Searching for a way for his music production students to have real-world experiences, teacher David Thompson and his students formed a band called Gomp.
“Gomp,” which stands for GlenOak Music Production practices during class, and students work on playing at outside events. The band is run by the music production teacher, David Thompson and his senior class.
“Everybody in the senior class is involved in some aspect, whether that’s playing directly or if that’s in a supporting role with running our sound board or just helping set up equipment,” Thompson said.
The band has a variety of instruments for students to use to perform their songs. Thompson, being a trombone player in multiple bands himself, feels like it’s easier to perform in a band then just by yourself.
“This is career tech music production, so one of the main things we do in music and that musicians do is perform, so becoming a band is key to making that real-world experience happen,” Thompson said.
When Thompson is not teaching a new lesson, the kids are practicing for the commercial photography show that was on May 5 and are working on other songs for future performances.
“When performances come around, we are pretty much practicing every day in class for usually about the second half of class, and the first half of class is like a lesson,” senior Michael Papadopoulos said.
Despite them practicing every day on performing and making their music, not all the songs they perform are theirs; usually, they’re covers.
“It’s a little bit of a mix, I’d say, performance-wise, because we do more covers, but in class when we are working together, we do make our own songs,” senior Maggie Mihailovic said
But when “Gomp” decides to create and produce their own music, they make sure everyone gets a part in helping produce the song.
“Well, most of the time we like to perform covers, but when we are making a song, sometimes one person will just start off with something they came up with, and then everyone else will like to build off of it,” senior Jonas Gaul said.
Unlike most famous bands that just stick to same type of genre, “Gomp” is working on songs in a variety of different genres
“I don’t think there’s really a main genre, we do rock, jazz and we are working on a blues song,” Gaul said.
Thompson believes that being in bands gives students real-life experiences, as he has experienced firsthand.
“I’ve been in a lot of bands, I’ve been in rock bands and jazz bands and even in a salsa group, so I’m not really in a steady band that rehearses, I just get phone calls from people when they need a trombone player for a project so it’s a lot of like church play or some recordings,” Thompson said.
Even though Thompson is a high school teacher and a dad, he still tries his best to stay active in a band
“I don’t play as much as I used to with having two kids at home, but I still get out enough to stay active and to be a musician,” Thompson said.
