Mr. Tom Stott, a new Monmouth Academy band teacher, grew up in Albany, New York. There, his love for music started. In fourth grade after hearing a song by Men at Work with a saxophone part in it, he was intrigued. So he decided to pick up one and try it, and he hasn’t stopped since.

After going to Schenectady County Community College for 2 years, he left with an Associate in Music. He then heard of a saxophone teacher at the University of Southern Maine. Mr. Stott admired his style of teaching and decided to move and continue his education there. He eventually graduated from USM with a Bachelor in Music Performance and a Bachelor in Music Education.

Mr. Stott plays mainly saxophone and bassoon. He plays for the Atlantica Saxophone quartet and the Maine Super Saxophone Project. He also occasionally plays for other groups such as the Casco Bay Concert Band. If you ask him what kind of music he likes best, you will most likely get a variety of different answers depending on what time of day it is or what mood he is in. He appreciates all music but at the moment he is partial to the blues.

Mr. Stott arrived in Monmouth this year to teach grades 5-12 concert band. His first impression of the Middle School band was that they were very energetic and he had to keep things moving quickly. They were also very excited about music. He thought the high school band lacked some instrumentation, especially in the brass and woodwinds, causing some balance issues between sections however they are a well-focused group. In general he likes the schools, because they seem to be very close knit, very friendly and supportive.

Mr. Stott has started to put together an extra rock/blue grass group. He is doing this because he wants to diversify music in Monmouth. He is planning on placing students in small groups so they can learn how to work together and cooperate with each other. They will be learning how to read music not written in normal notation format – by ear and/or tablature.

Throughout the year he is looking forward most to just working with the students everyday, and he is hoping that more people get to know him and he will meet more people. He is trying to get the music theory class into a tour of a recording studio or something of that sort. He thinks it would be very good to put together a workshop with all the Monmouth students with the Buckfield music director, who is very good with music technology.

Mr. Stott is playing on Nov. 19 at the University of Southern Maine for a 25th Anniversary of Bill Street appearing at USM.

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