Mark Phillips, of Round Pond, is living the life he chose as a younger man. The dedicated musician and sailor said pursuing both interests bring balance to his life today. (Courtesy photo)
Mark Phillips has two very different passions in life: music and the marina. When he was younger and planning his future he thought, “Why not do both?”
Phillips, a resident of Round Pond, said he enjoys exploring different passions and feels doing both of the things he loves allows him to maintain variety in his life.
“We kind of live in this world where increasingly it’s like kind of expected that people do one thing, and I just don’t think that’s really a healthy or reasonable way to go through life,” said Phillips. “It doesn’t work for me … I like the idea of, hey, if I’m curious about something, I can go and explore that. I don’t need to be like, bound in by ‘Well, I’m a musician, so this is what I’m doing now, and this is all I’m doing.’”
Phillips grew up in Collegeville, Pa., and spent his summers on the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands with his grandparents. There, he learned how to sail and maintain a ship from his grandfather.
“I’m probably my calmest and happiest when I’m out on the water,” Phillips said. “If I could figure out how to play the guitar under the water or sing under the water … that’s like my ideal heaven.”
Phillips said he has had an obsession with boats since before he can remember.
“It’s what I think about on a daily basis,” he said. “It’s either music or the sailboat.”
Phillips didn’t think he would e
nd up as a music teacher. He pursued a dual degree in music and geography at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, following both of his passions. After he graduated from college in the spring of 2000, he decided to pursue the geography aspect of his education.
“I got some shipboard experience working for (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and I was a photometric technician for a while,” said Phillips. “Then I worked for a private company doing hydrography, which is similar to what I was doing for NOAA.”
Phillips was initially drawn to Maine through the New England Music Camp in Sidney, where he spent three summers as a student during his time in college.
“I just kind of fell in love with the state and decided to come here after college to stay,” he said.
Phillips would go on to work as a camp counselor at what has since become Kieve Wavus’ Leadership School after leaving NOAA in 2002. It was here where he first considered moving into education. He said that part of his job was to do outreach with schools, and he found that was something he enjoyed doing.
“It gave me a window into some of the education that I hadn’t really considered before,” said Phillips. He said he decided that he wanted to give music education a try after being exposed to it during his outreach.
Phillips found an opening for a music teacher at Pembroke Elementary School in Eastport, and reached out to them about the position. He was offered the job and started out working three days a week and picked up an extra day at Robbinston Grade School, which has since closed.
After teaching in both schools for a year, Phillips traveled around Maine teaching music in various school systems. He taught on Indian Island in the Penobscot Nation, and in the Farmington and Boothbay schools. Phillips split his time in half, with ship work being his summer job while teaching during the school year.
Phillips models his teaching philosophy after his college band director, Bill Schmear.
“He was my ideal for a band director,” Phillips said. “He modeled for us what a musician does, what their expectations are … he was consistent about those things.”
Phillips said that he always wants to encourage students to do their best, and works hard to build confidence in those he teaches.
“I really build a music program from the ground up, where kids are practicing being musicians and having fun with music … really making it a lifelong pursuit,” said Phillips. “That’s a great thing about music … you can keep doing it long after, you know, your joints give out on you.”
Phillips was hired in June as the new music teacher at Bristol Consolidated School for pre-K through eighth grade. He said his main goal is to develop a comprehensive music curriculum that focuses on active-music making and building a lifelong interest in music.
“I’m looking to really build a music program that will keep going after I’m gone,” Phillips said. “I have a vision of having a music program where the kids can go and they can do the state and district three festivals, get to know other kids around the state.”
Phillips said that he wants to see his students use music as a way to form friendships. He also hopes to see students continue with music into high school, college, and even form local bands to bring music into the community.
Phillips also performs locally as a singer-songwriter. He said that music has always been a part of his life. Coming from a Welsh family, singing was an important part of his childhood.
“I used to listen to John Denver and Kingston Trio albums as a kid and then wander around the house serenading whoever would listen with my vocal stylings and a yellow plastic toy banjo,” Phillips said. “My parents were both brass players, my mother was an incredible French horn player and my father played trumpet, French horn, and mellophone. My father was in the Penn State Blue Band when he was in college.”
Phillips said that his biggest audience was when he played the sousaphone with the Kutztown Golden Bear Marching Unit at the Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y. in front of 40,000 people, creating an amazing memory during his time at Kutztown.
He has recorded one album of his own material, and has also recorded songs for the local radio, such as “My Front Porch On Penobscot Bay” in Rockland and “Music From the Sugarhouse,” which was recorded in New Sharon and broadcast in Skowhegan.
“One of my most memorable performances was playing a set with my son at the Concert for Lac Megantic in Farmington,” Phillips said. “Farmington is Lac Megantic’s sister city and the community came together to help after the train fire disaster in 2013. David Mallett finished the benefit concert by having all of us join him on stage to play ‘The Ballad of St. Anne’s Reel.’”
Phillips said he has found a great appreciation for the coast of Maine and looks forward to being able to bring music to the community and the sea.
“I’m also, not surprisingly, obsessed with sea music,” he said. “There’s a lot of really interesting music happening here, and a lot of it has a tie to … the ocean and the coast.”
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