by Stephanie Palazzolo, assistant editor

Note: This piece is a continuation of our print story on teachers’ musical talents in Vol. 19, No. 5, p. 9. The print issue can be accessed here.

Pop music pounds from a stereo in a passing car. A pedestrian crossing the street nods his head to the beat of the latest hit. Calming notes drift from a grand piano during a performance.

Music serves as a soundtrack in people’s day-to-day activities, but often it is nothing more than background music for busy and hectic lives. However, a few choice people think of music as more than just an insignificant aspect of life. For English teacher Daniel Posey, Latin teacher David Casper and German teacher Byron Goble, music is their life.

All three teachers started dabbling in music at young ages; however, while some chose to follow the classical route, others followed a more nontraditional road.

“I didn’t like playing guitar at first because I really just wanted to learn all the songs I was listening to on the radio,” Posey said. “So I started branching off and teaching myself chords and how to read tablature by myself.”

Posey continued playing guitar throughout his childhood and into high school and college.

“I started writing songs and would play at little venues around town,” Posey said. “When I went to college, I went on to play at bigger places.”

Since graduating from college, however, playing guitar has been more of a therapeutic practice than one he uses to support himself. One cause for this is his inspiration, which for him and many other artists can be finicky and come at any time.

“Writing songs for me is, a lot of the time, a process where I get thoughts out of my head,” Posey said. “I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve been in bed, about to go to sleep, with this thought that I can’t get rid of, so I’ll stay up till 2 o’clock in the morning just playing guitar. And a lot of the times, it doesn’t really go anywhere, but sometimes I end up writing something I really like, and it becomes part of the songs that I play for people when they ask.”

Whenever and wherever inspiration strikes, Posey writes.

“I once wrote a song called ‘Josephine’ on the back of a pizza box at a party in college,” Posey said. “Even in the middle of this party, with all these people hanging out, wanting to talk, I found this pizza box on a table and just started writing. It wasn’t the final version of the song by any means, but it was the start of a song and I was so happy with it that, right there, I started coming up with a melody. It’s pretty funny because now that’s the song that people usually ask me to play because it has a good melody.”

The writing process also varies from song to song with Casper, who can play a total of 11 instruments, his favorite being guitar.

“Each individual song I write is different,” Casper said. “There was one song that I did called ‘Run-on’ that’s basically one long run-on sentence that goes on for four minutes. I wrote it in one 20-minute sit down session. On the other hand, there have been some songs where I record part of it onto my laptop and then, two or three years later, stumble across the recording. It’s a very ADD way to do music, but hey, it works.”

Casper’s appreciation for diverse writing processes also translates to his acceptance for any type of genre in his music.

“As a Christian musician, I’ve noticed that Christian music nowadays tends to have one particular sound to it, that ‘arena full of people singing’ kind of sound,” Casper said. “I, on the other hand, am not opposed to doing something jazzy or reggae. It’s not a matter about what sound I want to make for all my songs, it’s a matter of whether or not this sound fits the specific message of this song or not.”

Casper has written several songs, his most famous being “Sing Along,” which is more widely known as “The Catholic Pick-Up Line Song.”

“[‘The Catholic Pick-Up Line Song’] consists of pick-up lines that you use on a Catholic girl,” Casper said. “It got some attention on YouTube and spread around, so I’ve had some very strange encounters with people who have heard the song and recognize me. I also got an interview on an Australian talk show radio station over Skype, so apparently the song is getting some popularity in Australia. Go figure.”

Casper embraces music as a part-time career, performing in concerts and church retreats. For Goble, playing guitar has become much more than just a hobby as well.

“I came around to guitar in college, and I just feel like it was supposed to be my instrument,” Goble said. “I realized that, hey, this is what I want to do with my life.”

While studying engineering at Texas A&M, Goble joined a college guitar quartet. Now, in addition to giving private lessons, he performs in concerts, weddings, and competitions.

“I’ve done lots of contests where I’ll have to perform in front of an audience as a concert in the finals,” Goble said. “I’m also looking forward to starting a duo with a violinist in town.”

For all three teachers, balancing teaching and music provides an opportunity for student-teacher bonding and interaction.

“If it has to do with what we’re doing in class, I’ll pull out my guitar and play during class,” Posey said. “There was this one time where, when I was playing a song I wrote, I just zoned out and even forgot that I was in class for a second. When I finished the song and came back to reality, there was literally a deafening cheer, which is something that you usually don’t get a whole lot in venues or open mic nights.”

The enthusiasm and support of their students have given the teachers a desire to share their love of music with students who may not have the chance to connect with students and teachers who have similar interests.

“If I also had the opportunity to teach guitar and German here and the kids had a need for it, that would be great,” Goble said. “There are a ton of schools all over Texas and in different pockets in the US that have curriculum and are even TEKS based. They’ve grown tremendously with that, so that’s something that I’ve looked into doing.”

With a lack of funding, however, guitar classes may be out of the question for the moment. Nevertheless, Goble believes that with enough interest and money, they could become a reality.

“My idea is that I’d like to start a guitar club first to get some student interest that way,” Goble said. “I haven’t had a lot of time to set it up yet, but I’ve put together some information and thought about fundraising too. This club is something that I really hope to do, and if it ends up being a class, that would be even better.”

Ultimately, the teachers want to share their talent and love of music with others to help them feel the same peace and joy that they experience when playing music.

“Music flows naturally to me,” Casper said. “For some reason, I can be thinking about a million other things while I play guitar. Music now feels as comfortable as breathing or speaking for me.”