After 25 illustrious years as orchestra and band director at Palo Alto High School, Jeffrey Willner is stepping away from the teaching profession, having left his mark on thousands within the Paly community through the Instrumental Music program’s constant presence at concerts, football games and school events. 

According to Willner, retirement hasn’t been something he’s considered until recent years.

“Every year, I don’t know if it’s especially music teachers, but we’re always thinking about next year and preparing for the new bunch of students that are going to come in,” Willner said. “I’ve definitely got a semester where we just see what it [retirement] is going to be like.”

While Willner’s love for Paly’s instrumental music program has yet to fade, his choice to retire comes as a result of a number of compounding factors — one of these being the prospect of a majority freshman band next year, which would require significant planning.

“There’s going to be a good 60-odd freshmen coming into band next year,” Willner said. “When you see the band at football games, it’s going to be half freshmen. I’m thinking, ‘Hmm, it’s building time again.’ And I would be building to leave, if I go in two more years.”

In addition to the amount of freshmen entering, Willner said a monetary deal from the district and personal circumstances also motivated him to make his decision.

“The district offered a little ‘Get-out-old-people’ offer.. and it was pretty good,” Willner said. “I’ll be 63 this summer. You start thinking, ‘Well, how much longer am I gonna live?’”

According to Willner, he intends to take on projects at home to fill his newly acquired free time.

“I love working on stuff at home,” Willner said. “We’re going to paint our house. There are all of these projects that I am usually doing over the summer, but then August hits and I’ve got to stop because of that stress point and now that’s not going to be there anymore.”

Sophomore Kate Vo, who has been in Willner’s orchestra class for two years, said she has appreciated his guidance and has learned a great amount from Willner.

“Mr. Willner has taught me so much about leadership,” Vo said. “The biggest lesson I have learned from him is the power of having confidence in others. I realized from watching his conducting and leading the orchestra myself that even just by giving off the sense that you believe in others gives them the confidence to deliver.”

According to Vo, Willner’s attention to detail made it feel like her efforts were rewarded.

“He [Willner] has always been challenging me and pushing me to my limits to pay closer attention to the baton and follow along every gesture big or small that he makes as he conducts the orchestra,” Vo said. “Finally delivering it and receiving acknowledgement from him just made me really happy and proud.”

According to Willner, he holds pride in the balance of time that he sustained for himself, his family and his students.

“I am the most proud that I always made sure that I balanced work and family,”  Willner said. “I didn’t overload my schedule and the students’ schedules to advance and promote my illustrious career if it meant not taking my kids to swim practice or if it meant that my students weren’t able to take part in other great activities here at Paly. We did great things musically here at Paly and I also went home every day.”

Reflecting on his career, Willner said he was glad that he was able to teach both orchestra and band, despite his initial background in solely trumpet playing.

“I think I got really good as an orchestra teacher, even though I played trumpet,” Willner said. “I love, love big band, so I’m glad I got to do it all.”

As he nears the end of his teaching career, Willner said he was satisfied with all the passion and effort that he put into his profession.

“I was told this by the percussion instructor at my college that eventually, anything you do is going to be a job and you have to go to it, so you darn well better make sure it’s a thing that you like,” Willner said. “I’m really glad that that I chose this. It didn’t make as much money as some things, but you know what? I can’t think of anything else that I would have done.”