Behind the Scenes of Mr. Sable

Sarina Luke, Staff Writer
May 17, 2023

Among the sea of new faces that populate the halls of NAI every year, there are also new teachers.  Many, like new Choral teacher Bryan Sable, have interesting backstories about their life before they got to NAI.

Sable has been teaching for 21 years and “that is 20 too many,” he says jokingly. He started off his teaching career by working in a middle school and two elementary schools in Wheeling, West Virginia. He was hired there after previously working for the Wheeling Symphony. 

Sable has many interests and talents that make him stand out from other teachers. For example, he has written 8 musicals and plays piano, organ, harpsichord, trumpet, euphonium, french horn, guitar, a little bit of oboe, and he loves to bake. 

His interest in music started to develop at a young age. Out of his twenty-six cousins, he was the only one in band and choir.

What is even more remarkable is that he is a self-taught pianist and began learning piano when he was only 10 years old.

Sable spoke about how his love for music was sparked by a piano in his grandma’s house. “My grandma had shown me just a little bit,” he says. “It was kind of a way to bond with her, and from there I just fell in love with it.” 

Later on, Sable explains that his original plan was to go to school to become a professional pianist and get a degree in piano performance. However, after he started student teaching, he fell in love with teaching music. He enjoyed working at the Wheeling Symphony but when a teaching spot opened up it seemed like a “natural fit,” says Sable. 

 Although Sable has only been at NAI for a few months, he has already made an impact on his students.

 For example, every week he does a class star which keeps his students motivated to do their best in class. He works alongside Mr. Schmiech who teaches choir at NASH, and Mrs. Helsel who teaches choir at Marshall Middle school. Together, the three came up with the idea of starting a Tik Tok account for the school choir which has now reached 60.2K followers. 

Sable has also had some interesting music-related experiences, such as meeting Lady Gaga in a Kroger store in her hometown of Wheeling.

Before she was famous, her uncle was Sable’s insurance agent. Sable also had a student named Montell Fish whom he taught at City Charter High School that went on to pursue a career in Christian Music. Fish is now signed with a record label and has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

However, Fish wasn’t the only one who had an inspiring teacher. Sable started his career in music because of one of his teachers. “ I had a really good band director, Mr. Woods, and he really transformed my life,” says Sable. Sable was originally planning to become a chef but after being assured by his band director that he was meant to pursue music, he went for it. 

Now decades later, Sable realizes how important it is to inspire kids and teach them the importance of musical education just like his band director did for him.

Sable spoke about how studies show that “kids who perform in musical ensembles perform much better on standardized tests.” “Most importantly… music teaches kids how to communicate and how to experience beauty in life… the fact that people from all different backgrounds can come together in one room and join together to actually accomplish something is so powerful,” he says.