Musical chairs: New Abilene Christian School teacher back home after varied travels

The new music teacher at Abilene Christian School should be singing some Johnny Cash.

After all, she is from Nashville and, well, she's been everywhere, man.

Tabitha Cherry, who has worked within view of both oceans, starts her new role Thursday at the northeast Abilene private school.

She went to college in Boston and student-taught and/or worked in Washington state and Oregon.

Now she's back in Abilene, where she attended Abilene High School, graduating in 2007.

She will teach music to students in pre-k through fifth grade, and also middle school and high school choir. Danielle Distler handles band duties at ACS, as well as teaches.

She grew up hearing country music, she said, but it was her husband, Talon, who was dressed Willie Nelson-like for the July 4 Hillcrest Neighborhood Parade.

That would be appropriate because his wife's theme song could be "On the Road Again."

Refried beans to Beantown

Cherry came to Texas for high school when her father joined the faculty at Abilene Christian University to teach economics.

At AHS, she played the clarinet for then-director Paul Walker's band and sang in choirs led by Terri Godfrey. She took AP music theory.

She was in both for four years, not easy to do with the time requirements that go along with those extracurriculars.

"We really have to commit," she said. "High school is where I really took off."

Cherry moved from the land of barbecue and tasty Mexican food to yet another part of the country when she enrolled at Boston Conservatory of Music. She eventually lived outside of the city - "It was just too busy and too loud," she said, laughing - and commuted to the school, which is located at 8 Fenway.

Which means it's right by Fenway Park, home of the baseball Red Sox. She could hear the games going on and sort of see them.

"It was a great place to be," she said, laughing.

And while Nashville is a great place for country music of all flavors, Boston offered her a classical experience, she said. In that discovery, she saw connections between genres, and her music appreciation expanded.

"It was a new world for me," she said of classical. Of course, she was surrounded by talent - the faculty there had connections to the Boston Symphony and nearby schools, such as Harvard.

Her intent was to play the clarinet, and she sought a degree in performance of that instrument. But her senior year, she was asked to teach a private lesson in front of a group and she uncovered that talent. She said her instructor looked at her, surprised at how well she pulled it off.

"I did very well," she said of surprising even herself. "I realized I had a skill in teaching. I could help someone else perform."

She did more of those and chose to enter a master's program in music education.

Moving to the Pacific Northwest

Cherry returned to Abilene. She taught at Mann Middle School with the band with Chris Brandon, who later joined the staff at Wylie High School.

She had to complete her student teaching and did that in the Pacific Northwest at a small school with a great reputation in band, choir and musical theater, located in Washougal, Washington. It's on the north side of the Columbia River, near Portland, Oregon.

After graduation, her first full-time job was in Forest Grove, which is 25 miles west of Portland. She taught pre-k through fifth grade. It was during this time that she met her future husband.

On Tinder, she said, quickly explaining each of them gave the online dating service a why-not-try go. They hit it off when they met, began dating and married in June 2020.

Yes, when the pandemic was in full force, especially in that area.

It was small wedding there, involving immediate family.

"It was rough ... and wonderful," she said.

After two years, she moved to Monroe, Oregon, farther south

She was charged with teaching kindergarten through high school at a campus similar in size to Abilene Christian.

The school did not have a music program for six years, so she was charged with starting one.

She started with 12 students in high school and grew that to 50 - about half the enrollment. Music became the students' favorite elective, she said.

All was well until the superintendent left suddenly, she said. There was an issue with school funds. And so, her start-up program vanished.

Through her a few of her students whose parents worked in the nearby Junction City school district, she learned that a job was open at Junction City High School and she was hired. She stayed there 4½ years, teaching band, choir, music appreciation and even guitar.

This was during the pandemic, and one of her great joys finally was having in-person performances. She had to teach using Zoom and students recording their work for her to judge.

She got them to do their part and, through the wonders of technology, put those together to hear as one piece.

Family health matters would return her to Texas. She wanted at some point to come home and her husband, an insurance broker, would be able to work remotely.

"It was a good time for us," she said.

Her new home on the range

Back in Abilene. Cherry subbed at Abilene Christian and Wylie, waiting for a full-time job to open.

"Now I'm here," she said of taking the ACS job.

She will teach elementary music, pre-k through fifth grade, middle school and high school choir and the performance group One Voice.

Her focus for the youngsters will be to make them comfortable in a school environment. Incorporate a lot of movement into her classes, as well as singing and making music. Music will provide them, she said, with physical, emotional and motor skill training.

Cherry said she will ask them what they want to learn.

This also will be a family affair.

A nephew will be in third-grade pre-k while a niece will be in kindergarten.

The Cherrys' son, Jayden, will be in sixth grade.

"It will be a family meeting," she said of school, laughing. She only taught her son once, when he was in kindergarten. He tells her that is his favorite memory.

As for the older students, she wants music to be the positive influence it was for her.

"I would not have made it through high school without music," she said. It made up for the anxiety and depression that comes along with the teen years. "What kept me going was music."

Her band and choir classes were the "heart and soul" of her school days, she said.

For those who downplay the role of the arts, including music, Cherry said she is "proof of what a music education can do."