Mr. Kiernan, Pioneered ELHS Strings Program and Drum Lab, to Retire

“My name is Mr. Kiernan, and I don’t know how to play this thing either.” 

These are not the first words that a group of fourth graders would expect to hear from their new music teacher. A group of beginners in Manhattan, they too had never played the violin.  

Mr. Kiernan had moved from Connecticut to Manhattan and was looking for a job. The employers at an elementary school needed a teacher who could do both band and strings. There was only one problem. 

By Audrey O’Neill ’25

Mr. Kiernan was a drummer by training. He had played professionally. He knew nothing about the strings. When his new employers told him he’d be starting an orchestra, he asked to take a violin home for the summer. That was all the experience he had with strings before walking in on day one. So he decided to learn with them. 

Every class began with, “Page one, what are we doing?” Everyday he learned more. And they learned more. 

Mr. Kiernan began his career as a music teacher instructing students on an instrument he knew nothing about. He never looked back. He eventually started a string program in East Longmeadow. There were twelve students at the beginning. There are now over 200 in the school system.   

Abby Brown, a student from his first strings class at ELHS, is now the music teacher at Chicopee High School. 

When Mr. Kiernan started, ELHS had a concert band and a chorus. Today, it’s a different story. 

“We have a women’s group. We have a jazz band. We have an orchestra. We have music technology. We have history, rock and roll.” 

The expansion of music within ELHS and beyond started with a single moment. 

Mr. Kiernan was chopping an onion, and thought, “What am I doing?” 

…..

Mr. Kiernan obtained a job as a chef immediately after obtaining his Bachelor of Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase College. He’d been working in restaurants six days a week and gigging when he could. While working 60 hour weeks, he would also balance teaching music at night to a high school nearby. 

In the middle of the shift, he caught himself stressing over their upcoming rehearsal and began to think, “I have no health insurance, no dental insurance, I work all the holidays.” 

He knew that teaching would be more beneficial and fulfilling in his life. 

That day after work, he drove to Western Connecticut State and said, “I want to become a music teacher. What do I have to do?” 

He signed up for a year of classes and the rest is history. 

Teaching may not have always been in Mr. Kiernan’s life, but music has. His father was a saxophone player in a jazz band. This meant Mr. Kiernan had spent his fair share of time in rehearsals and concerts.

He wasn’t resentful about the consistent presence of music in his life though.

“I was just always drawn to it from the earliest stage I can remember. Whenever we went to my relatives, I would go right to their record player and dig through their record collection and just sit and listen.”  

This appreciation doesn’t mean that his journey was cut-and-dry. 

“At times it was difficult,” he said.

Mr. Kiernan, like many, wanted to be like his father. This meant playing the saxophone, but he was forced into playing the clarinet, part of the traditional route to playing saxophone. He studied with his father for a year before joining the band in the fifth grade. 

Before he could even play a note at his first rehearsal, the percussion section caught his attention in the back of the room. He went home and told his dad, “I want to be a drummer.” 

His band director was just as confused as his father and did not allow him to play. But that didn’t stop Mr. Kiernan. He practiced drums on his own before moving to lessons. 

When his band director refused to let him play again the next year, Kiernan did not relent.

 “Give me any drum part they have,” he told the band director, “and I guarantee you I can play it perfectly right now.” 

And he did. He’s played professionally, including at New York’s famed CBGB’s. He still plays the drums almost every year in Spartanum. 

…

Mr. Kiernan’s relationship with music may have started from an early age, but his knowledge of teaching was new. The responsibilities that came with balancing productivity and fun led to some struggles. He faced new attitudes that did not match his experiences with music or other schools. However, that didn’t discourage him from trying to change their minds. 

“In the old days here, the kids were a little bit more shy about doing music”, Kiernan recalls. “It felt like I had to convince the music department kids that being a musician was cool. It was okay”. 

To prove it to them, he organized a concert rehearsal in front of the school before their official evening performance the following week.

Kiernan recalls, “After we did it, they said, ‘Please don’t ever make us do that again!”

He felt terrible. But his students’ pride in their musical skills has evolved. 

The 2020 Spartanum provided the proof. It was clear–at least to the administration–that COVID was going to close the schools for at least two weeks. Instead of canceling the show, he and Mr. Bail talked with the superintendent and principal and held the only performance on the last day before the shut down. 

“It was the highlight of my career,” Mr. Kiernan said. “The kids in the audience were amazing. They were really cheering for the kids who were singing and playing. The music kids were talking about it for years after that happened. It felt amazing.” 

His musicians are also more involved with the town now. Under Mr. Kiernan, the department performs for various holidays and visits nursing homes to play for the residents. It’s his way of giving back to a community that he feels embraces music. 

“One of the reasons why I’ve loved working here so much is that the town has let us do everything we’ve wanted to do in music,” Kiernan says. “They’ve given us money. They’ve funded things. They’ve arranged my schedule so that I could do special things for music.”

Looking back on his successful career, he credits his teaching philosophy. 

“When I first started, I was striving a lot to play hard music and to really push the kids. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that you don’t need to do that”, says Kiernan. 

Now he’s more interested in making students feel welcomed. Music does not have to be difficult or hard to be good, which allows him to create the accessible environment he desires. 

“Now I feel like anybody could join our program and we would find a place for them,” said Kiernan. 

It’s true in Drum Lab, and it’s true in his work with the B1 Boys, Joey, Ethan, and Greg, who are cognitively and physically disabled. In one class, Drum Lab students played the drums as others wafted a parachute in the air and paraprofessionals pushed Joey, Ethan, and Greg under it. They loved the loud music and drumming and he’s made working with them part of his daily schedule. 

This experience has not only benefited others, but also himself. He found an interest in the effects of music therapy and hopes to continue it after retirement. 

He finds that music therapy is present everywhere, like in his Drum Lab. Drum Circle Fridays include lots of noise and circle games. 

“I’ve had many students telling me that they feel really good after Drum Circle Friday”, said Mr. Kiernan, ”And it’s been proven in science to be very therapeutic. It’s just what happens when you play drums”. 

Not only does music affect his students, his method of teaching and personality has left a permanent mark on those in his department. 

Mr. Kiernan has mentioned a special connection to the graduating class of 2024, as they were part of the peculiar year in which they could not play music. He’s also mentioned the unique community of music classes, as students need to rely on each other to succeed. 

This attitude is not one-sided. Many of the students appreciate all that he has done. 

An interview with Katie Knowe and Isabella Charette, seniors in the ELHS band, discussed their appreciation for his willingness to give the students artistic freedom and his dedication to running events such as Spartanum and Trills and Frills. 

When asked what they would say to Mr. Kiernan before he retires, Knowe said this: “Thank you for always giving us the opportunity to succeed and be our best artistic selves”. 

Thank you, Mr. Kiernan.