Lake Ridge New Tech Middle School Music Teacher Donald Thompson envisions a choir department where students are well versed in the classics! Everything from the Renaissance to The Rolling Stones.
Lake Ridge New Tech Middle School Choir students will learn more than just how to sing this school year. Over the summer, the district hired a music teacher with a globe-spanning resume in both teaching and performing. Donald Thompson was born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Gary, Indiana. He attended Catholic school and graduated from Andrean High School.
At the suggestion of his parents, Thompson began taking piano lessons in seventh grade. Little did he know how much the experience would change his life. Thompson recently opened up on his philosophy of how music can transform a student’s life.
Eric D. Johnson: You are a Renaissance man of sorts, before becoming a teacher you worked for the City of Gary?
Donald Thompson: I was Richard Gordon Hatcher’s Director of Special Events and Tourism Development. I went on to work with Mayors’ Thomas Barnes, Scott King, Karen Freeman-Wilson and Rudy Clay in similar capacities.
EDJ: When did you start teaching?
DT: In 2005, I was always working toward becoming a full-time educator in the classroom. I am proud to be an Indiana Department of Education Certified Licensed Music Educator. I’m licensed in Music Education, General Music, Vocal Music K-8 and a licensed Elementary Education Teacher K-8. I am also licensed to teach brass, string woodwind and percussion. But my specialty is piano. From 2005 to now, I have been a classroom educator.
EDJ: You’ve traveled all over the world teaching and performing– what has that experience taught you that you can pass on to your students here at Lake Ridge?
DT: I am an Adjunct Professor at Calumet College. From 2017 through 2019, I taught a summer teacher exchange as a visiting professor in London, England. It was a wonderful experience! I had students from five different continents and one of the beautiful things about experiencing other people's cultures is that you experience their values, food and culture. It was very rewarding. I share that with my students and I start class by asking students to share who they are as individuals.
EDJ: As part of your curriculum, you teach Music History– why?
DT: One of the reasons why I wanted to return to Middle School is because it is fertile ground to let students know what is out there for them. When they study music history from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, they learn how the social, economic, political and constitutional perspectives produced the music of those eras; they get a better understanding of the larger world.
EDJ: Sounds like you want them to know there is more to listen to than just Rap Music?
DT: Definitely, my eighth graders will be studying various genres: Reggae, Blues, Rock, Jazz, R&B. I even teach a unit comparing Rap to Opera.
EDJ: You have a musical keyboard on every desk?
DT: I want my students to not only learn how to sing, but play as well. There have been studies that show music education produces both left and right brain cognition. I want to expose my students to that.
EDJ: What made you choose Lake Ridge Middle School?
DT: Because Superintendent Dr. Shirley, Assistant Superintendent Trevino, and Principal Niemann were willing to accept the pedagogy that I ascribe.
EDJ: And what is that?
DT: That you can teach Social Studies, ELA and Science through the lens of music.