Sam Griffin

Being a part of the marching band is a big-time commitment. With practices four days a week ranging from two to three hours, it can be hard to find downtime.

For most students, leaving school means leaving any thoughts of their teachers behind. However, for Andrew Canter, ‘25, this is not the case. Andrew’s father, Richard Canter, is the director of the marching band.

Andrew is a part of the visual ensemble, meaning he does not play an instrument in the band. Instead, Andrew works on props and the construction of sets, including painting. He enjoys having his dad as a director.

“It’s nice, it’s not as different for me as I thought it would be,” Andrew said. “I was in the band for a couple of years and he was my director. I was the brass player, so I didn’t have him directly as much for that, but I did for part of the time.”

Working together has been a learning experience for both father and son, and they have learned things about each other that they may not have known before.

“Seeing him in action as a part of the show and having a good time working with other people [is interesting],” Richard said. “I think he’s a funny, funny guy, and knows how to make the best of situations and works well with everybody. And it’s really cool seeing him in that role. With students that have been part of the project for a long time, he fits in really well with them, which is cool to see.”

At times it can be hard to find a balance between father and teacher, but Richard makes it a priority to make sure there is no special treatment between them.

“I think it’s really important to him that people don’t think he’s [participating in] any nepotism,” Andrew said. “So he overcompensates a little bit.”

Andrew’s sister Lily Canter, who graduated in 2022, also went through the marching band program with Richard as her director.

“My daughter went through marching band as a performer [and a] percussionist and was even drum captain for a couple of seasons and [I] never really had any issues with either one of them,” Richard said. 

This season, the marching band won straight superior awards in seven different categories at marching band finals, which is the best possible score. Their show entitled Level Up was video game-themed and they won Best Overall Music and Best Overall Percussion at their final competition.

“I feel pretty proud a lot of the time because he’s pretty competent at managing [the band] while still being entertaining,” Andrew said.

It may be surprising to learn that Richard had almost no role in encouraging Andrew to join the marching band. 

“It was all really on his own,” Richard said. “I mean, I talked to him a little bit about it because he’s interested in video games and things like that. And he was like, ‘Yeah, I’d like to do that.’ So he really did it more on his own and he came up with some really great ideas to put into the show.”

Though being together may create challenges for some, the Canter’s have found that it actually allows them to relate to each other more, and has given them more to talk about.

“When we’re on the car ride home we talk about the rehearsal,” Andrew said. “He’ll ask me questions about how well I think it went.”

From teacher and student to father and son the Canters have been able to find a balance between their professional and personal relationship. 

“Fortunately with him, there were no issues and there’s no need for discipline or anything like that,” Richard said. “He’s a good guy so it’s relatively easy, and we have a really great group of students.”

Ultimately, being able to share a mutual interest with each other has allowed the pair to enhance their bond, and to see new sides of each other that cannot be accessed at home.

“I think it’s fun to see how he is as a teacher because I live with him all the time,” Andrew said. “He’s a little different when he’s managing a lot of people and I think that it’s pretty entertaining.”