With so many boundaries set between students and the personal lives of our high school faculty, sometimes a disconnect develops within the classroom when students and teachers try to relate. Some teachers are fully comfortable with sharing information about their outside-of-school lives with students. Others would rather keep that information to themselves. In some ways, revealing certain things about family, youth experiences, and their current lives can help teachers build a stronger connection with their students in the classroom. On the other hand, if students take this information and grow too comfortable with their teachers, the classroom can become dysfunctional and grow out of control with students seeing their superiors more as friends than as significant educational figures in their lives.
This week I set out on a quest to help our students find out more about their teachers in an appropriate, yet fun and interesting way. The one question I had to ask myself was, “Where can we all relate?” “Where can high school students full of angst and apathy meet in the middle ground with the ones in control?”
In the midst of an awesome after-school conversation with Mr. Fisher, I found my answer: music.
As Fisher, my 8th period pre-calculus teacher, raved about acts like Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses, and others, I realized that we had something in common. We both shared a passion for music. Moments later, it dawned on me that music is something we actually all share in common. We love this band. We hate that song. We went to this concert. Love it or hate it, no one can avoid music. It is engrained in our daily lives regardless of age, something often harmless that we can all relate to.
So I went on a multi-day survey journey, amusing some teachers, probably getting on the nerves of most, and tracking down certain faculty members who seem to have hidden themselves in the deepest darkest parts of MHS. I asked the three following musical questions to as many faculty members as I could:
1. In your opinion, who is the most influential musician or group (from any time period) on all music released in the past century?
2. Who have you been listening to recently?
3. What was the best concert you’ve ever been to? Where and when?
The list below is what I gathered (with the answers in order):
Dehnel: Beatles, Tame Impala, The Machine in NYC (Pink Floyd cover band)
Fisher: Mozart, George Jones and new Alice In Chains, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses Meadowlands ‘86
Nellins: Beatles, Joy Formidable and The Shins, Mumford and Sons at Terminal 5 2011, NYC
Bratton: Beatles, Indigo Girls, Fishbone in Charlottesville, ‘91
Robertson: Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Springsteen
Nunez: Foo Fighters, sports talk radio, Dave Matthews front row Central Park, 2009
Prill: Beatles, Adele, Paul McCartney at Giants Stadium, ‘90
Kubick: Metallica(favorite band), Chevelle, Shinedown in Camden, 2012
Rawding: Beatles, Pandora alternative radio, Springsteen at MSG
Ellrott: John Coltrane’s Quartet, Arctic Monkeys, Beastie Boys at Roseland Ballroom, ‘94
Scheer: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Van Morrison, Beatles at Shea Stadium, ‘66
Mueller: Beatles, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffett in Cincinnati, ‘98
Bernich: Elvis Presley, Classic Rock, Pink Floyd at MSG on the floor, ‘89
Singerline: Beatles, Beethovens 9th, none
Monkemeier: Andrea Bochelli, Mumford and Sons, Billy Joel at Meadowlands, ‘89
Maseker: Rolling Stones, Ben Howard, Springsteen at the Rock, 2010, also considered Peter Gabriel
Wessel: Beatles, Van Morrison, Shaun Mullins, 2011
Lynnott: U2, Jake Bugg, Charlie and the boys in Seville, 2003
Sean Pauls: Beatles, Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley in Camden, 2010
Reilly: Beatles, Eagles, Eagles at Meadowlands, 2006
Wilson: Beatles, Brad Paisley, Neil Diamond in Boston, ‘97
Connolly: Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, The Who at Giants Stadium, front row, ‘87
Bergen: Led Zeppelin, Wilco, Sound Garden at CBGB in NYC, ‘90
Hladky: Beatles, Lana Del Ray, 10,000 Maniacs at Penn U, ‘85
Blackman: Beatles, The Black keys, The Roots at Rutgers Fest, 2008
Healey: Beatles, Classic Rock, Iron Maiden at RadioCity, ‘86
Seraydar: Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin at MSG, ‘77
Radzieski: U2, Jay Z, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake at Nassau Coliseum, 2004
Gabel: Iron Maiden, Radio, Iron Maiden at Meadowlands, 2006
Brzozowski: Beatles, Radio, Simon and Garfunkel in NYC, ‘98
Gentile: Hendrix, Funk, Paul McCartney in Atlantic City, 2010
Zemaneck: Beatles, Jovanotti, Dave Matthews at Giants stadium, 2003
Neto: Beatles, Beatles, Fats Domino in Jersey City
Levine: Beatles, Jackson Brown, the Who in Glens Falls, ‘88
Braine: Drop Kick Murphy’s, Gordon Lightfoot, Journey at NJ PAC
Fellows: Bach, Tom Waits, Parliament Funkadelic at MSG, ‘78
Berardo: Beatles, Italian pop, No Nukes concert at MSG, early 80’s
Ladolcetta: Chuck Berry, Drop Kick Murphy’s, Pearl Jam in Camden, ‘93
Davis: Beatles, Latin music, Elton John in Seville, ‘92
Papa: Beatles, John Legend, Madonna at MSG, ‘90
Bonnema: Lois Armstrong and Johnny Cash, Elvis -Aretha Franklin – Katy Perry- P!nk, Steve Earl acoustic at Morristown Theater in 2011
Sokolowski: Elvis and the Beatles, Mumford and Sons, Pearl Jam at Wembley stadium, ‘99
Harris: Beatles and the Rolling Stones, SugarLand, never gone
Batsch: Bach, Rascal Flats, Monsters of Rock at Meadowlands stadium, ‘88
Silvestri: Kansas(Favorite band), Pat Metheny, Kansas at Bergen Performing Arts center, 2013
Fennel: Beatles, Aerosmith, Van Halen at Meadowlands stadium, ‘82
Vasquez: Michael Jackson, Drake, no answer
Oswin: Jon Coltrane, Lady Gaga, North of Somewhere at Maxwell’s, 2013
Gotliffe: Beethoven and Mozart, Arjona, The Who at NJ PAC
Orourke: Beatles, Young the Giant, The Killers in Columbus 2005
Morganthaller: Beatles, radio, Eric Clapton at MSG, 2004
Freeman: Beatles, Ben Folds, Blind Melon at Rutgers, ‘94
Largo: Beatles, OneRepublic, Pet Shop Boys in Columbia, ‘94