Same teacher, New title

A deep dive into Mr. Sweeney’s history, personality, and motivations.

Leading Hickman’s Band

Hickman’s band director, Denis Swope, reflecting on his years as a teacher

Throughout a professional career, many things change from people to technology. A teaching career is no different than Hickman’s Band director, Denis Swope. Swope has taught band at Hickman for 26 years since starting in 2000, and he is retiring after 34 years of teaching overall. 

Swope started his career in Moberly and Marceline, Missouri, and has co-taught the band program with Mr. Sweeney for 14 years after becoming the band director in 2012.

“This is my 26th year of teaching at Hickman,” Swope said. “I’ve taught in Moberly, Missouri, and I’ve taught in Marceline, Missouri, for a total of this will be 34 years of teaching.”

Swope’s interest in music started with his brother. His older brother was involved in band, and he followed his lead, committing to the band in junior high school.

“My older brother is four years older than me [and] was really interested in music. I just kind of like followed along. Then, when I got into junior high school, at the time…ninth grade, I decided I wanted to be in music. I wanted to be a band director.” Swope said.

Band hasn’t always been the same; in fact, it’s much different since Swope started teaching, as band is now more focused on helping students improve rather than strictly on skills.

“It’s [band] changed a lot since I’ve been teaching; teaching in general is different, that kind of goes along with what we do as well. Teaching in band used to be a little bit more hardcore, a little more strict, and now it is more about helping the students be better and get better.” Swope said.

Mr. Swope’s daughter, Mia Swope (12), has been in the wind ensemble since her freshman year, and has noticed how band has changed throughout the years as a student. 

“We improve a lot throughout the years, just from learning from each year, and then carrying what we’ve learned from the previous year to the next year. New people join the band and stuff, and because some people have learned those things, it helps propel the ensemble to be better.” Mia said.

Technology has partly changed the way band teachers teach their students. One example is Harmony Director, an app that helps students play songs correctly.

“We use some technology as tools to help us improve, like we use what’s called a Harmony Director to help work us work with intonation and playing in tune as well as timing. So there are tools, you know, technology tools that we use to help us do what we’ve been doing better.” Swope said.

Band can differ from school to school in the form of student commitment. Some schools have a lot of students who are dedicated to music, while others have fewer students who want to continue after high school.

“At smaller schools, fewer students were dedicated to music. Just a few would want to do music. At Moberly, there were one or two students that wanted to do music, whereas at Hickman, there are a lot of students that want to do music beyond high school,” Swope said.