On her first day of Honors Chemistry, Oviya Sri Ganesh, sophomore, walked into her classroom to hear “Joy Spring” by Clifford Brown playing on a classroom speaker. 

“It was really different because I’ve never heard another teacher play music, but it wasn’t bad,” Sri Ganesh said. 

Ed Bolton, science teacher, is Sri Ganesh’s teacher. Bolton is known for playing music during class, as well as for playing his guitar during passing periods.

“I liked it because the classroom wasn’t quiet, and there was always something playing in the background when I’m doing science problems,” Sri Ganesh said. 

Sri Ganesh said she enjoys the little conversations that happen during class because of the music, such as bonding over “Frozen” or “Star Wars” music. She doesn’t find the music too distracting and said it makes the environment of the classroom more calming. 

“Most students like listening to music while doing their homework, and a lot of students complain about not having their AirPods, so I feel like just any type of music would be beneficial to people doing work,” Sri Ganesh said. 

Bolton is one of the several teachers who play music during their classes, and he’s been doing so for the past 15 years. He’s lived through the ages of having to put in a cassette tape to plugging in an iPod and now to streaming on Spotify. 

“Music has always been a really big part of my life,” Bolton said. “I’ve always just had it with me, and when I would talk to my kids in class, they didn’t know anything about music that I usually listened to, so I just started playing it.” 

Currently, Bolton plays music using a playlist he’s curated with about 26,000 songs. In the past, he also has made themed playlists, such as a “female vocalists” playlists or a “blues” playlist, which he would change weekly. 

For the last several years, his large playlist has been focused on jazz, which he said is a lot of what he listened to growing up.

“I feel like it’s one of the true American arts forms and we don’t get a lot of exposure to it,” Bolton said. 

Bolton said he loves introducing music to other students, as well as being introduced to student’s music. He often listens to student’s song suggestions for his playlist and participates in conversations over different kinds of music. 

“It’s got to fit with the vibe, and obviously it’s got to be school appropriate, but I have had students in the past suggest stuff for me to listen to, and it has gone on there,” Bolton said. “That sort of conduit to new music I feel is a personal thing, and so I enjoyed those conversations.” 

As much as Bolton enjoys introducing others to new music, he also said he doesn’t want to force his own music taste onto others. 

“I don’t want to control or make all of us the same,” Bolton said. “If there was a lesson out of it, it would be that there’s all kinds of music and you should try listening to it all, and you don’t have to like it all.” 

Kyle Anderson, language arts teacher, also enjoys playing music in his classroom, and has been doing so for the past eight years. 

“I think it adds a fun and inviting atmosphere to the room that shakes up the students’ routines as they come and go from my room,” Anderson said. 

Like Bolton, Anderson has a playlist, though all of Anderson’s songs are specifically instrumental versions of songs with lyrics. 

“This both keeps the music more background-sounding, which is what I want,” Anderson said. “Also, sometimes the lyrical content can make a song not a great fit for school, but if I use an instrumental, I can play whatever I want.”

Anderson likes to edit the songs to exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds so two songs can play during every passing period when he plays loud music. During his classes, he resorts to cafe jazz, lo-fi and DJ sets, which he’s found are better for in class productivity. 

“I bounce between these two modes of music in my room, one for work time and one for social time,” Anderson said. 

Besides playing songs, Anderson has a mini-keyboard in his classroom, which he has set up so that when he hits different piano keys, it makes specific sound effects. He likes to use his keyboard when he plays games in class. 

“I have many buzzers, applause and other various SFX that I can trigger in the moment to heighten the fun,” Anderson said. 

Dina Durnin, counselor, also plays instrumental music, but finds her songs off of YouTube. She said that she hasn’t made any playlists, and chooses songs on a day to day basis. 

“I just pull up my YouTube channel and whatever fits my mood in the morning is what I choose for the day,” Durnin said. 

Durnin said she specifically likes using YouTube because she’s able to not only play music, but also show videos that have calming images in the background, such as waterfalls, trails, and underwater scenes. 

“I do not have a window in my office so it’s nice to look at the screen to pretend that I am outside every once in a while,” Durnin said. 

She tries to keep her volume at low levels to create a peaceful ambiance and also not drown out the voices of students when they come into talk. Durnin makes sure that her students don’t find themselves yelling over the music.  

“I hope it helps create a calming and welcoming environment for students when they come to talk in my office,” Durnin said.