BC-CNS-Horne-Music,750

A Cronkite News Service Weekend Special

SCHOOLS CHIEF SAYS CLASSICAL PIANO SETS TONE FOR HIS LIFE AND WORK

NOTE: This story moved Wednesday, Oct. 24. We recommend it for weekend use.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (thumbnails, captions below)

By ERIC GRAF
Cronkite News Service

SCOTTSDALE _ When Tom Horne, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, took the stage at a recent conference on arts education here, he did more than just talk about the arts.

He played a little Bach too.

To the surprise of some teachers and administrators in the audience, Horne is an expert pianist and a classical music enthusiast. He demonstrated this with a skilled rendition of a sonata for piano with flute and recorder.

“He’s an amazing technician as a pianist, but he also plays with a lot of emotion,” said Lynn Tuttle, director of arts education at the state Department of Education and Horne’s flute accompanist for the performance.

When he’s not directing education in Arizona, Horne finds time to play with the Phoenix Baroque Ensemble, a group he helped establish in 1992. He also plays piano regularly at fundraisers, charity events, social gatherings and schools around Arizona.

“At parties or get-togethers, if there’s a piano, he’s on it,” said Candice Nagel, former state legislator and close friend of Horne’s.

“He’s so involved and intense because music is so important to him,” she said. “When he plays, he goes into a zone, like a place of bliss.”

Horne’s musical passion provides an important understanding for his job, said Democratic state Rep. Jackie Thrasher, who is a band and orchestra teacher at a Phoenix elementary school.

“To have someone in that position who knows the benefits of music firsthand and has brought attention to it is great,” Thrasher said. “He knows how important studying arts and culture really is.”

Horne said his love of music informs his decisions as superintendent. He created Tuttle’s position overseeing arts education, which has led to assessments to gauge learning in arts classes.

“Music has an intrinsic value and an instrumental value in education,” Horne said. “Students involved in music do better in academics.”

Horne said the Department of Education bears a heavy responsibility to make sure arts remain a priority in Arizona schools.

“There is an intense trust placed in us to see that great traditions don’t die in our generation,” he said. “We have to see to it that kids are exposed to those great inheritances of the arts so they can carry them on to the next generation.”

Music has been a lifelong passion, he says. He’s been playing classical and jazz piano for as long as he can remember, starting when he was growing up in a New York City suburb. He even performed on New York City radio stations as a teenager.

As his professional interests turned toward law, Horne continued honing his musical skills. He worked as a musical director for plays at Harvard, where he earned his bachelor’s and law degrees.

Even today, after a career in law, 24 years on the Paradise Valley Unified School District’s governing board, four years in the Arizona State Legislature and more than four years as superintendent, Horne continues practicing and learning new pieces on his 1927 Steinway grand piano, one of two grand pianos in his living room.

“It’s a daily necessity. If I’m on a trip, I try to find a piano, so I play in a lot of empty bars and hotel lobbies,” he said. “The most important thing is regularity, taking a half hour a day to play.”

Horne sometimes plays with his wife, Marty, who earned her master’s from The Juilliard School as a harpist.

The pianos and harps make his living room feel like “a Juilliard of the West,” but Horne isn’t an elitist, said Michael Orlikoff, a Paradise Valley Unified School District music teacher who conducted Horne with the Metro Pops Orchestra.

“To his credit, he isn’t a music snob. He’ll play Herberger or Gammage, but he’ll also play at retirement homes or high school auditoriums,” Orlikoff said.

One performance was at a fundraiser for state Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, who called him intense and entertaining at the piano.

“It was beautiful. He was the hit of the evening,” said Johnson, chairwoman the Senate Education K-12 Committee.

Any audience will do for Horne, Nagel said.

“We’re in a book group together, and before the discussion starts he’ll play a little bit for us,” she said.

Of the Hornes’ four children, only their youngest son, Mark, has picked up his parents’ strong musical passion. But a family trio might be a challenge; he plays rock ’n’ roll guitar.

“It’s as though the gods are punishing me for something,” Horne said.

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Web Link:
_ Arizona Department of Education: www.azed.gov

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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-HORNE-MUSIC: Tom Horne, superintendent of public instruction for Arizona, plays piano Friday, Oct. 19, 2007, at his home in Phoenix. Horne is a skilled pianist who plays regularly at fundraisers, charity events, social gatherings and schools around Arizona. He says his passion for music informs his decisions as superintendent. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Stephanie Sanchez)

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