Eastview band teacher Laura Mazziotti will be retiring after 35 years of dedicated and enthusiastic service to the district. Mazziotti has educated thousands of students across the years. She has even been an educator long enough to teach the children of some of her former students.

As a former student myself, I can attest to the fact that she is a brilliant teacher who leaves a lasting impact on the lives of her students. Had she not introduced me to the tuba on a random day at the beginning of my sixth-grade year, I may have quit band altogether.

Throughout her career, Mazziotti has touched the lives of numerous students. Among them are a father-and-son duo, Charlie and Arthur Pollak. Charlie Pollak described his experience as Mazziotti’s student in the early 1990s, when she was just starting out. “I remember that she had a spark, even then, that the very best teachers take years to develop,” he said.

Every student who loved Mazziotti had a special reason for it. Charlie Pollak said his greatest joy was watching his former band director teach two of his own sons. “Watching them snap to attention when she took the podium. Hearing them excel in their instruments. And seeing them absorb that sense of confidence and accomplishment that can only really come from having a stellar music teacher,” he added.

Arthur Pollak, a student of Mazziotti during the 2022-23 school year, said his year with her was especially impactful because he began learning trumpet during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It became hard to learn and perform,” he said. “Ms. Mazziotti turned my perspective around and made me love playing trumpet.”

“Everything Ms. Mazziotti did was filled with energy and enthusiasm, and she refused to let anything be boring,” said Arthur Pollak. Arthur also recounted his favorite memory in Mazziotti’s band: NYSSMA Pizza. “She had a tradition where she would take all of the students who participated in the NYSSMA music festival to a pizza place near Eastview, as a celebration of their hard work,” Arthur explained.

Mazziotti also spoke very fondly of this tradition, as well as seeing her young musicians pushing themselves to play solos and scales for a judge. She also said she loved getting to know her students during sectional lessons and getting to wow audiences with her ensemble’s powerful sound at every concert.

Before she was teaching band, Mazziotti came from a family that truly valued the arts, including the lead trumpet player in the “Rocky” movies and a mother who played violin in high school and was an award-winning Montessori Italian teacher, who took Mazziotti to work with her on her days off. Mazziotti claims she “loved working with the kids.” However, Mazziotti’s teaching journey really began after she auditioned for the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music. She met the professor of music education, John Knight, who convinced her to take the Music Education 101 course, and “the rest is history,” as Mazziotti puts it.

Mazziotti says the thing she’ll miss most after retirement is being around her students. “I’ll miss sharing stories and encouraging kids to become the very best human beings possible. Teaching them that they matter, and that they could be the ‘hundredth monkey.’ The one who tips the balance and makes the whole world better,” she said.

After retirement, Mazziotti hopes to continue acting in film and community theater, as well as doing her own trumpet performing, and has already been hired by a nearby church. She looks forward to sleeping in, grocery shopping early in the morning without crowds, and working out at the gym. She is also extremely excited to be able to support her son’s country music/pop singing career by flying out to his shows.

Her students wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors, although they’ll miss her. As a final message to her, Charlie Pollak said, “White Plains knows how lucky it’s been to have her; I hope she knows how grateful we are that she spent her career with us. Thank you, Ms. Mazziotti.” Arthur Pollak said, “I owe my love of trumpet to Ms. Mazziotti, and I will sincerely miss her energy and love of teaching music.”

For all her students, from all her years of teaching, Mazziotti said, “Now, more than ever, the world needs your music. As we slide deeper into a world defined by technology, our job as musicians becomes ever more important. Music makes us more human and builds empathy. Share the gift of music. It’s your superpower!”

Mazziotti conducting her band.

Ms. Mazziotti in her classroom.