March 2009
George Faber's musical life on the road leads to career with Tyler ISD
By Jeff Carmack

For much of his life, music and the open road were it for George Faber II. But with some persuasion from a professional educator and a bit of pressure from his father to get a “real job,” Faber, who now serves as Tyler ISD’s director of visual and performing arts, traded in his concert hall days for the classroom.

Before his career in public education, Faber was a keyboardist and pianist in an American Entertainment group called Sunshine Express. The band toured year-round, often backing up other musicians at Disney World and at state fairs and conventions around the country.

“We were the most-booked show group in America at the time,” he says. “I thought everything revolved around playing music. The only reason I got a [higher] education in the first place was because my dad told me I was going to go to school and get a degree. That way, if something happened to my music, I’d have something to fall back on.

“I loved my dad and respected my dad — and was scared of my dad,” he laughs, “so I did what he wanted.”

Faber left the road to attend Kilgore Junior College for two years and then transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches to finish undergraduate and graduate work. He eventually
graduated with a master’s degree in secondary education.

After school, he took a job as an assistant band director at Tyler ISD’s Hubbard Middle School, expecting to stay no more than two years. Yet, two years later, Faber was named head band director there, and he served in that capacity until 1991, when he became assistant principal.

In 1994, Faber received a call from Tyler ISD Superintendent Thomas Hagler. He wanted Faber to step up as principal at Dogan Middle School, where he would be charged with changing the perception of the school, bringing up test scores and improving staff morale.

According to Faber, Dogan had good students and teachers, but many of the teachers simply didn’t know how to communicate well with students.

“It was their body language, their tone of voice — everything,” he says. “You want a kid to do what you tell him — and at that age, it’s a power struggle. You’re all up in his face, and he wants to come back and get in your face. So, how do you remedy that?”

As Dogan Middle School’s principal, Faber taught teachers how to handle confrontations with students. He stressed the importance of not sending mixed signals.

“We want kids to enjoy writing, but some teachers were making kids write as punishment,” he says.

Faber became the district’s director of visual and performing arts in 2003. He uses his extensive background in music to teach a variety of subjects — not just music.

“We learn a lot by learning a rhythm or a melody — like your ABCs,” he offers, noting that the principle can be applied to many subjects.

Faber also started a program of arts integration, using the fine arts to teach core subjects, such as using drama as part of a history lesson.

“We might ask history students, ‘What did the explorers look like?’” Faber says. “Then the students would demonstrate how they looked and how they acted. And all of a sudden, the students have a voice.”

Musical beginnings
Faber found his “voice” at a young age through music.

“When I was 5 or 6 years old, I’d listen
to my mom and sister play the piano, and then I would go in and play what they played,” he recalls.

Faber played piano during elementary school assemblies. In high school, he was in band and orchestra, and he also played for the choir. Largely self-taught, he learned to play an assortment of instruments.

“Whatever the band director would let me pick up — or whatever I could sneak in and pick up — I learned to play,” he says. “I played football and basketball in junior high and was torn between being an athlete or a musician. But I decided to go with the music, and after that, my direction was set.”

As a professional musician, Faber shared the stage with the likes of Chubby Checker and Percy Sledge. One particular gig that stands out in his mind involves country artist Kenny Price, the 6-foot-tall, 300-pound “Round Mound of Sound” who once starred on television’s “Hee Haw.” Sunshine Express was hired to back the country-western star, who was quick to recognize Faber’s talent.

“Price got his guitar and started playing his songs; I wrote out all his changes and then wrote out some bass lines and some horn licks and sort of threw together a show for him,” Faber recalls. “By the end of the run, he was like, ‘Can I buy those charts?’ but I wouldn’t sell them.”

Faber says he doesn’t regret giving up his life on the road. With his wife, Anita Faber, a special education teacher at Moore Middle School, he has two children: Candice Faber, a cosmetologist in Dallas, and George Faber III, a student at Abilene Christian University.

“Education,” he says, “is the only show in the world that can change the world for the better, if done right.”