NEW ORLEANS — Lloyd Harris, Jr., an award-winning New Orleans public school teacher and band director for more than 50 years who was hailed as a leader in music education, died Aug. 1 at Ochsner Hospital. He was 81.
Harris’ career included stints at Valena C. Jones Elementary, Alfred Lawless Junior High School and McDonogh 35 Senior High School. At all three, his students earned superior ratings in local, state and regional band competitions.
In 1967, the Lawless concert band made history as the first Black junior high school band in history to receive a superior rating at the annual Louisiana Music Educators Association state music festival.
Their performance at the festival in Hammond – playing before an all-white audience at the height of the Civil Rights era – became legend for another reason, according to Arthur Hardy, the Mardi Gras historian who is also a former band director.
“When the band got on stage, the white audience got up and walked out, but they made the mistake of leaving the doors open. When the music started coming out, people quietly walked back in and were absolutely blown away,” Hardy recalled in a video honoring Harris earlier this year. “On that afternoon, Lloyd really touched some hearts and opened some minds, not through preaching or protesting but through the power of music.”
Former students remember Harris’ dedication to his craft and to their learning, even arranging private music lessons for them. Ro Brown, the veteran local sports journalist, called his time with Harris as a Lawless student a highlight of his young life.
“It was probably the first time that I was in a position where I saw tangible proof that if you work hard at something with a group of people towards a goal, excellence is the result. And we exceeded excellence,” Brown said.
Harris was honored as New Orleans public school teacher of the year three times and in 1996 was inducted into the Louisiana Music Educators Association Hall of Fame.
A New Orleans native, Harris was exposed to music at an early age. In a 2014 Clarion Herald interview, he explained that when he was four years old, he spent time recuperating from an illness at his Uptown home. After hearing a piano playing at the home of a nearby music teacher, he asked his mother to let him take lessons.
He began playing the clarinet in sixth grade and continued his music education as a student at Walter L. Cohen High School. In 1962, he graduated from Xavier University, where he was drum major. He became a music teacher at age 22, rotating among nine local schools.
“I had a lot of energy and I wanted to work,” he told the Clarion Herald. “I wasn’t worried about the money. It was just the idea that I wanted to create bands.”
In 1964, he transferred to Lawless, where his rigorous band practices started at 7 a.m. before school and afternoon sessions lasted until 5 p.m. Former student Dwight Fitch Sr., now a musician and choir director, recalled Harris as a mentor, not just in music but in life.
“His fervor and his energy kind of calmed us all down and pointed us in the right direction at an early age,” Fitch said. “He would always say ‘Your discipline (in music) is so important and what we’re doing parallels your entire life.’”
Harris also taught at Eleanor McMain Secondary School and was invited to be a guest conductor for music programs at Warren Easton High School, Carter G. Woodson Middle School and Samuel J. Green Middle School.
Harris also spent time as a songwriter and producer, including for the local funk band Chocolate Milk.
He retired after 30 years of full-time teaching, but later took part-time positions at Boyet Junior High in Slidell, where he was assistant band director, and at Edward Hynes Charter School in Lakeview, where he taught music to third graders.
“I love my babies,” Harris said in 2014. “They want to learn, learn, learn. I was on my knees with the kids one day, and my principal came in. I told her, ‘You’ve got to get these kids to understand this metronomic beat. Once they get this into their system, then you can move them.’ That’s been my secret.”
Survivors include his wife, Regina Blue Harris; a stepdaughter, Michelle Brown; four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, Lisha Harris Perkins, a grandchild and his sister, Eileen Harris Ransom.
A Mass will be said Saturday, Aug. 14 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and International Shrine of St. Jude, 411 N. Rampart St. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Littlejohn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
