For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Matthew Cautivar.  I’m thrilled to be joining Hebron as the new orchestra director. Previously I was at Killian MS.  There I was proud to be a part of a community that came together to support our students and help them develop their musical abilities.  The goal was always the same, from beginners to advanced – to help them prepare for the next level, as musicians and as young men and women.  And now we’re here at Hebron, and our goal continues.

For many of our students the next step is college.  Parents, I don’t teach orchestra because I love music.  Although I truly do.  I teach orchestra because the qualities and skills we work on every day are the qualities and skills that are most important to success in college and beyond.  You know about discipline and perseverance.  The list goes on – neurological development, language skills, mathematical/analytical skills, fine motor control, peripheral awareness, social sensitivity…  We’ve just scratched the surface of what studying music does for students.  College admissions boards know this.  The attractiveness of listing school orchestra on a college application is unparalleled, no matter what major the student intends on pursuing.  One could make the case that being selected to the Texas All-State Orchestra is more prestigious and competitive than being selected as a National Merit Scholar.  Many of our students continue to work on this audition through the summer for their chance to make it this fall.  I am awestruck to see time and time again my former orchestra students accepted to ivy league schools, and/or receive scholarships to the schools of their choice.

Orchestra is my community, and I’d love for it to be part of yours too.  I’ve been honored to witness my students make lifelong friends and memories, on stage and off.  As one of the freshmen on campus I want to honor the traditions that are important to the orchestra, and possibly make new ones as we move forward together.  As always please do not hesitate to contact me for any reason.

Thank you all for your support and I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Matthew
Cautivarm@lisd.net