From meeting the Pope to traveling to New York City to playing across the St. Louis region, the St. Louis U. High band has surely seen some amazing sights. As breathtaking as some of these locations may have been, nothing may be as breathtaking as the new percussionist teacher, Michael Faris.

Faris is originally from Washington, where he received degrees in music education and performance at Central Washington University. He then moved to St. Louis to earn his graduate and master’s degrees in music from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music.  Following his graduation, Faris jumped into freelancing with groups such as the Saint Louis Symphony, the Opera Theater, and the Muny.

In 1991, Faris met the director of band at Ladue High School, who later recruited Faris to develop a percussion program for the school. He spent 27 years at Ladue High before his retirement last year. Not long after Faris had retired, SLUH’s band director and Faris’ friend of 25 years, Jeff Pottinger, reached out to him.

“When he had approached me, I was very interested in what he had to say,” says Faris. “SLUH is a well known school with a great reputation. Mr. Pottinger has developed the music program over the last several years, and when I heard the groups play last spring I was very impressed with the amount of progress that had been made and the evolution of the program with his arrival.”

Faris was offered the

position of percussionist which he specializes in, and got right to work as soon as he arrived on SLUH’s campus, tuning instruments and ordering new parts for the band.

“Even in just a couple weeks, he had really elevated our performance,” said senior percussionist Christian Mark. “He did the things we just needed done for a while.”

Farris teaches two periods a day and three days a week, and is solely devoted to working with the percussionists (i.e. xylophone, bells, crash symbols, bass drum, etc.) of the band. During class, he takes about 20 percussionists and works with them in a different area, away from the brass and woodwinds. Farris works indirectly with Pottinger to improve the band by giving each member of the band the education and the time they need for practice.

“There’s certain classes, like Symphonic Band which has 65 students in the class,” said Pottinger. “So it’s nice to have another set of hands to do something with the kids.”

Percussionists like Mark are excited for Farris’s help.

“I think it’s really nice to have a teacher just for percussion, because sometimes the band will have us sit in the back, while everyone else is doing all the trumpets, flute, everyone else is learning their parts,” said Mark. “It’s been super nice because we’ve been able to really work on all our parts consistently, every day for the whole class.”

Part of what makes Farris such a talented teacher is his past experience with high school percussion. According to Pottinger, Farris was one of the first percussion instructors in the St. Louis region during his time at Ladue.

“He pretty much wrote the book on percussion education in the state of Missouri, including the All-State auditions for percussions, so he’s one of the best of the best,” said Pottinger.

The differences in teaching style Farris brings to the table have positively affected the SLUH band overall.

“We’re learning all the new songs and he knows the exact technique to play things better,” said Mark. “Just all the little things that add up that we would overlook normally.”

“What I’ve noticed is that even having him here to work with the percussion has actually made the brass and woodwinds even better,” said Pottinger. “Because I’m able to just teach them what they need to know.”

For Farris, music is just as much a lifestyle as it is a vocation, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have other interests, which he shares with his wife.

“We love animals and are big dog lovers. We love hiking and biking, so I guess those are the things we do besides music although it still has a functional part of whatever we tend to do,” said Farris, “We also love to travel. The Pacific Northwest is always a favorite. I love the Arches National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon.”

Farris and his wife plan to travel abroad to Paris and Prague next year.

With only four weeks into the year, Farris has felt privileged to work with such a talented group of young men.

“I am excited to keep offering my experiences to the students of SLU High. Mr. Pottinger and I share a vision which is very important for a unified path, and the students have been so great to work with,” says Farris. “What I am looking to do is continue that forward momentum and progression that Mr. Pottinger has already started.”