven years, three children and hundreds of students later, the band has grown from 23 students to 60 and Tunnell has kick-started two new music electives: music appreciation and guitar.

In the three years the electives have run, she has watched a pool of students outside the world of band enter music — from the youth who played guitar in secret in a bedroom to the student who never touched an instrument.

Her position at the school is unique because her students are from across grade boundaries. She’s able to watch a fifth-grader learn how to pick up a trombone and then see if he or she decides to continue with band throughout high school.

“If they stick with music all the way through, I get the same students for as long as eight years, which is a pretty amazing experience,” Tunnell said. “I get to kind of watch them become people.”

This week, Tunnell gets to take on the role of student as one of the 14 Flathead Valley scholarship winners who get to learn from some of world’s best guitarists at the Crown Guitar Workshop.

Founded by classical-guitar enthusiast David Feffer, the festival and workshop has turned Bigfork into an international center for the study and appreciation of the guitar.

This year, the weeklong event will draw artists such as Jim Messina, Lee Ritenour and Chris Eldridge to the village to focus on the art of guitar.

“It’s a rare opportunity for me to practice my skills with a group of adults — which I think is important for any musician,” Tunnell said.

Tunnell said beyond next week, she looks forward to her own children loving music.

She already catches glimpses of the reality as she watches her 4-year-old son play his plastic drums alongside the band at basketball games.

As for her dreams for Bigfork schools, she said she’s always striving for the program to get bigger and better.

“It’s a skill you can take with you your whole life,” she said. “And in band, you’re working together for a common goal where every single person and moment is vital to the entire ensemble — each kid can see and hear how important they are.”

The Crown Guitar Workshop runs through Sept. 4 at Flathead Lake Lodge. For more information, go to www.crownguitarfest.org.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.