Guitar Club new type of learning
December 16, 2011
By Zak Buczinsky
In-Depth Editor
Once in a while, one might see the school psychologist Jay Kyp-Johnson standing outside of the student services office watching over the students of Prospect.
Occasionally, Kyp-Johnson will rescue a student from class five rapids that is the hallways of Prospect and exchange some general small talk.
After talking to kids who told him they played guitar, Kyp-Johnson, being an avid guitar player himself, realized there was a large population of students who loved the guitar and whose musical needs were not being satisfied by Prospect.
So after talking to dean of students Mark Taylor who also plays guitar, they decided to create an after school club for kids who wanted to play.
“School is a place for all of your creative outlets,” Kyp-Johnson said. According to Kyp Johnson, even though guitar playing is a very intellectual pursuit, it is not always taken seriously on an academic level. This is why schools rarely feature guitar playing in their academic schedule.
Guitar club meets every Thursday in and around the community room. The club tries to keep to the community room, but because of other after school activities they are forced to move around and have also used the theater and the cafeteria.
Kyp-Johnson says that the entire atmosphere of the club is great. The club is filled to the brim with guitarists of all levels, who all interact and bond over guitar.
Just walking out of the school on a Thursday it’s easy to feel the creativity and general good vibes that come from the guitarists.
All kinds of styles are found at the club, usually the acoustic players will take up their post outside of the community room in the commons, strumming chords and learning songs and the electric players will be rocking out inside of the community room, with rock, blues, jazz and metal songs streaming out from under the community rooms doors.
Every so often, other teachers, and even Kyp-Johnson will join is the jamming themselves.
“School is a place for all of your creative outlets,” Kyp-Johnson said. According to Kyp Johnson, even though guitar playing is a very intellectual pursuit, it is not always taken seriously on an academic level. This is why schools rarely feature guitar playing in their academic schedule.
Guitar club meets every Thursday in and around the community room. The club tries to keep to the community room, but because of other after school activities they are forced to move around and have also used the theater and the cafeteria.
Kyp-Johnson says that the entire atmosphere of the club is great. The club is filled to the brim with guitarists of all levels, who all interact and bond over guitar.
Just walking out of the school on a Thursday it’s easy to feel the creativity and general good vibes that come from the guitarists.
All kinds of styles are found at the club, usually the acoustic players will take up their post outside of the community room in the commons, strumming chords and learning songs and the electric players will be rocking out inside of the community room, with rock, blues, jazz and metal songs streaming out from under the community rooms doors.
Every so often, other teachers, and even Kyp-Johnson will join is the jamming themselves.
Kyp-Johnson says that even though some of the kids might not be star athletes or straight A honors students, they still need an outlet and a place to pursue what interests them.Guitar club is a place for students to meet other students who are interested in the same things. Rather than just having to search through the thousands of students at Prospect for people who have the same interests, activities like guitar club are excellent when it comes to making new friends and meeting like-minded people.The future of guitar club looks promising, Kyp-Johnson plans to start having early morning coffee houses, where kids can drink coffee and listen to and perform music for each other.There are even some plans for a kind of open-mic night, where kids cannot only play guitar, but perform poetry and other instruments as well.But for now guitar club is focused on one thing, enjoying the guitar. Even though guitar club has experienced an enormous growth in popularity, the important thing is keeping students involved in and enjoying their interests outside of school.
Check out our video on YouTube of Guitar Club or look on the side of prospectornow!
Check out our video on YouTube of Guitar Club or look on the side of prospectornow!
