You may have noticed another new face around campus this year. However, he doesn’t live on campus and only teaches one class first semester. Perhaps you attended the band concert and saw him waving a baton. His name is Miles Wurster, and he is the new band director this year. He takes over for Professor Paul Wendland, who took a call to Lake Mills, WI. I sat down with Mr. Wurster and asked him a few questions, in order to help the student body get to know him a little bit. Here he is, in his own words (for the most part).

PH: First off, where are you from?
MW: I grew up in Dawson, MN, a town of 1600 people. It’s in the west-central part of the state, not far from South Dakota; it’s about 60 miles east of Watertown, SD.

PH: What was your home life like?
MW: I had two sisters—one older, one younger. My dad drove truck, so for a lot of the time it was just Mom and my sisters. Yes, we only had one bathroom. Living in a house full of women influenced me in a few ways I didn’t notice until my wife pointed them out to me. I guess I was a typical middle child.

PH: What’s your current home life like?
MW: My wife and I’ve now been married six years this past October, and we’re expecting our first child in early 2006. We’re very excited. We also have a female cat named Bailey. Bailey is part Siamese, part everything else. We live in Mankato, and both went to Bethany and Gustavus.

PH: What’s your education background?
MW: I attended Dawson Boyd Public High School. It wasn’t too bad, especially for a small town; we had lots of opportunities. I decided to go to Bethany mostly because of lack of choice otherwise. My parents wanted me to go there. I was 18 and really itching to get out of the house. The people that I met the first week at Bethany are the people I’m still friends with. At that time Bethany was still two years, so I graduated in 1996. I went on to Gustavus because they have a very good music education program, and graduated from there in 1998. I guess I really enjoyed doing 2 years at one place, 2 years at another. I really enjoyed doing my college experience that way.

PH: What sort of teaching experience do you have?
MW: My first real job after college was working in a private music studio, just teaching private lessons. Then I accepted a job offer in LeSeuer, MN. Due to a variety of circumstances, that job ended after a year. Basically I got bumped out of my job, as sometimes happens in public education. In April we decided to pursue grad school for my wife, and we moved to Colorado. I ran a lesson studio in a music store, and then I was teaching in a small school district in Wiggins, CO. I directed the band grades 5-12 and also the choir grades 7-12. I was very busy at that job. I liked it and I really liked my students; but, I was just getting burned out because I didn’t have enough time to prepare.

PH: How did you end up directing MLC’s Wind Symphony?
MW: It’s a long story. After a four year stay in CO, we decided it was time to pack up and come back east. So without having secure employment, we moved back in the middle of June, and I looked for teaching positions. I had some very good leads and some very good interviews, but nothing really panned out. Then about the first week in August I got a call from Dr. Wendler, just totally out of the blue, to see if I wanted to direct the band. He got my name from a friend of ours from Colorado who used to be principal at Trinity in Nicollet. And his wife was talking with Dr. Wendler’s wife at LWMS, I believe. They were looking for a director, and my name came up. Dr. Wendler called my mother and got my number. I was glad that the Lord led me into this decision because I’ve really enjoyed it so far.

PH: What sort of challenges did you encounter?
MW: It’s a bit of an adjustment after teaching younger students, having to change the approach to learning music. The students are more advanced in their abilities—you don’t need to spend as much time on notes and other basic elements. Also I didn’t know where the band was at [in terms of ability]. This first semester has been a huge learning experience for me just in “Okay, what kind of music is appropriate for this ensemble? What can we do? What are the ways they learn best by?” It has been up and down in terms of what is the best way to go about approaching music and teaching it and not insulting the intelligence of the students, but not making assumptions about anything either. It’s a different balance, and has made for a fun challenge.

PH: Have there been any special surprises?
MW: The amount of high-quality instruments this college owned just floored me. I couldn’t believe that there were so many high-quality instruments, and that is a huge blessing to the school and the students, because we have those good instruments available for our use. I was expecting the worst, and ended up getting a very pleasant surprise. The catalog of music is also decent. It has a lot of good music.

PH: What else will you be doing here at MLC?
MW: I will teach private lessons in spring, as well as Instrumental Rehearsal Technique—I think that’s the name of the course.

PH: Did you have any ties to MLC before coming here as band director?
MW: Some of my classmates came over for synod certification. My parents went here, that’s about the only connection I have and that was about 30 years ago. My wife’s sister went to DMLC. Her family is very involved with the synod, as my father-in-law works for parish services and my mother-in-law teaches at WLC. I did not have a lot of contact with MLC at the time, however.

PH: What’s your opinion of New Ulm?
MW: New Ulm is a gorgeous town. I just love the architecture of the town. It’s beautiful, a very nice town in its size—not huge, not too small. It has all the things you need. I always like New Ulm, even just driving through—it just has an inherent beauty that a lot of other places kind of lack.

PH: I’m getting an inkling that you enjoy music. What’s your favorite type?
MW: I’m a big classical fan and jazz fan; I’m also into heavy metal. Bach and the Baroque period are my favorites. My students in Colorado were always surprised at my interest in heavy metal. Actually, it’s very technical [music], more so than top 40 pop or country music. My favorite bands are probably Dream Theater, Sabotage, Steve Vai, Ric Zappa, and a few others.

PH: What’s your favorite hymn?
MW: I like hymn 434 [“Lord, you I love with all my Heart”]—but I like the older version with all the [Old English thee’s & thou’s] a little bit more. The hymn is very poetic and meaningful, especially the last verse.

PH: What do you think would be your favorite Bible selection?
MW: Rev. 21:3-6. It describes beautifully how we will be in God’s presence for eternity.

PH: How would you describe your political views?
MW: I consider myself independent. I’m not a republican, certainly not a democrat—both seem to be toward the edges of the political spectrum. I like a few ideas from each party, so I guess I’m a happy medium.

PH: What’s the coolest place you’ve ever visited?
MW: I went to Norway on choir tour at BLC, end of sophomore year; it was absolutely gorgeous. We went on two fjord cruises. It’s like you stick the Rocky Mountains in a whole bunch of water. It’s just very cool, and very beautiful.

PH: Which superhero: Spiderman, The Hulk, Superman, or Batman?
MW: That’s a tough question. All three are really good. I’m a big Batman fan because he’s really smart, and has no natural powers. He uses his intelligence and honed physical ability to fight crime. I also like the dark element. Spiderman & The Hulk both would be tied for second. After all, who doesn’t love the big green monster?

PH: Are you cool?
MW: [Chuckle] Definitely not. It has been my life’s goal to be the antithesis of cool. That goes back to high school, with the cliques & all. I try not to think about it too much.

PH: What should we call you?
MW: Well, “Hey you,” always works, but “Mr. Wurster” would be fine. Technically I’m not a professor, but I do like the sound of “Professor Wurster.”

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