Band director couple finds love through music

It was love at first note for Steve and Tiffany.

And nearly 12 years later, the loving notes keep soothing, just down the road from each other.

Steve Lisko is associate band director at McKinney Boyd High School, while his wife, Tiffany, directs the band at Boyd's main feeder, Dowell Middle School.

Their mutual adoration for music has brought them -- and their students -- full circle.

"Working hand in hand with my wife makes it easy, as we have a constant perspective of transitioning these middle school musicians to the high school band," Steve said. "We have similar teaching philosophies and a shared vision."

It'd be hard not to, considering their journey. They met in fall 2002, both freshmen majoring in music education at the University of Houston.

Tiffany Tallent was a piccolo player from North Richland Hills, Steve Lisko a saxophone player from Houston. Before they met, their love was separate, funneled toward playing pristine tunes.

Whether it was their looks, personality or adept ability to form a B-flat note, a greater love soon floated between each other. With matching majors and spots in the university's marching and concert bands, Steve and Tiffany quickly grew closer.

Others took "note" of their budding romance, including their band director, who urged Steve to propose mid-concert. During their fourth year, at the university's first marching band benefit concert, the time was ripe.

"I was going to propose on such a big stage," Steve said. "It was the perfect setting."

Musically, romantically, it was a special occasion. With 300 on stage and 600 in the audience, including the president and board of regents, Steve made his move.

The director segmented the 2-hour concert with anecdotes about couples who'd met through band, including a recently married twirler-and-horn player couple.

"Let's celebrate band love by playing, 'Hey, Baby,'" the director proclaimed. Steve had already snuck backstage, swapped his uniform for a tuxedo and grabbed three dozen roses.

Tiffany was so busy playing, she didn't notice anything unusual. Until, of course, she looked up and saw a spotlighted Steve, microphone in hand.

"I was so excited, I didn't even say yes," Tiffany recalled. "I just started kissing him."

And the rest was...quite a story, still. They finished school and began their search for band director positions. Finding a perfect job match in Houston -- one that wouldn't pull them at least a dozen miles and calendar marks away from each other -- wouldn't be easy.

"I figured we'd have to live in downtown Houston and each drive a different direction every day like spokes on a wheel," Steve said. For newlyweds who'd seen each other constantly for five years, the "spokes" idea didn't sit well.

Music found a way to hold them together. An hour before their wedding, J.J. Pearce High School called Steve about the school's assistant band director spot. "I had to tell them, can I call you back when I get home from my honeymoon?" Steve said.

He did by phone two weeks later, moments after landing in Orlando. Soon after, Tiffany accepted the same position at Cain Middle School in Rockwall, where she stayed for two years.

Love remained, but school district likeness -- perhaps every band couple's dream -- lacked, until Tiffany took over as band director at Dowell, and a year later, Steve accepted his job at Boyd.

And now, the rest really could be history, a unique one incited by the bonds of love and music. Part of Steve's weekly responsibilities includes trips to Dowell, where he assists Tiffany in developing many students who will soon be his.

The McKinney Boyd band has even played, "Hey, Baby" on occasion.

"It's a really special dynamic," Steve said of their companionship across schools. "It makes the transition easier for students, and it helps break barriers between us. We have this other connection that most other band couples don't.

"They start with Mrs. Lisko and come to Mr. Lisko."

Between the two of them, they interact with more than 400 band students. Tiffany admits that the couple sometimes has "band-free weekends and vacations with no band talk."

But those never last, she said. As much as it's always been, band is still both of their first true loves.

It was the love that brought them together. And it's a love that keeps on playing.

"From watching them as sixth-graders when they open their instrument cases for the first time to passing them onto high school and seeing them grow and achieve," Tiffany said, "it's very rewarding to know that, hopefully together, we played a part in it."

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