Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff "I figured out one time that I have had 9,000 kids go through my classes," says retiring band director Robert Schmidt.

Robert Schmidt found his passion at age 6 when he started playing keyboard.

He was a music major in college, and for the past 40 years, he has taught kids in local schools to read, play and revel in melodies.

"I figured out one time that I have had 9,000 kids go through my classes," Schmidt, 61, said in a recent interview. "That's a lot of lives that you've influenced."

The longtime music teacher and band director said goodbye to his students last week, retiring after 38 years in Camarillo's Pleasant Valley School District.

He spent two years teaching in private school before moving to Los Altos Middle School and three of Pleasant Valley's elementary schools in 1970.

Since then, he has witnessed boom times and some lean years for the arts in public schools, including a period when he taught history because the music program was dropped.

"The arts are always the first to go," Schmidt said, and that's a loss. "I have had a lot of kids over the years who look forward to coming to school because of the electives."

Schmidt spent most of his career teaching music at Los Altos, until it closed last year, but sometimes he split his time among several campuses.

He has produced some "very, very talented" musicians, said Betty Weyek, Pleasant Valley's music coordinator. He has a quiet demeanor, she said, and is able to communicate a love of music to the children he teaches. Some left inspired.

"He was one of the greatest influences on my career," said Bob Hackett, who was in fifth grade when Schmidt first introduced him to the saxophone in 1974. "I can't thank him enough."

Hackett, 44, now teaches concert, jazz and marching bands at Moorpark High School, plays professionally in several groups and credits Schmidt for helping him find his passion for music.

He still remembers the positive, fun environment in Schmidt's classroom, and that the band participated in many parades, often beating high school bands for the top awards.

It was in seventh or eighth grade when, Hackett said, he decided he wanted "to be like Bob" and follow in his footsteps. There's sometimes a stigma that band is full of geeks and nerds, but "not once did anyone feel like that in (Schmidt's) classroom," Hackett said. "You felt like it was home like it was the most important thing."

This year, Schmidt was at Las Colinas Middle School and three elementary schools.

Pat FitzGerald, now principal at Las Colinas, also worked alongside Schmidt at Los Altos and remembers him marching dozens of kids up and down Temple Avenue practicing for parades. Schmidt is a low-key guy, which students loved, FitzGerald said. "I respect everything he's done, and I wish him the best."

Schmidt earned a master's degree and an administrative credential from CSU Northridge but stayed in a classroom, where, he said, he got to see a light go on in a student's face or feel proud when someone continued with music in high school or college or became a band director.

Now that school's out, Schmidt has planned a trip back to his hometown of Chicago this summer with his wife, two sons, their wives and four grandchildren. He already has tickets to see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field.

This fall, he also hopes to find a way to keep teaching part time, whether at a public or private school in the area.

Hackett hopes he succeeds.

"He makes it (music) seem like the coolest thing in the world without even trying," Hackett said. "I think 38 years is not enough for someone like him."