During his grade school days, Michael Luxner had no musical ambitions.

But timing is everything, and the baby-boomer era during which he grew up presented him with an opportunity to delve into the world of music.

Without knowing how this small step would set the course for the rest of his life, he began playing the trumpet in the fourth grade.

"Those were flush times for music in the schools," said Luxner, now in his 13th year as music director and conductor of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra. "I don't remember if it was my parents' idea or I was recruited or what, but at that time, the schools were bursting at the seams ? The funding base was high, and music was a cool thing to do."

An education in music

Luxner's school years in the Long Island (N.Y.) area were strung together with band and orchestra practices. He enjoyed playing the trumpet, but when he graduated from high school at age 16 and considered what he wanted to do with his life, he didn't consider music a practical possibility.

"I went to Washington University in St. Louis for two years," he said. "I wanted to be a liberal arts student, taking courses in every different area, because I really didn't know what I wanted to do.

"It was a strong music school, so I took the music classes among the

gen eds to become a music major, though I couldn't declare a major there until later on. But once I was a college music major, being around grad students and modern music and experiencing professional music at that level ? I discovered music in its entirety. It wasn't all just high school band music. At that point, I thought, if I can make a living somehow in this world, I'd be very lucky."

Luxner moved on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., as a trumpet performance major. Because playing the trumpet was his most developed musical skill at that time, once again, he did not initially consider doing anything else.

But as he studied musical history, theory and analysis, he found himself enthralled. He earned a Bachelor of Music with High Distinction at Eastman and continued on there to earn a master's degree and ultimately, a doctorate, in music theory.

"I could have spent a lifetime just studying music, the way people study literature or plays," said Luxner. "I appreciate the structure, intricacies and patterns of music, which is what makes a great work of art what it is.

"That could have been a very satisfying career, but I felt like I needed to perform, to be a part of the life of music. I did play trumpet, but my appreciation for the totality of the work of art led me to think that this was something to which I could contribute."

Making a decision

Luxner felt that through conducting, he could contribute the most.

"Conducting seemed a natural outlet for my particular skills. As fascinated by music as I am, I felt like I needed to be making it or performing it, and if I didn't, I felt like I was taking but not giving," he said.

"I've never had an impulse to compose. I know so well how great composition works, by studying the works of music already there, and I can't imagine adding to it. I couldn't presume to add to it."

Though Luxner studied conducting as part of his music theory major, Eastman did not offer a conducting program at the time, and Luxner never earned an academic degree in the field. Instead, he studied conducting during summers in Maine, which he refers to as his most intense and important training as a conductor.

By 1976, when he began his first job teaching music theory at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio, Luxner was deeply immersed in conducting and took every opportunity he could to conduct. His first orchestra was a youth orchestra based in Oberlin.

Conductor Luxner

Six years later, at age 32, he won his first professional position as associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony in Georgia. But it wasn't easy. Throughout his career, Luxner says he has applied for perhaps hundreds of conducting positions and made it through the final rounds for a dozen or so.

"These jobs are hard to get. Conducting is competitive," he said. "If you move to any fairly robustly sized city, you'll find dozens of professors. But you'll only find one person making a living as a conductor of a professional orchestra."

Beyond that, those hiring a conductor have a rather subjective decision to make. While everyone applying for a particular position at that level will have certain fundamental skills, not everyone will be a good fit for that orchestra.

"It sometimes depends on the orchestra and the people in it, and a sense of rapport," Luxner said. "You are putting together thousands of years of total music experience when you are in a room rehearsing. Every single person in that orchestra has a rich, committed history of engagement with music and with orchestras, and it's how those experiences are going to meld that's key."

After four years in Savannah as associate conductor, he became music director and conductor of the Owensboro (Ky.) Symphony. He remained there until 1996, when an open position at Millikin University caught his attention.

Arriving at Millikin

Since then, Luxner has been music director and conductor of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, leading the program - uniquely structured among music schools in the country - with an emphasis on artistic integrity.

"The music we play has aesthetic significance," said Luxner. "The standards of performance are uncompromising. That doesn't mean every performance is perfect, but it means the standards are. The conductor or music director can't achieve those things by himself, but he has to embody it in word, thought and deed all the time if he expects it of others."

As Luxner explains, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra is neither student orchestra nor community orchestra but an optimum blend of faculty, other professionals and students.

"It's roughly balanced so that there is one faculty principal and enough other professionals to make up about half of each section, while the other half is students," he said. "What this accomplishes is an extraordinary synergy between performing and teaching, since part of what the teachers are trying to teach is how to be good orchestra players.

"They are not just teaching students excerpts, they are sitting there right next to them in the orchestra. It's really the best of both worlds with this model. And what the community sees and gets resembles and operates as a professional orchestra."

The other key component of the model is the Symphony Guild of Decatur, which provides funding for the professional players in the orchestra.

"The guild raises money and gives it to Millikin without power of governance. There's an enormous sense of trust here," Luxner said. "This partnership is crucial because the guild comprises hundreds of members and a very hard-working board who, without pay, raise this money. So far, it's worked very well."

Though Luxner prefers to conduct more serious music, "more than just a series of attractive melodies," as he says, he has conducted many a pops concert and the like.

"I just want to communicate that the people who have played a piece and listened to it are a little different for having experienced it," he said.