Music Teachers At Rival Schools Find Harmony

Emily Heithoff teaches band and choir at Clearwater-Orchard while Eric Heithoff teaches band and choir at Elgin.

Jaimie Schmitz
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It’s no secret that area schools are sometimes rivals. 

So, what happens when two band teachers from different schools, who also rival each other in competitive sports, are married?

That’s the life Eric and Emily Heithoff live. But, according to them, the school competition doesn’t interfere with their love for their profession and each other.

“We sit in the middle and say, ‘Go sports!’ because Elgin plays OC all the time,” Emily said laughing.  “In pep band we try to help each other out all the time. Eric will come play at my school and stuff like that.”

Eric and Emily met in college at Wayne State in 2008. After graduation in 2011, Eric took a job in Elgin as the Kindergarten-12 band and choir teacher. 

They married in June of 2014.

“And that was my biggest worry when he did get the Elgin job was ‘oh man where am I going to teach that is close enough that we can make this whole being married thing work?” Emily said.

It wasn’t long before everything started to fall into place for the couple to stay in Antelope County.

“I actually did my student teaching here in Neligh and then the Clearwater-Orchard job came open so I jumped on that,” Emily said.  “So I started working there and the rest is history.”

“So it kind of worked out,” Eric said and Emily agreed.

“It kind of worked out perfect actually,” she added.

Although Emily and Eric were both music majors, they had different concentrations and backgrounds.

“So I was a voice major in college with a minor in percussion,” Eric explained.  “And I did a little saxophone in jazz band, and a little bit of brass. Whereas she did more piano and woodwind.” 

Because the couple has expertise in different areas, they will often bounce ideas off each other and share advice. 

“I’ll come home and say ‘Hey I have this problem or here’s my situation.’  And I have this one saxophone player that is really struggling and what can I do and he will give me ideas,” Emily said.  “And he will come home and kind of say the same thing. So it's really nice to have someone and bounce ideas and stuff off of.” 

Although they have never been in the position where they are competing, they have been able to share notes and advice after honor bands and district music.

“Mainly the only time you're competing is in marching band, and we haven’t marched in two years because of the numbers,” Eric said.  “So in another two years when the numbers are up.”

“I’m going to take you down,” Emily laughed.

Emily and Eric said they always thought a small school would be best to start out. Now, they both think where they are at is perfect.

“We come home and we go ‘Hey, good performance today, hey thanks. What’s for supper?” Emily said.

Eric handles all music and choir at Elgin, whereas Emily teaches 5-12 band and high school choir. They agreed that Eric has an advantage with potentially teaching the same students for 13 years.

“So that is one thing where I think I have a little more of a benefit because I start them in kindergarten,” Eric said.  “So that is when I start getting them ready for band and choir in high school.”

Eric and Emily said that big schools have a disadvantage because there are different teachers with different teaching styles.  

“I think the consistency that he has with his kids is better,” Emily explained.  “We do have a good elementary teacher and she does teach them a lot of the fundamentals but there is that transition of well, Mrs. Kesting taught us this way, but that’s not how Mrs. Heithoff does it.”

The Heithoff’s hope that in the future, consistency will help grow the number of students participating in band and choir.

“I have a forecast that looks ahead at least five years,” Eric said. “In five years, if all the kids in band would stay out, we would have a band of 64.” 

“Make it fun is my biggest thing,” Emily added. “I think a main thing is to keeping kids out and keeping them playing. And getting their skills up for them to get better.”

Both are looking toward the future with each other and with their schools in hopes to help the students succeed.
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“I love that moment where you see it in a kid ‘Oh I get this.’ Or they finally break through,” Emily said. “It makes it worth it, worth the headache and stress.”