Mrs. Amy Rangel is in her twenty-seventh year of teaching, and it is her twenty-fourth year at Glendale High School. She was born and raised in Scottville, Michigan. She attended Western Michigan University and earned her B.A. in Musical Education. She also attended CSULA, where she received her M.M. in Orchestra Conducting. In her free time, she likes to play with her new dog, Miss Daisy, and to have dinner with friends.
Mrs. Rangel moved to the Glendale area in 1999 with her husband, because he was involved in the music industry as a composer, arranger, and audio editor. Mr. Rangel, unfortunately, passed away this summer, and that was when Mrs. Rangel adopted Miss Daisy. She says that she feels fortunate that she had such an amazing marriage of 28 years, and 31 years together, with Mr. Rangel. She says he will always be in her heart, but her happy memories of him help her each day, along with her amazing GHS family. She is still sad sometimes, but she says that she is going to be okay.
Before coming to GHS, Ms. Rangel taught at two schools in Michigan: Mona Shores Middle School and Mona Shores High School, and Sanford Middle School in Florida. She also taught at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Glendale.
A lover of music all her life, Ms. Rangel has been playing the violin since the age of five. Then in her beginning band class, she also picked up the alto saxophone.
Ms. Rangel comes from a family of musicians. Her father was a band director, and her mother also taught first-grade students as well as sang in their local church choir. These influences contributed to her desire to pursue music as a career, and she credits them with giving her the teaching skills she uses today.
Ms. Rangel found her love and passion for music in her last two years of high school. She had a study hall class, but instead, she would walk to the middle school and help out her father with his beginning band class. “I was very resistant, because everyone told me I would be a band director just like my dad,” she said. She was also unsure of pursuing a career in education, because she knew that teachers don’t make enough money for the amount of work they do.
Before becoming a teacher, Ms. Rangel thought about playing professionally with an orchestra or being a professional conductor, but she knew that it wasn’t right for her. She’s a very social person and knew that she couldn’t sit in a practice room for hours and hours, just perfecting everything.
Ms. Rangel also enjoys having student-teacher relationships with her high school students. She says there’s a disconnection with kids in college because you don’t get to work with them for four years.
Although teaching takes up a lot of her time, Ms. Rangel still tries to play music as much as she can. Once in a while, she plays with the Glendale College Community Orchestra. She said, “Once I retire, I’ll have more time to play music for myself.”
Glendale High School is a Grammy Signature School. This means that the Recording Academy has recognized our school’s commitment to music education. The process involved submitting recordings and answering questions about what made our program special or stand out from the other schools. It also included submitting our school’s budget, a resume of the teacher along with other grants and awards. The progress takes quite a long time and is very competitive, as only a few high schools in the country receive this recognition each year.
Even when Ms. Rangel decides to retire, and a new band director takes over, the school will continue to keep its title as a Grammy Signature School. Before she retires, Ms. Rangel hopes to get a plaque for the school that displays this great achievement.
Fortunately, during this school year, we received a lot of money from Proposition 28, which was passed in 2022 and provides funding for arts and music in the State of California. As a music student, I can tell you that this has changed our music department tremendously. We have been able to get brand-new instruments and hire woodwind and brass coaches. Other high schools usually have these coaches already, but since we haven’t had the money to maintain them, this was the first time our school has had the opportunity to do so.
At GHS, Ms. Rangel enjoys taking in student teachers and preparing them for their future jobs in education. She said, “It’s a chance for me to give back to the profession.”
The student-teacher program is more of a contact situation than an actual program, and these student-teachers come from many different places. Some of the schools that have contacted her include Cal State Northridge, USC, Azusa Pacific University, and Biola University. This is a chance for these student teachers to gain experience with a high school ensemble.
Ms. Rangel continues to inspire many students here at GHS. Although she’s thinking about retiring sometime in the future, she will continue to teach part-time at other places or perform in orchestras.
Ms. Rangel will never be ready to give up music, as it has played a significant role in her life. She has a message for all of her former students or seniors: if you ever come back, take her out to a fancy dinner, as she has requested.
