The AGHS music program is a staple that many people know about. From performing concerts to playing at AG football games, the music program is an important part of AGHS’s class offerings. Allowing students to show off their musical talents. However, the music program was limited to the classes it could offer due to there only being one teacher that runs it.
Students in the music program know for the past few years Paul Dunsmoor has been teaching the program solo. He teaches band classes, percussion, piano, music appreciation, and choir. On top of that, he teaches the marching band program which further takes up his time and energy. That is only his school workload. His personal life requires him to be a father and not focus on his school life.
“In particular, last year was hard because I was doing the choir at the same time,” Dunsmoor said. “It was essentially two programs that I was running. So, the choir did some separate trips. They did separate fundraising that I had to keep track of. It was a lot.”
At the start of this school year, there has been a new addition to the music department. A new choir and piano teacher has stepped in to take a small weight off Dunsmoor’s shoulders. Allowing him more room to be able to focus on band classes.
“With marching band, I’m finding that it’s keeping me busier this year than most years,” Dunsmoor said. “Probably because there is more time I can dedicate to it. But I like my schedule because I am off at 2:30 every single day. It works out well for picking up [my daughter] Emma.”
The new piece in the music department is Gina Dattilo, taking up the mantle of both the choir and piano teacher. She and her fiance moved to San Luis Obispo County because he is in the military.
“The job opportunity kind of fell into my lap,” Dattilo said. “I mean I was excited about it. It was something new and different than what I have done in the past but still a very exciting opportunity.”
Dattilo knows how to play piano and had taught vocal lessons before becoming a teacher. She didn’t come ill-prepared either. Dattilo already had a few songs in mind before stepping into the classroom.
“I definitely had one or two songs in mind when I first was offered the position but then I knew for our concert we needed more than just one or two songs,” Dattilo said. “So then I thought [about] what other songs go along well with the one or two I had in mind that would create a balance of music.”
With fewer obligations on Dunsmoor’s plate, there is more opportunity for different classes to be added to the AGHS class roster. After the 2020 school year, the jazz class was turned into a club because there was no room in student schedules to be able to add it back the following years.
“The fact that it is an actual class gives us the ability to have more structure,” Sean Oksner (‘27) said. “We have a set schedule and there’s no wiggle room. When it was a club they would just cancel it all the time. Having this level of organization and the input from the actual teacher is good.”
The jazz band being a class allows for a better system for students. The class is a zero period, which means students have to arrive before the actual school day starts. Which may seem like a hassle but allows students to start their day off with an enjoyable class.
“It’s very fast because of how little time there is,” Elijah Domenech (‘24) said. “It keeps you busy, and sets the tone for the rest of the day.”
With the addition of Dattilo to the music program, it has opened new opportunities for students and teachers alike. Allowing teachers to open up new courses and not get stretched thin. Also letting students have more opportunities to gain more music knowledge that they otherwise wouldn’t get with only one teacher. This new development also opens up the opportunity for more classes to be added to AGHS.
“I would love, ideally, [to] be able to teach more sections of both of them,” Dattilo said. “Originally they had 50 or more students interested in piano. For choir, we have a mixed [choir]. I would love to ideally have multiple sections of choir. The higher voices choir would be soprano-alto. And then we could even have a lower voice choir that would be more tenor-bass.”
