Playing at a new tempo: getting to know our new band teacher

Lance Ohnmeiss with his instrument, the French horn (Eva Cruz)

By Eva Cruz, Staff Writer

After the departure of beloved band teacher Matthew Bowker, Maria Carrillo High School’s music program entered a new chapter. Stepping into a position held by a teacher who had become such an important part of the community means having big shoes to fill. 

This year, those shoes belong to Lance Ohnmiess, Carrillo’s new band teacher. 

But, Ohnmeiss is not simply stepping into an empty classroom. He is also stepping into an established program, a community with its own culture and traditions, and a school full of students who are getting to know him just as he gets to know them.

“My job is to come in and see what it’s like here, and adapt to your culture, and not just force change for a change,” Ohnmeiss explained. “My expectation is to try and meld with the community and get to know people, and see where I can help.”

Ohnmeiss’s biggest teaching philosophy reflects his goals of learning and growing alongside students. He believes that music is not something reserved for people who already have talent. In fact, one of the first things he wants his students to know is that everyone has the ability to make music.

“Everybody has the power to be able to play music or sing, everybody,” says Ohnmeiss. “It doesn’t take talent, it doesn’t take prior knowledge. You just have to have the want to do it.”

That idea is at the center of Ohnmeiss’s approach as he begins his first year at Maria Carrillo High School. Although he already has years of experience teaching band, Ohnmeiss is joining the school ready to learn and grow alongside his students as he finds his footing.

Ohnmeiss comes to Carrillo with many years of experience as a musician, conductor, and educator. Originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree with an emphasis in music education from San Francisco State University in 2010, and later earned a master’s degree in conducting from Messiah College, back in his home state.

He also has a diverse musical background. Ohnmeiss has performed on his main instrument, the french horn, in both university and community ensembles, worked with marching bands, and conducted many groups throughout his career. He has also played the trumpet and is an accomplished bagpiper. 

During his time at San Francisco State University, Ohnmeiss was a student conductor for the university’s pep band, The Gator Band. He has also performed as a principal horn with the College of San Mateo Symphonic Band and The San Francisco State University Orchestra, as well as associate principal horn with the Pleasanton Community Band. His work as an educator has taken him to schools and music programs throughout California and beyond, including, Livermore High School, Antioch High School, and Mount Boucherie Secondary School in British Columbia.

His musical career, however, is only one part of his story. Ohnmeiss has spent time doing things that might seem far removed from the typical life of a band teacher. 

For seven years, Ohnmeiss helped his uncle with his funeral home in Pennsylvania. His uncle had been a funeral director for more than 50 years, and Ohnmeiss became familiar with a side of life very different from the one he now knows as a music educator. His work with him was part of what eventually led him into other unexpected experiences, including farming and working with horses.

Ohnmeiss later became involved in a horse drawn livery service, where he worked with and traded horses, as well as giving riding lessons. While these experiences may seem unrelated to his career in music, they are very important parts of who he is. 

Even during these changes, music has remained a constant. Ohnmeiss continued performing and teaching while also becoming involved in the bagpiping community. In fact, he co-founded the former Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Pipe Band in Modesto and served as its pipe sergeant.

That variety of experiences has followed Ohnmeiss throughout his life, and now he is beginning another chapter at Maria Carrillo. Despite coming to a new school and a new community, he said the transition has been easier than he expected in some ways.

“Everybody’s been really nice and helpful about getting me settled in. So I think that the best part has been not feeling behind or rushed, or like people are telling me that I’m not doing enough, fast enough. That’s been the coolest part.”

Still, getting comfortable in a new environment takes time. Ohnmeiss said one of the hardest parts has been adjusting from the fast paced, high expectation environment he came from while also learning how to navigate a new community.

“I don’t fully feel like I’m on my own footing yet,” Ohnmeiss admitted. “You know, you’re shy the first time you meet people, and yet you have to be the person in charge with all the answers. It’s really hard.”

For Ohnmiess, finding his footing does not mean immediately trying to completely reshape the flow of the classes. Instead, he wants to spend his first year learning how Carrillo works and figuring out where he can make a difference.

That student-focused approach was something our music director Matthew Bringedahl noticed during the hiring process. “I wanted a band director to help out that was complementary to my approaches,” he said. “So someone who was really, really invested in student success.”

Bringedahl pointed out that Ohnmeiss’ experience as a brass player also complements his own background as a woodwind musician. 

Along with the combined Concert-Symphonic Band, Jazz One, and Appreciation of the Arts, he is also taking on the mariachi program, a class that will give him another opportunity to learn alongside his students. Although he has taken part in a few mariachi gigs throughout his career, teaching it is still very new to him. He was taught a little in college but it was still new to the teaching curriculum in California.

“When I was in college, we touched on it a little bit, but it was just a new thing in California so it’s new to me… if it’s music I can teach anything.”

For someone whose life has taken him from Pennsylvania to California, from funeral homes and farms to concert halls and bagpipe bands, Ohnmiess is starting yet another new chapter. Ohnmiess has spent his life proving that music can take you almost anywhere. Now, at Carrillo, he hopes to help his students go as far as they can.

They just have to want to make music.