What kind of future do you see for guitar in music education in our New Jersey school system? I think it will continue to improve. Unfortunately, I had no musical outlet in regards to music education as a kid and yet I was the most passionate musician in school. Honestly, I resent the “traditional music teacher perspective” that only sees music education as band, orchestra, and choir because of my music education experience.
I think I was one of two students from my gradu- ating class that went on to pursue music at the college level, and with no help from public school music teach- ers. However, I do have a lot of respect and love for my freshman high school music theory teacher. She really prepared me for college music theory. I’m really impressed by the work of organizations like
Little Kids Rock and the Teaching Guitar Workshops. I have attended both professional development programs and was really impressed that the majority of teachers were not guitarists but musicians from other areas. LKR and TGW also does fine work training professionals to imple- ment guitar in schools and reach a wide range of students.
What type of arrangements and/or transcribing
have you done for your school performances? I arranged Dowland’s “Come Heavy Sleep” for guitar
ensemble and we performed it with our choir. That was a fun collaboration. Last year, I arranged a system of a down medley featuring Chop Suey and Toxicity for guitar ensemble and it was a big hit at our spring concert.
Do you do any musical performances or activities
outside of your public school teaching duties? I teach as adjunct professor guitar at Kean University and teach Music Technology Education at Rutgers as a part-time lecturer. I’m currently working on my disserta- tion at Rutgers and expect to complete my doctorate by the fall of 2018. I hope to begin playing guitar again after completing my degree.
Any last thoughts to conclude our interview? Many people in our society question the value of music as a worthy educational endeavor. All subjects can be questioned of their worth if we just look at them at the surface level. However, every subject is important be-
TEMPO 30 MARCH 2018
cause we never know when we will be in a position to apply knowledge learned from another discipline.
Thomas Amoriello is the Guitar Education Chairper-
son for the New Jersey Music Education Association and also serves on the NAfME Council for Guitar Education as the Chair-Elect. He teaches guitar for the Flemington Raritan School District and Hunterdon Academy of the Arts. Tom graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory with a Master of Music Degree in Classical Guitar Performance. He is the author of the children’s picture books; A Journey to Guitar- land with Maestro Armadillo & Ukulele Sam Strums in the Sand, both available from Black Rose Writing. He re- cently made a heavy metal recording with a stellar roster of musicians including former members of Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force, and Cacophony and that will be released in February 2018 on H42 Records of Hamburg, Germany on 7 inch Vinyl.
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