Bill Webb, longtime Edina band director, inducted into National High School Hall of Fame

In 37 years of teaching band, Bill Webb says he never heard a student play a sour note.

Webb knows that sounds like a fib, but it's a sincere sentiment that speaks to the longtime Edina teacher's infectious positivity and the faith he had in his students. In Webb's classroom, a wrong note wasn't so much a mistake as it was an opportunity for learning and encouragement.

"I didn't see what students were not capable of doing," he said. "I saw where they were and what their vision was, and I focused on that."

Webb, who retired in 2015 after decades of teaching in Edina schools, was recently inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. Dave Stead, the longest-serving executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, was also inducted. The two became the 15th and 16th Minnesotans to receive the honor.

The National High School Hall of Fame is a program of the National Federation of State High School Associations. Each state's association can nominate candidates across categories including athlete, coach and performing arts. Inductees are then selected by a committee.

Webb credits a long list of mentors — including his own school music teachers — for his successful career, which included taking students all around the world. His bands played on both renowned and humble stages in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Remembering the many music educators who shaped his own life, Webb said he tried to live by — and teach by — the idea that "to whom much is given, much is expected."

Music is a great conduit for such lessons, he added, because it's a universal language that can connect people across different cultures and backgrounds.

"I can't explain how grateful I am to have been able to watch students discover their talents, to blossom and shine, and then see them share those talents on and beyond the stage at home and even around the nation and world," Webb said.

Amanda Kaus, the band director at Century High School in Rochester, and a board member for the National Federation of State High School Associations, said Webb's legacy goes beyond the national and international performing opportunities he brought to his students.

"At the core is his intrinsic people skills," she said. "Bill is so gracious and humble and that's motivating and encouraging. I can only imagine how his students left his classroom feeling very empowered and seen."

Kaus said Webb's teaching embodies the best of what school music ensembles in Minnesota aim to do: connect students to each other and to their community while teaching lessons that go far beyond what notes to play.

Minnesotans inducted in the National High School Hall of Fame