Instructor shares his passion for great music

Mel Blunt

Staff Writer

Dr. Larry Grandy is a music and band instructor here on the Shasta College campus. He has been teaching a total of 31 years at the college level and 28 years here at Shasta.

Grandy graduated from Diablo Community College with his associates degree in music and decided to teach because of the experience he had with his own instructors. He received his bachelors and masters in music education from Chico State University. Grandy then received his doctorate in i0nstrumental music from Arizona State University that has a 5,000-student enrollment.

The guiding factor as to why he came to Redding to teach was that he preferred smaller schools where teaching is the primary function of the instructors as opposed to a University where research is emphasized more.

Here on campus he teaches 4 classes that range from 10 in attendance to 110. Grady said he tells his students,

“Only be a music teacher if you have to” because the average teaching span for those in that area is about 5 years. It is one of the only positions where your work and lessons are constantly on display through performances.

He spends quite a bit of time on campus with all of his classes, rehearsals and performances.

“I would set up a cot here if I had a bigger office,” Grandy said jokingly.

He also said he loves that community colleges have a “We take everybody” policy.

He has extremely\experienced students in his classes as well as those that have just picked up the instrument for the first time.

When asked why Foothill High played at the homecoming game last semester he said that Shasta does not have a marching band. They do not have the funding, the right outside instruments or the interest of the students.

Shasta does take part in one outside event on the 4th of July where the band members have four rehearsals in a one-week period and then they perform in the Freedom Festival that usually draws about 1500 people. There is also a Community Band or as Grandy called it a “True Band” that incorporates members from ages 14 to 90 years old. It draws people from Anderson, Weaverville, Red Bluff and Redding to participate. When it first started it only had 17 members but has since grown to become 110 members strong.

All the concerts are a way of saying thank you to those that spend their tax dollars funding such programs to benefit students from around the area.

He not only teaches here on campus but has also been a guest lecturer on two-week sessions in Australia, Barbados, Trinidad and The Caribbean. It was in the Caribbean that he met his wife of four years.

He actually had to kick her out of the classroom she was teaching in because he was scheduled to lecture there as well. That was their first encounter and it has been a running joke between them ever since. They dated in that long distance situation for two years prior to getting married and having her come to the United States.

Grandy has a special interest in International teaching and traveling. He hopes to be able and do more of it after retirement because as he says “Music is an international language.” Right now he has dedicated his time and efforts to Shasta College as he teaches the 3rd largest band in the California Community College area.