Mr. Allen is our new music teacher at St. Edward this year. He teaches a few different classes here, such as beginner guitar, beginner piano, and a jazz band. He also instructs an after-school choir, which performs at some of the school masses, the winter and spring music programs, and the Fine Arts Fest. Not only does Mr. Allen teach music here, but he also teaches the elementary students at St. Thomas More in the morning. It was actually a parent of a student at St. Thomas and St. Edward that informed him that St. Edward was in need of a music teacher. When asked which he preferred teaching, he said that while the elementary students are cute, he enjoys teaching the harder concepts to high schoolers.
Mr. Allen grew up in Romeoville, Illinois with his brother and sister, whom he still has a good connection with and visits often. The impetus that inspired his passion for music occurred when he was in middle school, when watching the sitcom, Full House. He was awestruck by Uncle Jesse when he was playing the guitar, and Mr. Allen wanted to be like him. He attended Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, where he majored in jazz guitar performance. Mr. Allen believes that his majoring in this as opposed to a music education major has benefited him greatly in his career. “I think coming from a performance background, I can offer a lot of skills that help me prep for actual performances like concerts that a lot of education majors didn’t really focus on.”
Even though it isn’t as currently trendy, Mr. Allen’s favorite genre of music to play is jazz. Rock n’ roll comes in at a close second since he grew up listening to the biggest rock bands like Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, and Queen. His favorite genre to listen to varies, but he has recently been listening to Indie folk music, like Phoebe Bridgers, as well as trending pop artists like Sabrina Carpenter. A hobby Mr. Allen has taken interest in recently is cooking. He likes to use recipes from Selena Gomez’s cooking show, Selena + Chef, where she experiments making various dishes with different all-star chefs. One of his favorite meals that he has made recently would be fried rice.
The biggest inspiration in his life is his first jazz combo director, Mr. Burke, who got him into jazz when he was a sophomore in high school. From him, he holds dear the lessons of making time to practice, no matter the circumstances. In his authority as music teacher, Mr. Allen has settled the debate of which music streaming service is superior and he believes it is…Spotify. Mr. Allen’s biggest piece of advice to high school students is to just be who you are. “Lean into things that make you happy because that’s going to drive you towards a better future rather than doing something because someone told you.” St. Edward is very lucky to have a music instructor who is passionate and dedicated to his craft, and we look forward to all he will do to make our school a livelier place.
