LFCDS teacher nabs top music honor

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“I love my students. I love what I do,” says Lake Forest Country Day School music teacher Scott Baeseman, who won the 2012 Mary Hoffman Award of Excellence recently.

Updated: March 24, 2012 8:48AM

It’s the biggest honor an Illinois music teacher can claim -- and Scott Baeseman of Lake Forest Country Day School has earned it.

The LFCDS Chair of the Fine Arts Department and music teacher received a standing ovation at the awards ceremony in Peoria in late January, a rousing endorsement that still pulls at his heartstrings.

“It was a huge surprise,” said Baeseman, who just missed winning a Golden Apple Award last year.

This time, Baeseman was the unanimous choice for the 2012 Mary Hoffman Award of Excellence for music education from the Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA). The award is given annually to an Illinois music teacher or university music professor who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and exhibits the characteristics of an outstanding music educator.

“I love my students. I love what I do,” said Baeseman.

Outside the classroom, Baeseman is a professional musician and composer. He also is the director of music at Trinity series at Trinity Episcopal Church in Highland Park.

Music, he said, is his passion in life.

‘Incredible gift’

“To share this with my students is an incredible gift to me,” he said.

In her recommendation letter to the IMEA, Sally Bullard, head of lower school at LFCDS, commended the impact Baeseman has made.

“He took a floundering middle school choral program and created an experience that few students are willing to miss,” Bullard wrote.

Even though the chorus practices two days a week at 7:35 a.m., the number of participants continues to grow with more than 80 percent of the Upper Schools students involved, including boys, she said.

“Scott believes that every student can learn to sing in tune, read music, and appreciate and experience what music has to offer,” Manon Spadaro, LFCDS Director of Theater Activities, said in her recommendation letter.

As a result of this belief, “every student leaves our school able to read music fluently, sing competently and confidently, play a musical instrument, and understand and appreciate a multitude of musical styles,” Spadaro said.

Baeseman said his students at LFCDS have taught him as much as he has taught them.

“When you have a skill and have to break it down to teach it, you really have to know your stuff inside and out,” he said. “Teaching is where I learn the most about myself. It’s made my skills as a performer stronger.”

Baeseman will direct “Dona Spiritus,” an evening of poetry and music to feed the soul, featuring soloists and singers from LFCDS Honors Chorus and members of the Lyric Opera Chicago, in new music he wrote at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 11 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 425 Laurel Ave., Highland Park.