New GHS music teacher Cole Lundquist has  performed and worked with various musicians, including Grammy winners Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and Jason Mraz. And while he reminisces fondly about his days on the road, meeting people and learning music, he ultimately found his true passion in teaching.

Lundquist has been teaching for more than a decade, and previously taught for 4 years at Chelsea High. Prior to that, he taught at Endicott College for 11 years, and founded the Endicott Pep Band in 2010 where he remains the director. He also briefly worked at the University of Florida.

“I love teaching jazz band, I love teaching jazz, I love teaching vocals,” Lundquist said.  “I know about 12 or 13 other instruments very well.” 

When asked about his instrument of choice, he said “First and foremost I’m a vocalist. But I would categorize myself as a vocalist who never put the horn down,” Lundquist said. “ I play the saxophone.” 

Lundquist said he has big ideas and ambitious goals for the music program, and hopes to grow the program “beyond anything that anyone has ever seen ever.”   He hopes to make his room a “positive and safe environment for everyone”, and he’s also trying to create some new classes. 

“I want to be able to say in three years,  yes, we have more than one instrument ensemble, yes, we have more than one vocal ensemble, that we offer a wide variety of music classes,” Lundquist said. “To be able to say…that we could eventually get to teaching AP Music Theory, that we could put a rock band together… that we could teach other instrumental classes, offer more to your GHS student than just what’s offered now. I wanna deepen the program and I wanna broaden the program.”

The band and chorus under Lundquist has already seen growth since the year’s start, and he has been actively recruiting students to join the music program. The chorus started out this year with only 14 students, and currently this number has grown to 25. The Docksiders currently stands at 23 students, and their members continue to increase.

Lundquist will be teaching numerous music-based classes, as well as running the music program as a whole with the help of Mr. DiPietro. Lundquist will be teaching 2 blocks of A.V. Music Tech, a course that will take students through the world of sound systems and the technological aspect of how sound works on a stage. He will also be teaching Uke Can Do It, an introductory course to the ukulele, as well as Chorus and the Docksiders. 

 Lundquist has also removed the audition process to get into the Docksiders.

“I removed the audition requirement because it never should have been there in the first place. There’s only one instrument ensemble here at the high school, and it’s ridiculous to exclude anyone who wants to be a part of it,” said Lundquist. “Music is for all students, and part of my philosophy is that every student is entitled to the best possible music education.”