Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Tordahl.
Hi Christian, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I always loved playing music in an ensemble. I joined my school band back in suburban New York in 3rd grade, and learned to play trumpet. The band room was always someplace I felt at home and accepted just for being myself. Being in band helped me get through school, which was not a welcoming place for me. I felt close to my music teachers and decided early on I wanted to teach. I studied music education at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, then after teaching two years in New Jersey I completed a Masters degree in conducting at the University of South Florida. There I had the opportunity to study with some of the biggest names in the wind band world: Dr. Mallory Thompson, Donald Hunsberger, Bob Reynolds, Eugene Corporon, Craig Kirchoff, and others. I then spent three decades teaching music in the public schools of New York and California.
In 2010, I joined HIllcrest Wind Ensemble as a trumpet player. Our Artistic Director also gave me opportunites to conduct the group on a piece in each concert. In 2018 I became Associate Artistic Director, a more formalized role. In 2021, following our hiatus for the Covid pandemic, I took over as Artistic Director. Each season I plan our five concerts, establish themes and repertoire, rehearse the ensemble weekly, and conduct our public performances.
Hillcrest Wind Ensemble will be celebrating our 40th anniversary later this year. In summer 1985 we were founded as San Diego’s Finest CIty Freedom Band to bring music to the LGBT community. It’s been a thrill to be part of this community of musicians, to get to share in the joy of making music together. Once a week for two hours we put aside all the challenges of life to express ourselves through our instruments. We bring together a diverse group of adults, who all have different careers and are in different stages of life. In the end, what matters are the connections to each other and to the art of making music.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m not sure anyone has a smooth road in life. I can say the struggles have not been insurmountable, and many people have had more challenges in life than I, but there have been some. I am not in a field that is highly paid or highly respected as a career. When I went home for break during university and told my family I was going to be a music major the first thing they asked was how I was going to get a job. I think we get stuck in this view that everyone needs to go to college to prepare for a job. That’s not why I went to college. I went to college to pursue my passion and to become educated around many different subjects. I knew that with a good education, good critical thinking skills, and strong creativity, I would have marketable assets. I’ve moved around a bit in my adult life, but I’ve never been without work, either in a public school, or for a few years running my own educational servies business. Life is what we make it, so why not pursue your passion and enjoy the ride?
Probably the most challenging period of my career was when I moved form New York City to California, in 2005. I was a bit burned out teaching in public school so I moved to San Diego to open a business that provided band programs to parochial schools. I created the business while still living in Manhattan, with a San Diego address and phone number. I recruited five schools the first year, which I served on my own. Within three years I built the business to twenty-three schools from San Diego up to Santa Barbara. I had part time teachers on my staff, and a full time office person. That was 2008, when the financial crisis hit. I knew it was over when I had a call from a parent in La Jolla, who had to pull her child out of band because the two parents worked in real estate and hadn’t seen a paycheck in months. I couldn’t make payroll and had to close the business. Lucklily, I was able to secure a teaching position back in the public schools.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
There are two aspects to my work: my career in public school as a music educator and my work as Artistic Director of Hillcrest Wind Ensemble. Both are related in many aspects, as both relate to music.
Currently, my day job is as Coordinator of Visual and Performing Arts in the District Office of La Mesa-Spring Valley Schools. I am in my seocnd year there, after serving four years in San Diego Unified – two years as an elementary band teacher and two years as a resource teacher in the VAPA office.
In November 2022, the California voters passed Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools Act, which provides schools with money specifically for arts programs. As Coordinator, I developed an elementary arts program for LMSV, which didn’t exist before. We launched this year and I now oversee a team of eight elementary visual art and music teachers. They visit every classroom from grades TK-5 at all seventeen of our elementary schools, so that each student receives classes in visual art and music. I’m very proud of this work and the impact we are having on the lives of these students, who now have an opportunity to learn to express themselves and be creative.
My work with HIllcrest Wind Ensemble is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream I’ve had, and that is to conduct a high level ensemble in wind band repertoire. My advanced degree is specifically geared toward this work. I had the opportunity to study with some of the best conductors of this genre. I’m known for the musicianship and interpretation I bring to our performances. My conducting focuses on the big picture in the music, and I always work on helping the ensemble express intention thorugh each and every note of music. I’m proud how the ensemble has grown in the four years I’ve conducted them. I’m also proud we have embraced our mission of diveristy to include the music we program. In the past few concerts I have searched to find music of historically marginalized composers, and as a result we have celebrated the music of William Grant Still, Joan Tower, Brent Michael Davids, and many others.
How do you think about luck?
I don’t know that I believe in luck – or if I do, I certainly don’t have good luck. I rarely play the Lotto and don’t gamble much because I never win at any of those things.
I do, however, belive opportunities present themselves to all of us, and it’s importnat to know when to seize them. I believe deeply that we generate our own destinies, which is why I’ve always told my students to follow their passions. If you can discover what your passion is, it lights a fire within you that will be seen by others if you allow it. It’s hard for anyone to see what their future may hold, but you must trust that opportuities will be there. As a kid growing up in suburban New York, as a first generation American, with family that played zero music, how could I ever have dreamed of what I would become? But those public school music teachers I was fortunate to have lit a fire within me, until I realized I HAD to pursue music. My parents telling me I would be poor and on the steets didn’t stop me. Luck didn’t have part in it either, in my estimation. It was hard work, perseverance, and being open to opportunitites that presented themselves along the way. I didn’t always have the “dream” job, but every step was a step that brought me to where I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hillcrestwindensemble.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillcrest_windensemble/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HillcrestWindEnsemble
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-tordahl-0a338a20
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HillcrestWind
Image Credits
Janine Donston, Enrique Toral
