This is how it all started! This sweet little kid really wanted a drum set for Christmas. All the presents had been given out and despite being a little disappointed, Elijah put on a happy face because that is Lij! I think it was my Dad said, Hey Elijah, I think I heard somebody put something in my room. (The house I grew up in was bought by my sister and brother and then Dad built a papa apartment on the side). This was Elijah's reaction to seeing his new drum set. Not a great one, but would get him going! This is where we are at as of 1:00 today!

That Christmas was in 2012! It was an honor to be Elijah's first drum teacher, I think I gave him his first gig, I had him on his first recording! I'm so blessed to literally have worked with thousands of kids at this point in my life. So many stay in touch with me and have gone on to very big things. There is none more special then teaching family! Today was such a sentimental moment and wondering how time went so fast! 

Elijah, had his college senior Jazz Recital today! I could not be more proud of him. He is such a gifted writer, an amazing percussionist, but still the same sweet kid I taught 14 years ago. As kids become older they get away from saying they love you, but Lij and I tell each other we love each other all the time including on stage! 

It is always gratifying when you invest so much in someone and you get to see the fruits of your labor. I always joke that if you do the opposite of what I tell you to do, you'll be incredible! 

It was my distinct honor to be asked by Lij, to be a part of his recital. I did not take this lightly and actually practiced a lot for this day wanting to live up to the moment. I'm sorry to say for various reasons I came up short today and am pretty bummed about it but in typical Lij fashion he said it was perfect and everything he had hoped for. Thanks Lij! 

The sentimental part was obviously thinking of my Dad who had also invested so much into Elijah. Elijah not only gave tribute to my Dad but wrote a song called Exodus for him, again testimony to the character of this young man who honors his elders well! Man, if my Dad could have seen his son and grandson playing together on his recital, he would have been so happy. Luckily, he did get to see us play together a lot! 

Thank you also to Brother Keith Hall who corrected all my mistakes in teaching Elijah for 14 years! 
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Please take a walk down memory lane with me and browse through our time together over the years. 

Love you Elijah! Uncle Max could not be more honored and humbled! 

​Pictures from today:

Memory Lane

I'm so thankful for the jazz series at St. Cecilia! It really brings community together and so it's always great fellowship. It's been 20 years since Branford was there which Cathy mentioned because it was her first or second day on the job and she just had that anniversary. So very special. The concert was so awesome and fun to have the Byron and Northview kids there. It was Justin's birthday and they had fun with that all night. Special time! 

I'm in a tribute band that does about 3 different shows. These are a good group of guys and I enjoy playing with them and they have taken me some places I haven't gone before. Now I may have been to Frankenmuth as a kid but I have no recollection of it so I'm going to say this was my first time. This was the 1981 Simon and Garfunkel Central Park Concert! 

One of the many blessings that came out of my time at MSU was getting to know the great Harvey Mason. He is such a drum icon and yet one of the nicest cats you'll ever know. He was gracious to sit down and do an interview with me for my upcoming Uncle G podcast. It was once again great to have so many of my families together with MSU, Northview, and Rockford! 

Always honored to be asked to adjudicate because it involves clinics where I actually get to work with the bands. I am not a fan of ratings in music but that is another story for another day. As always it's about the fellowship! Good to see so many people I love. The second picture is with Joe LaJoye who I have the honor of being a guest at his amazing jazz festival next month. Looking forward to that! ​https://thornapplearts.org/jazzfest/

It was a full day of families, swing, and fellowship. It was good to be back with my Byron family. After covid, things changed for a minute obviously, but I remember people didn't know how to fellowship. Things are back to normal. The thing that stood out to me was how many kids came up and said hi to me and some I didn't even know. Again, that is all part of the amazing instruction and model set by the staff. Then I headed over to Northview for the annual MSU, Rockford, Northview side by side concert. 3 dear families and while I don't know too many kids left at MSU and Northview, it was nice meeting some new faces. One face that wasn't new and matter of fact I have known her almost since she was a baby and that is Professor Whitaker'd daughter Sarah. I was looking for a picture I have of her that she remembers as a little kid but I couldn't find it at the moment. She sounded amazing both on vocals and drums and is always so nice to me. I'm so happy that Cullen McCarthy at Rockford has the confidence in me to keep bringing me in almost every week. He is a dear brother to me and love him much. So many others, but it was also so good to see and hear a dear brother the great Harvey Mason again. We had a wonderful tour when I worked at MSU and we have stayed in touch ever since. He was kind enough to do a quick interview with me for an upcoming podcast. Stay tuned! I left a little early and God got me up to Frankenmuth to do 1981 Central Park Simon and Garfunkel tribute show all week! 

In this season, I'm really trying to be intentional about everything I do. I believe we really can create atmospheres for ourselves and more than ever, I want Holy Spirit to be way more present in my life to guide me, heal me, and bring comfort to the riggers of life I and others face. So I've never done this at any place I moved to, but wanted the first song to be Amazing Grace in honor of Dad, Marcus Printup who this is his favorite song, and invite Holy Spirit to dwell with me here! (on the musical side of things, listening to my bad time, bad harmony, bad sound, is cringeworthy and torture for me, but it has greater purposes then my sad playing)

One of my proudest associations is with my Byron Center Band Family and some of this is redundant because I've blogged on them before.

​The maintained standard of excellence across the entire band program, is achieved through hard work and character building. Not one decision is made without careful consideration of does it fit our core values, will it advanced the goals and desired outcomes we have set for the program and the students,  will it character build, does it have a greater purpose and on and on. 

Much is built on leadership and student ownership of being a responsible member of each ensemble. It also sometimes is not surface level fun, however a more mature "fun" is realized much later after many hard sectionals, rehearsals, and performances. 

Marc and I sat, at a Buffalo Wild Wings for hours, one night upon Marc taking the job at Byron and we discussed the vision and dreams for the jazz program. We had a year goal, 5 year goal, 10 etc... Most of those dreams came true much sooner than we had ever planned. Marc is truly one of my best friends and his family is my family. 

One of the really special moments for each performance is "The Circle" . It usually starts with Marc asking the question, " What do you want tonight to be about"? Sometimes the tears start already! LOL As the year progresses, and the bonds begin to form both from strife and harmony, from the hard work and dedication of everything they have been through together throughout the year, the let downs the celebrations, by the last few concerts, (usually last one being at Jazz at Lincoln Center) the kids have realized the incredibly special group of people they just spent the last year with and only each one of them know what they have been through to get to where they are by the shared experience. 

This circle mostly for the members of the ensemble, is sometimes joined by principals, superintendents, many times me and Marc is always so gracious to call me out to say something, and always our guest artists who also share inspiration and wisdom. On so many occasions, the comment is made "I have never seen anything like this"  If our country could see this, we'd be in much better shape. Many tears have been shed by the incredible journey we've all just been on. 

The kids are more mature than you think. They get it. They know the demands put upon them are out of love. Even one year they had tee-shirts made up that said, "mean Mr. Townley, takes us places" Those places have included the  Savannah Music Festival and the Essentially Ellington Competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center and in my humble estimation the most prestigious Jazz festival in the world for high schoolers, and if I'm not mistaken for the 10th time this year. And yes it was our goal to make this once in our career when we planned at Buffalo Wild Wings. 

I'm now just getting to the point of this blog! LOL 

I don't know if you would call it a core value, but one of the main objectives for everyone at Byron is how you treat people. Everyone from your classmates, your instructors, but also the agents at the airport, the ticket takers at a concert we will be attending, the people who have planned tirelessly to give you the best experience possible at their music festival, and on and on. Thank you notes are written by the kids to visitors. In this day and age of phones, this is sometimes harder than you think, but these kids have been taught and always deliver. Personal responsibility is crucial and excuses not tolerated. 

One of the objectives we wanted to do from the very beginning is bring in the worlds greatest musicians to inspire the kids and the list at this point is very long and I believe is a major component to this day, of the success of the program. I really want to make a self deprecating joke here but one of my greatest honors is to have been on that list for which I don't belong 3 times and is some of my most cherished memories. Thank you. 

With the emphasis on treating people with respect, love, and dignity, Marc is very big on honoring the people who have helped him along the way. One of those people he has honored every step of the way was my Father. It started with I think emails back and forth, then Marc always having a ticket for my Dad for any concert he wanted to come to. But then he and his parents went further. I think it was the 2nd time we made EE in NYC, Marc and his parents wanted to honor my Dad by paying for all his expenses for him to be able to come and watch the event in person. 

My Dad humbly accepted this most gracious gift and my Dad and I went together. They would have paid for the flight but Dad was in kind of bad shape with his nerve pain issue so we drove instead. ( a move that was I guess smart because on the way home he was in so much pain he just screamed in the backseat for 12 hours straight as I drove all the way home. Not sure what he would have done on the plane.)

My dad couldn't have been more proud of Marc and it was a very special time. 

The connection with my Dad and Byron is very strong. Mr. Klein was a student teacher for my Dad when I was a student at Northview. He was a very bad duct tape basketball player in the band room! LOL inside joke but a great student teacher! Also, a very special student teacher for my dad was Megan Soukup, all 3 were the band directors at Byron. (the bond was so close that my Father had wanted both Marc and Megan to speak at my Dad's celebration of life ceremony and they were awesome)

Marc wanted to continue to give my Dad respect and honor him and ended up having him be a guest twice to work with the bands so that his kids could experience a little of Marc's high school experience. (oh yea, should have mentioned my Dad was Marc's band director! LOL)

I believe Marc told me the last concert linked below, was my Dad's last time in front of a concert band. 

Megan was also so good to my Dad always staying in touch and he had so much respect for her and of course was always so proud of her. 

Marc and Megan thank you for honoring my Dad. His legacy continues though you both and he always was so proud of you both!  Love you both madly! 

I've also included a few photos from over the years. I have thousands I think!  (sidetone: this platform for making these blogs will resort to a previous picture I may have posted with the same number of the picture, so if you see pictures of the Arizona Desert, lol, it does that while scrolling but if you click on the pictures I don't think it does that. very annoying)

I also have to mention that I'm thankful also to my dear brothers and families at West Ottawa with Mike Hamann and Rockford with Cullen McCarthy who both share the same philosophies and mindsets about jazz and kids! I'm thankful for their confidence in me, to bring me in weekly to teach life through jazz, and I take it very seriously because I'm required to do so. 
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It is always important to find balance especially when going through something. With a lot of feelings swinging one way, the above beautiful friends and family have counterbalanced those feelings just this week. I usually keep most reach outs private for various reasons, but felt the need to publicly thank all these beautiful souls for just checking in and showing some love. 

My family is still very much dealing with the loss of our patriarch. It may be a weird picture to show, which is from a private service for just my family that I held for Talia, but it shows that when I needed them most, they were very much there for me. There have been many reach outs this week from various members for which I am humbled and grateful. I love my family!

While I will keep our conversations private that I had with the rest of these amazing friends, I will say all brought humor, all brought encouragement, and all brought a tremendous amount of love to my life this week. Thank you Mike (Tonya), Jon, Marc, Keith, Luther, Chris, Cullen, Dale, and Sandy. Love you all so much!

(I feel I've also missed some people) I'll edit if needed to include! 

This is all in one week. God truly is good and is love! I'm so blessed! 

This is a hard blog to write on so many levels for me. I'm actually not emotionally ready to write it yet, because I'm still going through it, however, God continues impress on me what He is doing in my life that I have to write just a little about it. 

It seems like I have been in a season of loss for a long time. Losses of all kinds not just the passing away of loved ones, although that has been a constant over the past 6 years. Some of the losses were  intentional like resigning from my job, selling my house I built my life with Talia, etc. I've lost 3 very long friendships out of the blue and the latest is the loss of a relationship I was very serious about. She is an amazingly strong, inspiring, Godly, compassionate, transparent, wise, playful, nurturing, sensitive, and beautiful woman. Anyone that knows her, would understand why I was so attracted to her. It was nobody's fault really, just the wrong time for her and her situation. It's important that I don't place any blame whatsoever, needles to say, I don't do really good with these things at all. 

I try and hold these things kind of private, but God is truly trying to show me it is about trusting Him. I learned something about myself however that has plagued me in every relationship I've ever been in. I think I will keep that close too, but needless to say it was very enlightening. 

For me, as a believer in Jesus Christ, it truly is about trusting what God says about us is true. Ironically, and there are a few irony's, is for both of us, a foundational verse in both of our lives is Proverbs 3:5-6 " Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path" 

Very famous verse and get the concept in my head and mind. But what about all these feelings that are eating me inside and my heart that is so broken? 

While the verse provides the answer to my healing. With most promises from God, there is conditional participatory actions that need to be taken in order for the promise to take root and make even my feelings feel better. (Phil 4 put it into action)

The frustrating thing to me, is with all I know about God and believing Jesus died for me, what more should I need to trust Him, also knowing Holy Spirit is in me the same one Jesus had. 

So much of my life has been trying to find that balance between mind and heart. I need the knowledge in my brain to just drop about 5 inches to my heart and things will be cool. It is such a battle for me. 

So, I have listened to this particular sermon many times before, but it popped up in my suggestions so while driving I listened again.(starts about 15 mins in) I think the line that gets me most from Bill is God needs us to trust Him, when we don't get the things we desire. It's easy to trust when everything works out and for a little bit, it really did seem to me that many of my prayers were coming true and dreaming mode was in full bloom. But if we can't trust Him when dreams are shattered, He can't trust us to give us the good things either. I guess it would be like someone that didn't love you the day before but after winning the lottery they now "love " you. LOL

I've known for ever that most characteristics I strive for can only be obtained through trials. How can I prove my faith and trust in what I say I believe unless it's challenged. He also uses the example of a pearl and how it ends up like it does through great pressure. 

Working through all these dumb emotions is sometimes a minute by minute battle in which the only way to victory is changing my mindset to fully focus on God's love for me. He can only give me good things as my Daddy, and when my dreams become unrealized, He is still good and still working on my behalf despite feeling like my world just ended.

I'm working hard and continuing to pray for my dear friend who I still love very much on many things in her life, but part of what I'm learning is to hold loosely most things in life. A very hard concept for me. 

So, as I would not wish upon any enemy of mine the broken heart I have, in some very weird way, I'm thankful for the pain, because I know, God is working in my life because He loves me and wants me healthy. 

Bill also talks about a sacrifice of praise. When you have lost a loved one or ones in my case, or loss of a dear relationship, a gift we can only give God on earth is a sacrifice of praise. When nothing in your body feels like praising God but you do it anyways, God sees what that takes and will honor that knowing the strength it takes in times of loss and pain. In heaven, everything is perfect and there will never need to be any sacrifice! 

God is good all the time and all the time He is good. He is the embodiment of Love! Thank you Lord and I love you!
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I still would like to capture a picture of a tornado. It has been a long week and wasn't up to chasing it. Very sorry to say 3 people lost their lives in the tornados just south of where I was. I was driving home from moving, and had one of the weirdest experiences ever. It was getting very dark, but then instantly it went to a new level of dark like midnight. Never experienced anything like. As I drove towards Holland, the sun was coming out, but behind me was very dark so I was on the look out! Then it appeared! It was cool that so many people pulled off to capture it. God still stuns us with His creation! 

The first gig was sponsored by St. Cecilia and we went into GRPS to promote Jazz. Band was great, kids enjoyed, kind hospitality. A good time had by all. Second gig was in KZoo and was my first BWK of the year. A benefit for the American Heart Association. Blessed to do what I do!

Proud of Miss Esther! She has a beautiful heart and always trying to serve others! Happy Birthday Ess! Uncle Max loves you!

I had a gig downtown with Charles Johnson so showed up early and did a little prayer walk before the gig!