Guitar Program Spotlight 3 Interview With Edison High School Instructor, Andrew Jaworski
Thomas Amoriello
Fleminton Raritan School District
tamoriel@frsd.k12.nj.us
great things happening in guitar education. A few of the schools that have appeared in TEMPO Magazine in- cluded Wall High School, Washington Township High School, Bergen Academy, and Bayonne High School. To- day we are indebted to Andrew Jaworski of Edison High School in Edison, NJ to share his enthusiasm with our readers. Enjoy!
H
ere is a third installment featuring a high school guitar program from New Jersey in an effort to bring attention to the many
tapes…old cassettes full of everything he was listening to at the time: Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Rush, The Delfonics, Mahler symphonies, old Grateful Dead con- cert bootleg tapes…you name it, it was on one of those tapes. I listened to absolutely everything he gave me. I even wore out a few tapes just by playing them so much. I think that early, un-biased exposure to music of all dif- ferent varieties really helped cultivate an eclectic taste in music for me, and why having an open ear and an open mind is something I try to impart to my students. Above all other instruments, I was absolutely enam-
Please tell us about your school and overall Music
Program? Edison High School has a total enrollment of just
about 2000 students, and a robust performing arts pro- gram which features a wide array of band, choir, orches- tra, and plucked string ensembles, classes in Music The- ory, Music Technology, and our newly founded Dance program. The Guitar Department is made up of about 45 students in three leveled Guitar courses. I also direct the EHS Guitar Ensemble, which is in its second year. The ensemble rehearses weekly after school, and we have a few performances throughout the year.
Tell us about your own personal musical back-
ground growing up and your collegiate experience? My earliest memories of music are rooted in rock and
roll. Growing up, my brother (who is 10 years older than me, and a very talented drummer) used to make me mix
TEMPO 30 MAY 2018
ored with the sound of the electric guitar. So like any other 7-year-old kid who dreamed of being the next rock star, I asked my parents for a guitar and lessons for my birthday. It was a little 3/4-size nylon string; not quite the “Gibson Flying V” painted with flames that I had envisioned. It was over the next few years that my first guitar teacher showed me that the guitar had so much more versatility than I had ever imagined, and my inter- est in the classical guitar began to grow. By the time I was ready to start looking for colleges, I
knew I wanted to spend my life making music. My stud- ies brought me to the Hartt School of Music as a classical guitarist and Music Production and Technology major, and then a few years later to Montclair State University for a Masters degree in Teaching. It was really the profes- sors and staff at both of those schools, and all my music teachers throughout the years that helped make me who I am today, and a big reason I decided to go into educa- tion in the first place; to share what I had learned and experienced studying this wonderful instrument, and to hopefully inspire younger generations to become lifelong music-lovers and music-makers.
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