Lost in the Music

After 20 years of teaching at San Rafael Junior High, Hans Baantjer continues to pass on his passion for music

James L. Davis

To watch Hans Baantjer conduct a choir is to watch a man possessed. Every wave of his arm, every gesture of his head, every little expression on his face is of a man lost in the music. He is seemingly riding a wave created by the voices of those he conducts and with every note the audience and the singers are carried along with him, propelled by his enthusiasm for music.

The students of San Rafael Junior High have been the benefactors of his love of music for 20 years now and his ability to take and mold a diverse group of young voices into a choir that is among the better junior high choirs in the state leaves many parents scratching their heads in wonder. Exactly how can he get that beautiful music out of those teenagers?

“I know what sound I want to get out of them, they don’t know what sound they are capable of, so they are surprised,” Baantjer said.

Developing a program where he could teach them to bring out hidden talents they were not even aware they possessed is something that took time, according to Baantjer.

“Many, many years. It took a long time to develop the choir program. When I started I had 20 kids and none of them wanted to sing. It took a while before I had some who wanted to try and believe in me and even then it still took years. Back then the band program was very good and anybody who was anybody wanted to be in the band. We are fortunate that both programs are strong now. I have also been extremely fortunate to have Eileen Lofthouse for my steady accompanist for the choir program for more than a decade now. She has worked with me for so long, she knows exactly where I’m going and what I want to achieve. She constantly reinforces my directing behind the piano, not only musically, but also when the kids need some added direction, she knows exactly what they need and she’s never afraid to jump in. An accompanist like that you don’t find easily. She’s one in a million.”

At the end of most school years Baantjer likes to ask his junior high choir students for two positive comments about their experience in choir. Quite often their comments have a common theme.

“A lot of them say that choir has helped them be more confident. They were afraid of stepping out in front of someone and singing,” Baantjer said.

Baantjer can identify with the feelings of his young students because he feels much the same way himself. Despite the enthusiasm so on display when he is conducting, Baantjer said he is by nature a very shy person. Music changes all of that.

“I am a shy person and in choir you have to deny your shyness. If you are not afraid to sing in front of someone, then you are not afraid of very many things in your life anymore,” he said.
The music he is so passionate about and that he inspires his students to be passionate about is one part of a creative process that Baantjer and his students undertake together.

“I enjoy creating something beautiful. That makes it worth it,” he said.

For those who have attended his choir concerts, they know that he takes the choir performances seriously and he has paused to admonish the audience if they are not being quiet enough. He said he does so because the audience should respect the efforts the choir has made.

“Music is a moment in time and these kids worked for months to prepare for this. It’s not a silly song we are singing; we’re giving you a piece of us. Please value it.”

His passion for music is something that can be infectious and although he modestly says he is unaware of any great impact his instruction has made on his students, his wife, Tineke, is quick to correct him.

“I have a whole album of cards and notes from students over the years. They appreciate what you do for them,” she said, to which he smiles and shrugs and changes the subject.

The impact that Baantjer has had on his students and in turn on the choir program not only at the junior high but the high school is profound, whether he chooses to admit it or not and the path that led Baantjer from Holland to Ferron is, as you might expect, long and winding.

After serving on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Baantjer attended BYU, where he studied classical guitar. He obtained his Masters Degree from Arizona State and then decided to go back to BYU to obtain his certification in secondary education.

“The instructor there was Don Ripplinger and he asked me, can you sing? I said I sang in my ward choir and he said, forget it, you’ll never learn to sing in two years and you have to complete this program in two years. It didn’t take very long and he grabbed me by the neck hairs and taught me because I worked myself to death. He completely turned around and did everything he could for me,” Baantjer said.

Baantjer married Tineke after returning from his mission and although the two were from the same town in Holland, they weren’t what you would call high school sweethearts.
“She wouldn’t have anything to do with me until I came back from my mission. She thought I was a silly, immature boy,” he said with a smile.

After graduation Baantjer was interviewing for teaching positions in the state and Rue Ware of the Emery County School District sent a letter to BYU asking for applications for a choir teacher. Baantjer had interviewed in Richfield and told Ware he would come to San Rafael Junior High for an interview on the way back.

“He told me as I came into town if you pass the creek you’ve gone too far and we passed the creek. I guess we were expecting a bigger creek. Sam Singleton was the principal and when I walked in Rue said, you didn’t sign a contract in Richfield did you?”

When he was offered the job at San Rafael Baantjer said he had one question for Ware. “I asked what do you expect of me and he said we want a choir program that is second to none. I said OK; I’ll do my best. If you look at rural chorus programs I think Emery County kids are doing pretty well,” Baantjer said.

Moving to Ferron to set up a home was a bit of a culture shock for the couple from Holland, but not any more than the rest of the country.

“All of America was really a culture shock, but Emery County has really grown on us. When they are growing up it is a perfect place for kids. It’s a good place to live,” Baantjer said.
Hans and Tineke have three children, Shela, 19; Seth, 18; and Natalie 15. The Baantjers have held on to traditions of their home in Holland and taught them to their children.

“We have taught our kids to speak Dutch. We speak Dutch at home and we sing songs in Dutch,” Tineke said.

Baantjer said he has a reputation for being strict at school but he is even stricter with his own children.

“I’m strict at school but I think I am a little worse at home. I’ve seen parents who have let their kids go and I don’t want my kids to waste what time they have. It’s disappointing to me if kids don’t give 100 percent. Why would you want to be second best?”

That same philosophy he takes to school for his students and he understands that sometimes the students think he is a hard teacher an he admits that he is demanding of his young charges, academically, musically and behaviorally.

“You can’t let kids steal time from other kids. They need direction,” he said.

When not teaching, Baantjer continues his love of music by performing in sometimes hastily thrown together choirs composed of friends. The most recent performance was of the Castle Valley Barbershop Chorus at San Rafael Junior High’s Veteran’s Day concert.

“I sing with the Castle Valley Barbershop Chorus, but there really isn’t any such thing, we just called it that because we had to have a name. It’s performance specific. I call a bunch of people I want to sing with. It’s not organized because that takes so much time,” Baantjer said. “It’s so nice to sing with your friends. It’s an incredible high.”

As Baantjer reflects on his years of teaching and the winding path that led him and his family from Holland to Ferron, he comments on what he considers a key ingredient in being a teacher.
“This is the big secret: If you don’t have tremendous passion and love for what you are doing there is no way you can transfer it to your children,” he said.

And that includes the inspiration that lets you deny your shyness and become lost in the music.

Moore Cutoff project rolls forward

The next phase of the Moore Cutoff road project is moving forward as Nielson Construction crews work in several sections along the approximately 12 mile stretch of road.

The current project is sandwiched between two earlier projects. The first project was a four mile section near SR-10 that was completed in 2000. The second was a four mile section that started near Interstate 70 and was completed last year.

This stage will link the two earlier stages and pave the way for asphalting of the entire length of the road, creating a paved road that will make Green River more accessible to the rest of the county.

When complete, the project, which will realign some of the more hazardous areas of the road, will shorten the road by approximately one mile.

When this project is complete next year the entire length of road will be ready for asphalt. Bids for asphalting of the road will go out on Dec. 11 with work to commence after the construction project is complete. According to Emery County Commissioner Gary Kofford the final project for the Moore cutoff will involve realigning where the Moore cutoff connects to SR-10.

The entire Moore cutoff project should be complete by December of 2009, according to Kofford.

Green River Boys/Girls Club Presents
Huntington City with check for miners’ families

Kathy Ockey

Ruth Ann Ekker, representing the Boys and Girls Club of Green River presented a check in the amount of $2,000 to be given to the families of the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster. The Boys and Girls Club are very active in Green River and have performed many service projects to improve their city.

Mayor Hillary Gordon read a letter she received from Robert Murray, owner of Murray Energy and Crandall Canyon Mine. A partial quote from the letter said, “We appreciate the support of the City of Huntington in the many ways that you provided to the grieving families of our trapped employees and to Utah American Energy, Inc. You could not have done more.”

The council discussed some dog issues, stating the same dogs and owners are cited repeatedly. They want to get more information about dog regulations from the council of governments and try to get the dog fines coordinated with other towns. This could possibly include increasing the fines with each offense.

The proposed county zoning change was briefly discussed and Mayor Gordon reported that Darrel Leamaster, manager of the Castle Valley Special Service District, will be at next month’s meeting to present more information.

A business license was approved for David Sebring. He will be opening a trailer sales and auto dealership in the town.

Mark and Kathy Justice requested diagonal parking at the building they are renovating on Main Street. They will be relocating their business there and hope to be in it by the first of the year. The council decided it needed to get more information before making a decision on the request.

The council discussed the Huntington Christmas Celebration to be held Dec. 7, beginning at 6 p.m. They have invited all religious denominations to participate in the celebration and program. There will also be a citizen recognized for their service to the town.

During the public comment portion of the meeting a citizen commended the council commended for all of the work they are doing for the city. This included the incident at Crandall Canyon, beautification, and willingness to listen to the citizens and their concerns.

Community shows its holiday spirit

James L. Davis

Even as people prepared to loosen their belt a notch or two and sit down for a Thanksgiving feast, preparations were also underway to celebrate the Christmas season as decorations were drug out of their boxes, dusted off and put into place for the holidays.

While some cities seemed to be preparing for weeks for the holiday season, others were further behind and at the county building Christmas decorations, or the lack thereof, were a topic for debate at the meeting of the Emery County Commission on Nov. 20.

At the old Emery County courthouse building the Christmas decorations that were once hung from the roof of the building were taken down when the roof was repaired and the commissioners had received comments about the lack of Christmas decorations on the building. Last year the decorations at the building consisted of little more than a couple of lighted reindeer on the lawn.

Commissioner Gary Kofford was not a big fan of having Christmas lights restrung along the roof of the building, saying that it wasn’t safe to have workers trying to put up Christmas lights and the activity damaged the roof.

“I’m a Scrooge,” Commissioner Kofford said with a shrug.

While the county building will be decorated in the next week, the Castle Dale Fire Department spent all of last week decorating Main Street after dark. Using the fire department’s ladder truck, the all volunteer fire department put up lights at night, which is the only time they could do so with everyone working during the day.

Decorating along Main Street the fire fighters enjoyed pizza as they gave the city a festive look and motorists gave a friendly honk as they passed by. The fire fighters all went happily about their work right up until the moment a member of the media arrived, at which time every fire fighter went into hiding, ducking behind fire trucks and hiding behind power poles. The reason for hiding is due to the fact that the Castle Dale Fire Department has a tradition that any fire fighter who is pictured in the newspaper must buy donuts for the entire department. Unfortunately for fire fighter Glade Longmore, it is extremely difficult to hide while suspended in the bucket of the ladder truck. After attempting to blind the photographer with a spotlight and trying in vain to hide inside the bucket, he was photographed above the streets of the city.

Which means the rest of the fire department will be waiting for donuts. They have requested fresh donuts, nothing out of the box. Something with sprinkles would be nice, in festive, Christmas colors.