Melodies flow from the computers in the music lab as music teacher Thomas Greenlee crafts new pieces, one note at a time. On A days, Greenlee teaches music classes at Prosper High School. However, on B days, he spreads his love of music to the other two high schools in the district.
Greenlee teaches Music Production, AP Music Theory and History of Popular Music classes at Prosper High School, Rock Hill High School and Walnut Grove High School.
“AP Music Theory is like the nuts and bolts of music, so students that really want to dive deep and understand music will take it,” Greenlee said. “The history class is more of a music appreciation kind of class. I call Music Production an art class without the paper. Students learn about musical genres and artists and create music from that genre.”
Greenlee became interested in pursuing music education when he was in middle school.
“My band director just kind of influenced that,” Greenlee said. “But, I was tossing around other things. It’s not like I was set on that. I just liked the idea of maybe being a band director. That came and went.”
Greenlee started producing music while taking a high school music theory class.
“We had a brand new music lab that had computers with music notation software,” Greenlee said. “At that point, I could write notes in, and they would play it back to me. I thought that was the coolest thing. I really wanted to write music, and I would go in there in my off periods and just write music.”
Greenlee first started teaching music at elementary schools, eventually ending up at Windsong Elementary.
“As far as how students learn, it’s pretty similar between elementary and high school,” Greenlee said. “I just get to talk more in-depth about things in a high school level, but the approach is somewhat the same. Especially in my production class, which has a lot of students that don’t have a music background, I’m essentially teaching somebody that doesn’t know anything, which is like elementary school.”
Junior Degan Sullivan, a student in AP Music Theory, said Greenlee’s teaching style is unique compared to those of his other teachers.
“He’s a lot more personal than a lot of my other teachers,” Sullivan said. “If he knows that you don’t understand the content as well, he will ask you a lot of questions and make sure that you get what’s happening. He’s also really funny and just talks to us like a normal person when he’s not lecturing.”
Greenlee made the switch from teaching elementary schools to high schools when the fine arts department started looking for additional high school classes to offer.
“I suggested a music production class, saying that with technology like GarageBand on their iPads or phones, students are probably doing this kind of thing at home anyway,” Greenlee said. “I said we should do a course like that to kind of develop music production skills and just have another venue. Plus, I knew that there’s students that didn’t fit the typical profile for music and aren’t in band, choir or orchestra. So, that’s a place for them as well.”
Sophomore Issac Dehenre, a student in band and in Music Production, said Music Production is different from all other music classes offered at PHS.
“I’d say, as someone who’s been just making music for the past five years, there’s a very clear line between playing the music and actually making it from a technological point of view,” Dehenre said. “When I go in band, I just play my instrument. That’s what it is. But, in Music Production, I’m both creating the music that I’m playing and also mixing it, which is not seen in band whatsoever.”
The fine arts department was reluctant at first to have Greenlee teach at multiple high schools.
“What I offered was that if I could teach the production classes and focus a lot on that, I would be willing to teach at the other schools,” Greenlee said. “I kind of went to them first and said I would be willing, as long as I was doing the production stuff. They agreed.”
Greenlee said he enjoys visiting the environments at each school.
“I like to see how the schools are different, but I also like to see how much they’re just the same,” Greenlee said. “I mean, I wouldn’t say one school is better than the other. They’re all different. I like the change of venue.”
However, traveling between the schools hasn’t allowed Greenlee to establish as many professional relationships as other teachers can.
“I developed some here at Prosper because I spend the whole day here, but, at Rock Hill, I’m kind of isolated,” Greenlee said. “I’m just there, and then I’m gone. Walnut’s the same thing. There’s probably occasionally some fun teacher stuff that I don’t get a lot of, but that doesn’t bother me too much.
With construction starting on Richland High School, there have been discussions for opening up the Music Production teacher position.
“This program is kind of like my baby,” Greenlee said. “I’ve nurtured this thing since the beginning, and now it’s becoming a little bit bigger than myself. I have to start sharing that responsibility.”
Greenlee said teaching at all three high schools gives him a unique perspective of the district.
“I get to see of all the schools’ inner workings,” Greenlee said. “But, I also get to see the musical talent that students around the district have. Being at all of the high schools, I get to teach so many talented musicians who can create great music just using the software we give them in class. It’s pretty cool.”
