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Ray Novack is Beverly’s music man

Ray Novack says teaching music to students is like a great marriage.

The metaphor is perfect. While working as music department curriculum coordinator and band director at Beverly High School for 35 years, he met his wife, Kathy, the older sister of a former student. They have been married for 34 years and have two daughters.

Since retiring from Beverly High in 2011, Novack has been band director at two other schools in Beverly: the Glen Urquhart School, a private day school for grades K-8, and at Endicott College.

The Malden-born Novack is his own one-man band. Recruited by Beverly High right out of the music program at UMass Lowell, he plays 10 instruments: accordion, guitar and piano (both self-taught), saxophone, trombone (added during his Malden High School band years), and clarinet, flute, electric bass, trumpet, and percussion, all added during college.

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What instrument can’t he play?

“I find it extremely difficult to play the string class/those higher stringer of a violin,” he said.

Novack also manages and plays in his own wedding band, Horizon & the Horns, which he formed in 1973. Today, the band includes former students and Novak’s daughter Kelly, which he says is “truly, a dream come true.”

Seeing the Urquhart students’ energy and enthusiasm motivates Novack. “You see the smiles on their faces when they arrive, and they’re ready to go, ready to learn,” he said. Students — some of whom commute from Newburyport and North Andover — arrive as early as 7:30 a.m. before the 8:15 a.m. start of school.

“By walking in the door, they show their commitment. I want to make the experience a good one,” Novack said.

Novak also offers private lessons for students at either the Urquhart campus or at Endicott. He says the secret for students learning a musical instrument is simple: enjoy it.

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“I want them to be a functioning musician. Not a robot. You can be doing this when you’re 80.”


Kathy Shiels Tully can be reached at kathy@kathyshielstully.com.