SNOW HILL – After more than three decades of instilling a love of music and sense of pride in Snow Hill High School’s marching band, band director Bill Kraus will retire this spring.
Kraus, who has led the band program at Snow Hill High since 1985, has decided he’s ready to slow down and spend more time with his family.
“I’ve loved being here,” Kraus said. “It was a very hard decision. I still don’t know if I’ve made the right choice.”
Kraus, a native of New Jersey, spent a year teaching in Crisfield and then some time working for a music company before starting at Snow Hill High School in 1985. He had been offered a position that paid $22,000 a year at a Pennsylvania chicken plant but couldn’t resist the urge to return to the classroom — in spite of the mere $9,500 starting salary.
“I missed teaching a whole lot,” he said, “and I missed the area. I still knew a lot of people here.”
So Kraus, a graduate of West Chester University, started teaching marching band, concert band and advanced musicianship at Snow Hill High. He loved the job and soon came to love the town.
“It’s just a really good community,” he said.
While he liked the small town atmosphere, he soon realized it made for some difficulties in attracting students to marching band.
“Kids in a small school like this, they’re involved in everything,” he said. “Band is such a time commitment.”
Kraus did what he needed to do to get kids in band. He got to school early and stayed late, offering band practice in the evening, after the school’s sports teams practiced. He rewrote parts to each student’s ability, customized the music and even sometimes brought a guest drum instructor in. But more than anything, Kraus impressed upon the young musicians the importance of time and effort.
“Every time you go out you want to do better,” he said. “You’re really not in competition with others. You’re in competition with yourself. You want to do well for yourself and bring pride to your school and community.”
Kraus believes that is what has made Snow Hill High School’s band such a force to be reckoned with in local parades.
“They want to excel,” he said.
David Kuhn, the band’s volunteer photographer, agrees. He has watched Kraus work with the students at parades throughout the Eastern Shore since he started taking pictures for the band in 1996.
“The kids want to do good,” he said. “They have a real pride in the band. The kids are committed and a lot of it has to do with him.”
Kuhn estimates that under Kraus’ guidance, the band has won more than 95 percent of the competitions it’s been involved in.
“It’s quite a record,” he said. “Very few bands want to go up against them.”
Kuhn says Kraus goes above and beyond what’s expected of him to help the students succeed.
“He has a great rapport with them,” Kuhn said. “He commands respect because he’s devoted to them. He’s one of those teachers that’s really made a difference.”
Kraus says some of his fondest memories have come from working with the students. He will never forget watching a student he knew grow up in poverty in a poor home environment take the stage at Carnegie Hall.
“It’s neat seeing kids go beyond what’s expected of them,” he said. “The kids here are like my kids, too. You really grow attached.”