All the World’s a Stage for New Music Conservatory of Westchester Dean
By Andrew Vitelli – Douglas Bish has worked on four continents in his music career. In the 1990s he designed an education program for the Kingdom of Jordan at the request of Queen Noor, giving private lessons to her children. Now, in his new position as the Music Conservatory of Westchester’s Dean of Students and Faculty, Bish plans to bring what he’s learned around the world, along with his international connections, to the conservatory.
“We already have a national reputation. Now the next step is to make it an international reputation,” Bish said in an interview with The White Plains Examiner Thursday, two days before he was set to start his new job. “And fortunately, we’re in the right place, being right next to New York City.”
Bish, who holds a doctorate in Music Education and previously worked as an orchestra conductor for the conservatory, was appointed to the dean position in April. Bish was one of about 20 applicants for the opening, Music Conservatory Executive Director Jean Newton said, and was selected after a process that allowed input by the staff, faculty, and board.
“What made Doug stand out was that he had vision for the school, and he brings a wonderful perspective,” Newton explained. “He’s got it all. He understands who we are as an institution, and has a vision that I and the other people here share for where were going in our future.”
Bish’s background in music is deep and diverse. Before completing his doctorate, Bish, a clarinetist and conductor, studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His experience around the globe is one thing that sets him apart; he has also worked in Australia, and as the Associate Dean of Fine Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania he created exchange programs with academies in Croatia and Slovenia.
“We were the only institution in the world that had partnerships with them, which was really incredible. Our faculty could go over and they would teach classes there, and their faculty could teach classes here,” Bish said. “As an administrator you have these opportunities, and I still have those connections.”
In the early 1990s, Bish’s reputation in music education attracted the attention of Queen Noor Al-Hussein, who at the time was Jordan’s queen. Bish was asked to design an instrumental music program for the country and write a curriculum for teaching band instruments. He traveled to classrooms throughout the kingdom, visiting students studying music.
“The first school I went into, I walked into this classroom with 25 to 30 fifth-graders and said, ‘Who would like to play flute?’” he recalled. “And the question they asked back was, ‘What’s a flute?’ They had no idea what I was talking about because culturally, it was so different.”
From 2003 to 2011, Bish served as Director of Music for the Nyack public school district while living in Hawthorne. He then moved to California, where he was an assistant dean at the City College of San Francisco. He returned to New York after his wife got a job with the Haldane School District in Cold Spring.
“It was tough leaving a high-profile job like that in San Francisco, but it was more important for us to be back on the East Coast,” Bish explained. His wife also teaches music, while his three children are all string players.
In addition to bringing the Music Conservatory of Westchester onto the international scene, Bish wants to expand the jazz opportunities offered and incorporate the latest technologies into teaching.
“Using a Smart Board is something that’s really brand new for a lot of teachers, so we can really teach them how to do that with music applications,” Bish said.
Most important, however, is maintaining what the conservatory already does well. Bish pointed to the Suzuki program, for children four and older, the private lesson and small ensemble programs, as well as the music therapy program.
“I want to start establishing a personal contact with each of the faculty members, establishing the kind of trust that you need to make decisions with them, engaging them in the process,” said Bish. “You want to make sure the faculty is completely invested in the process.”
Bish promised to draw on some of the life lessons he learned while working across the globe, particularly his experiences in Jordan.
“You learn to roll with things, because nothing is as you think it’s going to be,” he said, laughing. “It gives you a lot of self-confidence, that you can work in any situation. And that carries over to everything you do.”
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