Tuomaala excels, is deserving of support

Editor:

I was very happy last week when I noticed a reporter sitting in the back of our classroom at the start of our rehearsal. I thought that finally someone would show the campus how awesome Mr. Tuomaala was for the music program and how great rehearsals with him were. And then, I read the article your reporter wrote. I couldn’t have been unhappier with anything I’ve read in the Almanian this year.

To correct some factual errors, Mr. Scripps did not retire two years ago, but December of last year. Now, I want to get into the other portions of Scott Weir’s article. He quoted Cassie Metzler for much of his article – as a matter of fact, she took up an entire column. I want to point out a few things: while I applaud Ms. Metzler in stating her opinion, I have to say that the major factor in why so many students have made “saving Tuomaala”, if that’s really what you want to call it, as their cause is that we believe very strongly in the vision he has of our Instrumental Music Pro-gram. Not only have we received more publicity than we ever have, we are better than we have ever been, and it’s because we do believe in the “merit and effective-ness of his teaching”, and not because of the “emotional response to how Mr. Tuomaala handled the situation”.

As to that last statement, Mr. Tuomaala has been a bigger man that any one I know that has been placed in a similar situation. I have been through this type of situa-tion before, in high school. The director in that situation left without warning, and I haven’t heard from him again. Mr. Tuomaala has not done that. He has not run away from this like so many people would be tempted to. Instead, he has reacted and behaved with the utmost “dignity and integrity”.

In response to the comment that Mr. Tuomaala should accept that “he did not fit in well with the Alma College environment”, I have to say that contrary to what Ms. Metzler believes to be true, Mr. Tuomaala fits in quite nicely with the Alma College environment. He is, by far, the best thing that has happened to this college’s Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. He brings new life and refreshing techniques to rehearsal. He makes us want to play better.

Another thing I want to point out is that Mr. Tuomaala never, in his ensembles, “blurted” out anything about his discontent. He was very professional about it. He was not impassioned, or emotional, or over the top. He was calm and professional. His classes were never “dragged into the politics of it all by only hearing one side of the story”. As a matter of fact, his ensembles haven’t even heard one side of the story. We have heard no sides of the story. We were dragged into this situation because it affects us in a huge way. Many of us have already been through the hiring process once, and through an interim director. It is not a pleasant situation, and we want to avoid that again, understandably. That is only part of the reason though. We got involved especially because this is our director. He believes in us, and we believe in him. It wasn’t a one-sided story that got us involved. It was our convictions.

Again, I applaud Ms. Metzler for stating her opinion. I just wanted to counter that and let people know why a lot of us disgruntled music students are finally speaking out.

Nikki Jones (05)

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