Spur ISD is starting out the school year with a veteran band director who’s no stranger to Texas schools— though he was born in Winslow, Arizona. “Yes, really! It’s a real town,” said Robin Stephens in an email interview this week, for the benefit of those who only know the name from the Eagles hit.
Stephens’s father was in the Air Force and his mother was a telephone operator, he said, and when he was three the family moved farther up into the White Mountains of Arizona to Pinetop. Robin started band in 6th grade—playing saxophone—andstuckwith that instrument all the way through high school, graduating in 1976.
At Northern Arizona University, he majored in music education, taking a break to marry and raise two children. In 1987, Stephens had the opportunity to return to college at Eastern New Mexico University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education.
He began his teaching career in Aztec, New Mexico., as the scale band director at Koogler Middle School and Aztec High School, and continued working on his master’s degree, graduating in 1997. “I have had the privilege of teaching in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas,” said Stephens. He’s been a band director for 31 years in such diverse schools as Aztec and Bloomfield, New Mexico, Lakeside, Arizona, and Dimmitt, Ralls, Louise, Water Valley, Roscoe, and Stockdale—all in Texas.
Stephens said that he “developed a preference for the smaller schools here in Texas” and plans on winding up his career in Spur—a while down the road yet. “My goal is to see my Kinder kiddos graduate from high school before I retire,” he said Stephens. “Make music, entertain the crowds, and have some fun along the way.” It won’t always be easy, he said, but it can be
“I am looking forward to meeting my students and getting down to work,” he said.
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