@JohnStacy We had a strict band director in high school, but you could ALWAYS, always, always tell that he cared about the music, about the band, about what he was doing, and about what we were all doing. For this role especially, I think, any scent of apathy is absolutely toxic.
He'd occasionally provide some background on a given piece, or its composer, but I wish he'd done a little bit more of that, actually... not sure if most students would be interested in that, but I was.