Deanne Bryant attended 1st grade in a one-room country school near Decatur. That's when she knew she wanted to be a teacher.
“My first grade teacher was so marvelous,” Bryant said. “She was fresh out of high school, but she knew how to do it. The first day of school, there were three first graders and three eighth graders. She immediately assigned each eighth grader to a first grader. I knew that was magic.”
It’s the sort of magic Bryant replicated over and over for her music students, most recently in Bloomington-Normal Youth Symphony’s annual tradition playing with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.
Bryant attended ISU intending to teach first grade. She signed up for orchestra during orientation; two days later, professor Howard Rye called Bryant into his office and pitched the idea of becoming a music major.
“The music department was alive,” Bryant said.
Bryant learned violin and viola in public school beginning in sixth grade. Her parents couldn’t afford music lessons. And by creating the string program at Unit 5 schools in 1969, she made sure any kid who wanted to learn an instrument could.
“My whole career is a fairy tale,” said Bryant.
After a brief stint in Carbondale, Bryant returned to Normal for grad school. She left again for a position in a strong string program in Elmhurst—that’s when her sweetheart, Jerry, proposed. The couple married and had three children. Jerry Bryant died in 2014.
“I was hired to teach general music and in December I asked to start the string program,” Bryant said. “I was only 25.”
Bryant retired after 25 years at Unit 5, then spent nearly three decades after that directing the Bloomington-Normal Youth Symphony when Rye, the inaugural director, stepped down. Bryant broke barriers. She was the first student teacher from ISU placed in a suburban Chicago music classroom. She was the first woman to hold statewide office in the Illinois Music Educators Organization. She still mentors music ed students at Illinois Wesleyan University.
“The stifling of women in music has occurred for centuries,” said current BNYS director and IWU director of large instrumental ensembles Logan Campbell. “[Bryant is] this wonderful human being who didn’t let anyone stand in her way.”
Campbell said "legacy" is the best way to describe Bryant's impact, which paved the way for continued female leadership in band and orchestra at Unit 5.
“She holds students to expectations of excellence, but at the same time, reminds them of the beauty of their neighbor.”
