Full-Time Conductor, Part-Time Mime: Haberman Goes on Sabbatical 

By Liz Komagum 

Peter Haberman, the Director of Bands at Concordia College, is spending his sabbatical next semester studying the art of pantomiming under the instruction of mime Bill Bowers.  

Haberman will take weekly online lessons with Bowers and a 2-week intensive in New York City. In these lessons, Haberman will mime from his side of the screen and ask how to teach this experience, then Bowers will explain the theory behind these practices.  

“[Bowers] is a performer, actor, and mime, but he also teaches at the Stella Adler school of acting, and he’s known around the world as a clinician, teacher, coach, all that stuff. I don’t want him to say no to a gig just because I’m coming out, so we’ll make the two weeks work around his schedule,” Haberman said. 

“I don’t get to see other conductors rehearse a lot in my job,” Haberman said. Along with studying miming, Haberman plans to observe different ensembles and conductors and attend graduate seminars.  

When asked what he was excited for, Haberman said, “To be able to go deep into learning something for myself, go deep into a journey out to see other conductors, and not have the pressure of class every Tuesday-Thursday or Monday-Wednesday-Friday.” 

Haberman had noticed there were classes focused on body awareness for other music students, but a lack of those classes for conducting students. 

“Now that we have this conducting certificate, and we have courses here, and I have graduate students, I want to steal things from the mime world and theatre world that help them explore their body in authentic ways that can translate,” Haberman said. 

Bowers is not the first mime Haberman has worked with. Haberman studied with Bud Beyer, who taught at Northwestern University in Illinois and worked with conductors over the course of 16 years.  

“It really engaged me in this idea of nonverbal communication as an art form,” Haberman said. 

Haberman had first seen Bowers 10 years ago, when he came to the Concordia campus for the first time, and attended his theatre classes. Bowers has visited campus two more times since then, most recently in spring of 2025. 

“I went to every class, and I was taken by some of the ideas, so then I met with him, and that’s how this sabbatical thing started,” Haberman said. 

He noticed a few differences between Bowers and Beyer, a key difference being Bowers didn’t focus on music and instead focused on theatre. 

“He’s not really a musician. He doesn’t know that world, so he doesn’t use our words which is really exciting for me because it gives me a whole other language that I get to translate to music.” 

 “I want to learn more from him because he doesn’t know music.” Haberman said.  

While Haberman is gone, Professor Malcolm Burke, a University of Minnesota graduate, will take his place.  

The band will have a winter concert in February in lieu of the tour they would usually have and a concert to celebrate the opening of the theatre Concert Hall in New York Mills and its 25-year reunion. 

“I think I’m gonna really miss my students because, being a conductor, the band is my instrument. So, I know I’m gonna miss the opportunity to have that experience. I’ll be ready to come back,” Haberman said.