Dan Wing has taught music in Shoreline for so long that he runs into college graduates he taught in elementary school — some of whom now play in professional orchestras.

“I sometimes joke, ‘Remember when you were in the fifth grade and you played “Hot Cross Buns”?’” said Wing, who conducts the Shorewood High School and Einstein Middle School orchestras. He’s also taught music at elementary schools in the Shoreline School District.

Wing will be honored for his career Feb. 15 when he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Music Educators Association, or WMEA.

Though some might not know it, Wing had a career before his teaching career: playing in professional orchestras around Europe and the U.S.

And, like many of his students, he started out as a child at the “Hot Cross Buns” level of artistry. Wing started playing piano when he was 6 years old, then moved onto violin at 10. He saw someone playing the instrument and knew he had to play it.

“I told my parents, ‘I have to have violin lessons,’” Wing said. “I was committed to my decision.”

His parents didn’t think this strange, or worry about hours of squeaky at-home practices. Wing’s father and brothers were also musicians, so everyone was practicing at home — just in different rooms.

“Someone was practicing the piano, someone on trumpet in the bedroom, someone on violin in the dining room — all practicing somewhere in the house,” Wing said.

He remembers his violin teacher telling him how competitive it was to get a job as a professional musician. So in college he majored in something more practical: chemistry.

The decision didn’t last.

“I just realized (music) was something I loved so much I couldn’t be without it,” Wing said. “I had to do it, it was my passion.”

So Wing transferred to Washington State University, where he took up the viola.

After college, he auditioned for the Richmond Symphony in Richmond, Va. and got a job playing viola. He later moved to Germany and played in orchestras there, traveling around Europe.

“I loved it,” he said. “The playing in front of an audience, the variety of music, the whole artistic experience.”

In his 15-year career as a professional musician, Wing played with the orchestras of Radio Luxembourg and West German Radio, among others. He was principal violist for the orchestras of Heidelberg, Germany; Sacramento Calif.; Evansville, Ind.; and Charlotte, N.C.

But the traveling was fatiguing, Wing said. The last orchestra job he had before he left the profession was with the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra in Germany.

“I decided that if I stayed in Germany I would probably be there for the rest of my life,” Wing said. “I thought, ‘I really don’t want to live in Germany the rest of my life.’”

He wanted a change of pace and a new direction in his life. So he moved back to the Northwest, where he grew up.

“I talked to a friend of mine, and they convinced me to take up teaching,” Wing said.

The first few years of teaching were tough. In Wing’s first year with the Shorewood orchestra, there were only 22 students and at Einstein, only 18.

“That’s barely what I call critical mass,” Wing said. “If you have too few students, it’s really hard to get an acceptable sound.”

He worked hard to build interest and enrollment in the program.

Twenty years later, Shorewood’s orchestra, with about 90 students, has won numerous awards and performed twice at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It’s also performed in Hawaii, Oregon, California, Florida and Canada.

In the early years, Wing remembers taking students to music festivals for the first time where no one recognized Shorewood High School’s name and seeing the group win awards.

But the part of teaching he finds most fulfilling is seeing students develop their musical talent, he said.

“I am basically teaching them what I learned when I was their age,” Wing said. “It’s so fulfilling because I can see them loving music like I love music.”

Wing still performs on a freelance basis, when he can get away from his demanding duties at school. Recently, he performed for the musical “The King and I” at the Village Theatre in Issaquah and Everett.

And teaching is, of course, something of a performance, he said.

“An effective teacher has to be a little bit of an actor, and if I can get students to laugh at a stupid joke, that’s fine,” he said. “It’s for a good cause.”