William V. May Jr.: Dean of The School of Music, Professor of Music Education

What was the best professional advice you ever received?

After I graduated from Baylor as an undergraduate, I returned to my small Mississippi hometown and encountered my former junior high school principal -- a large, rough-hewn, somber man who had terrified most of us through our formative years. "Boy," he began. My first impulse was to take issue with his obvious derision of my fledgling manhood, but I realized that I always would be a boy in his eyes. "I hear you graduated from college, so what are you going to make of your life?" I looked at him sheepishly, steeled my courage and replied, "I'm going to be a teacher, a music teacher." "Well," he said, "then let me give you some advice." Resplendent with my newly awarded Texas Teacher's Certificate, I was sure that I did not need his wise counsel, but he had me cornered. "If you want to be a great teacher, then never lie to your students and never call a student by his or her nickname. All the rest is easy." I was stunned. "That's it?" I asked. He stared at me with an all-too-familiar look that clearly questioned my ability to be part of the human race, much less a teacher. "William Vernon," he began. In the South, you always get both your given names just before something extraordinarily important is said. "You will never learn everything there is to know about your subject. And you can never fool students about anything, so don't try. If you are always honest, even when you make a mistake, they will respect you." "And the nickname deal?" I muttered. Another exasperated look crawled across his weathered face. "A person's good name is their most valuable possession. Don't denigrate it by calling them something different, even if they seem to like it. You respect them and their good name, and maybe, if you are lucky, they will allow you to teach them something." Amazingly, he was absolutely correct.