As the curtains draw open and everyone in Jacob Boulay’s Guitar Ensemble class takes a deep breath, their fingers start strumming chords and plucking strings. As their confidence shines through the stage lights, it makes it difficult for the audience to tell most of them hadn’t picked up a guitar before the start of the semester.
Boulay, a music teacher at Oyster River Middle School and High School (ORMS/ORHS) teaches the class at the high school. On May 21st at 6:30PM at the ORMS concert hall, there will be a concert where students will showcase their newly acquired skills. To show those skills, Boulay has crafted a community where students feel comfortable playing with others as an ensemble.
During the concert, the majority of the time will be spent playing together, in an arc-like shape, which mirrors how Boulay runs his class. The class is physically structured in a way in which everyone can see and be comfortable with each other.
Especially in a class where people are actively playing instruments, Boulay wanted to structure his class differently from a typical classroom setting. “To break from the [row structure] in the classroom, we’re all working together. Being in the circle helps us all see one another. It creates this space of unity because there’s no one direction everyone’s facing…there’s no hierarchy.” This structure makes it physically apparent to students that they are all working together to create music.
From a student perspective, Paige Haug (‘25), finds this setting beneficial to her class performance. “Because we’re facing each other, it’s not as embarrassing. I’m used to seeing these people and I’m not as nervous as I was in the beginning of this semester to play around them.”
But with performing in front of a live audience comes stage fright. Logan Jabour (’24), the TA, recalls talking with Boulay to the class about this topic more as the date draws closer. Both of them were frightened when they started out performing, but the more they got out there, the more comfortable they became.
One big part of being comfortable on stage is being prepared. Boulay says, “I was more nervous for performances that I wasn’t prepared for…when you know that you’re so confident that you can do your job 100%, then it takes the edge off a little bit of the nerves because you’re just kind of changing the space that you’re doing something you’re very confident in.”
A part of performance anxiety can be being nervous about making mistakes. Jabour says, “We try to explain to them that everyone messes up. It’s not something to be embarrassed about. You can learn from those mistakes…all the cliche things that everyone says are very true, so it’s worth repeating them.”
From the teacher’s perspective, Boulay hopes that his students can make performing a positive experience. He states, “It’s my hope that they would continue to take the things they learn in the course and expand upon them, moving forward on their musical path. But if that’s not the case, at least have an appreciation for the [performing] experience that they did have with the enrollment of the course.”
As some students are first-timers at guitar and they may make mistakes, Boulay hopes that they can learn to make it a starting point for them to grow, not a setback.
This message has been translated into the class, according to Lucky Muppala (‘26). She says, “Mr. Boulay makes an environment where you’re allowed to make mistakes. We don’t really judge, and we do what we can. And then we try to get better.”
Along with learning just the guitar, there are opportunities to play other instruments in the concert (hence the ensemble part of the class name). Instruments like the drums, the bass guitar, and keyboard are all available for students in the class to play.
Jabour remembers when he took the class last year, and his first impression of the ensemble part of the concert. “I thought it was a little weird because it was a guitar class, but playing live with other instruments, especially with the songs we’ve picked, is very necessary that we get those other instruments in.” This also gives the students the ability to explore and get out of their comfort zones, but still make it fun.
Riley Chase (’25) is excited for this opportunity to play different instruments and perform. “I’m excited to play, not only because of guitar, but also on the drums. And on the guitar, I’m excited to play some songs because of the fun riffs. Just overall, I’m excited to get better.”
– Hannah Klarov
Mouth of the River 
Leave a Reply