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The fourth-period band class at Hellgate High School warms up in a cacophanous din, but it's all music to John Combs' ears.

Somehow, even after 31 years of teaching, the sounds of teenagers and their musical instruments amounts to sweetness for band director Combs.

“I still just love what I'm doing,” he said Friday. “I just love this age. There's so much you can do with them. They're still moldable and they'll still listen.”

In fact, Combs' students listen so well that their performances have helped their leader earn a national honor. Recently, Combs was named a Legion of Honor Laureate by Bandworld magazine, which is published by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

“I think it's pretty exciting, but it still reflects the kids' work and not just mine,” said Combs, who has taught at Hellgate for 28 years. “But I get the plaque.”

The award had its genesis in a performance the Hellgate band made at Festival Disney in Florida back in March. One of the judges of that competition nominated Combs for the award after hearing the band.

Combs then had to send off examples of other Hellgate band performances and recommendations to Bandworld.

And then came the honor, one of only six bestowed this year.

“I guess if you think about all the high school band directors across the country, it's pretty nice,” said Combs, who is the first Montana director to ever win the award.

If you spend an hour in his classroom, it's easy to see why Combs won the award. Yes, it's ultimately the band's performance that speaks to judges, but the way that performance is structured says everything about the director.

And that structure features teenagers who are addicted to Facebook and text-messaging and yet somehow find themselves engaged in playing “Northwest Fanfare,” a piece that sounds like an Indiana Jones movie soundtrack.

It's an heroic piece of music that rises and falls, allowing the full band to howl in one moment and then go quiet as clarinets and bells further the melody.

Combs directs with flair, interrupting the musical passages with instruction, encouragement and the occasional joke.

“Come on you melody people, nail it!” he exhorts.

In one passage, the band falls away and a trumpet emerges. Only on Friday, it didn't really emerge so much as sort of wander in.

“That's OK,” said Combs. “I like the fact that you just brought those raw notes in. It's like, ‘I'm at the wrong house, but I'm still coming.' You'll get it right.”

Combs loves analogies as a method for getting his points across. You might think that he'd run dry in three decades, but you would be wrong. In fact, he had a new one just Friday.

It came up as he tried to get his third-period percussionists to stop all at once, then resume playing.

“The problem is like you're riding a bus and you've come to a stoplight and, suddenly, everybody decides to get off the bus,” Combs said. “Then, on the green light, you've gotta get everybody on the bus before you can go. I want you to stay on the bus. I'm taking you somewhere!”

And so they follow, punctuating the musical phrases at Combs' insistence, then tempering their enthusiasm at his falling hand so the winds can take a turn.

“Don't make them have to blow their lips off!” Combs said to general laughter.

There are signs hung all around the band room that communicate Combs' lessons and one of them says this: “Every Day Matters.”

That sign says in words what Combs shows his students through action every day.

“You gotta love these guys, even the sophomore boys,” he said. “Because you know they're always on the verge of getting it all together. And that's what I'm doing here.”

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