“Conducting is teaching. . . . You are teaching what the music is about.”

When junior Benson Wang, an accomplished tuba player, was looking at high schools, he became interested in Loomis Chaffee because of music teacher and Wind Ensemble Director David Winer’s extensive background in both playing the tuba and conducting ensembles.

“He has a wealth of experience,” Benson says. “As a musician, he has helped me to break down a piece and truly understand it before I go on auditions or perform.”

With 45 years of teaching, performing, and conducting students in orchestras, festivals, and private lessons, David passes along to his students the many lessons he has learned as a professional tubist, conductor, and music teacher.

A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, David played professionally with Arthur Fiedler, Henry Mancini, Rostropovich, Aaron Copland, the Canadian Brass, and many other famous musicians.

In addition to his tuba playing, David has conducted at more than 70 music festivals.

“Conducting is teaching,” David says. “On the absolute basic levels, you are teaching what the music is about.”

Like Benson, David was inspired by his own music teachers and mentors, and he understands that spending time with working musicians can have an important influence on student musicians.

As a young child, David was surrounded by music. “My Dad played jazz recordings all the time when I was growing up,” David reminisces. His uncle, Bob Winter, was an accomplished jazz pianist who played with the Boston Pops (starting with John Williams and then with Keith Lockhart) and taught at the Berklee School of Music for decades.

“I remember being ‘dragged’ to shows to hear my uncle play and being mesmerized by the music,” David recounts.

David became seriously interested in music as a junior in high school. “I was lucky to have a wonderful old Italian gentleman, Maestro, who was a World War II veteran, as my first music teacher in high school,” he says. “He made me love what I was doing with the tuba, and it was very inspiring.”