Hallway music makes a comeback
Homeroom tradition will return fall 2002
•Julia Bursten

Students lost the privilege to hear music in the halls on homeroom days for the rest of the school year, principal Kip Greenhill said, but the tradition will be back in August 2002.

“I want to use [music in the halls] as a learning experience by exposing students to new musical genres,” Greenhill said. “A big part of learning is exposing students to new things.”

Junior Susannah Bierly said she would not mind if the content of music were monitored, but she is opposed to allowing teachers to choose which genres of music will be played.

“Hearing classical music in school would make me feel like I was in an elevator, not an educational institution,” Bierly said. “Students want something with a groove, a soul.”

Greenhill said a panel of students and teachers will choose music to be played on homeroom days between classes. They will select piece from diverse genres such as classical, jazz, rock and roll, country and others.

“It’s not going to be elevator music,” he said. “[The faculty] still wants fun, uplifting music.”

Language arts teacher Karen Franklin, who volunteered to head next year’s music selection panel, said she hopes to enlist the aid of the global language department and play international music in addition to popular and classical.

“With a wider variety of genres, more students’ interests will be included in the music we intend to play,” Franklin said. “I expect students will have a positive reaction to [next year’s] plans.”