Out of class, but not off duty: Local teachers come together to make music

Out of class, but not off duty: Local teachers come together to make music

For the members of the band Recess Duty, teaching music all day just wasn’t enough.

“We decided we should do something for ourselves,” Kent Peterson, the band’s guitar and harmonica player, said. “We decided like ‘oh let’s get together and play some music.’”

The band began after many of the members joined together to put on a summer music camp.

“We were giving up our summer and hardly making anything,” Peterson said. “It was another volunteer thing.”

Four years ago, the band booked their first gig at the Kenai River Festival.

All of the members of Recess Duty are or were music teachers locally. Peterson teaches at Soldotna High School.

Tammy Vollom-Matturro plays the cajón and other percussion instruments. She conducts the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra and used to teach music at Kenai Central High School, Kenai Middle School and Tustumena Elementary.

Jeanne Duhan plays the guitar and sings. In the orchestra, she plays the french horn and is a retired music teacher from K-Beach Elementary. After retiring last year, she opened up Log Cabin Music, a band instrument repair shop.

Kristen Dillon plays bass and micro bass and works at Nikiski Middle and High School. Her husband, Jonathan Dillon plays the violin and is a music teacher at Mountain View Elementary.

Simon Nissen plays percussion, keyboard and sometimes mandolin. He is a choir teacher at Kenai Central High School.

Band members said they enjoy spending time together since most of the time they are busy teaching.

“It’s a lot of fun to get together and make music together,” Peterson said. “It was more about getting together to socialize and play. We all work alone so we never get to interact with each other.”

Duhan said that Peterson is a model musician for the children he teaches in his guitar class. As teachers, the members of Recess Duty have the opportunity to be examples for their students.

“Kent is a great model for how music is something to share,” Duhan said. “He loves to play music and he’s always up for rehearsing. He’s just a really good model for what being a musician is. It’s cool that the kids get to see him out and about.”

Peterson said that it can be difficult for music teachers to find the right venue to perform outside of school. He said he’s fortunate that the members of Recess Duty can also perform in the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra as well as in community and high school musicals.

“We talk about how music is this lifelong activity and kind of preach that to a lot of people,” Peterson said. “But there are a lot of music teachers who aren’t making music, mostly because there’s a challenge to find a venue to do it. This was a way for us to get out and show that there are ways to play music.”

The band describes their genre of music as folk, oldies and “definitely the classics.” They mostly perform covers, but will sometimes play some of Peterson’s original music. Duhan said as a band they focus on their strengths, which is harmonizing.

Finding times to perform has been a challenge for the band. During the school year, most of the band members are busy with their students and classes, and during the summer many of them will leave for vacation.

“We played a lot two years ago during the school year and it was really tiring,” Kristen Dillon said. “After a whole day of school, singing and conducting and doing all that, and then going to play.”

For the members of Recess Duty, playing together outside of school is just another way to stretch their music muscles. Vollom-Matturro said that it sometimes puts her out of her comfort zone.

For the teachers, who spend much of their work life teaching students the right way to play music, the band allows them to be creative and experiment on their own, Duhan said.

“All day long we’re teaching how to read music and theory, and (telling students) ‘this is the proper way,’” Duhan said. “It’s nice to be on the other side of that, where we’re finding harmonies and making it up. It’s nice to approach it from a different angle.”

Recess Duty is performing from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, July 13 at the Swank Street Market in Soldotna, and again at Noon Tuesday, July 17 at the Soldotna Public Library.

More in News

The deadline for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which comes from the fund managed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, is coming up fast, landing on March 31, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
PFD application deadline is Friday

Today is the deadline for Alaskans to file for their 2022 Alaska… Continue reading

Jonathan Parducho, a pharmacist, removes a tray of vials of of the Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox from a box containing 20 doses, in the vaccine hub at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Friday, July 29, 2022, in San Francisco. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Only 5 cases of mpox detected in Alaska

An epidemiology bulletin released by the State Department of Health on Wednesday… Continue reading

Owners Suwannasa Piwon and Phatcharin Apaipak sit for a photo at the new location of their Siam Noodles and Food in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo provided by Siam Noodles and Food)
Siam Noodles and Food to hold Grand Opening of new location

Siam Noodles and Food will open in its new location next weekend,… Continue reading

Signs direct visitors at Seward City Hall on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021 in Seward, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward mulls sale of electric utility to HEA

Voters will get the final say during a special election on May 2

A spectator throws a ball lost in the snow back down to Bridger Beck during a soccer game at Ed Hollier Field in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Clear it, and they will come

Photos by Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion Above, a spectator passes a ball back… Continue reading

The 11th Annual Alaskans Choose Respect Awareness Event proceeds down Frontage Road in Kenai, Alaska on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaskans Choose Respect returns, LeeShore Center focuses on prevention

Nearly 40 people gathered and walked together down Frontage Road from Leif… Continue reading

Alaska Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Pierce speaks at a campaign event at Paradisos restaurant in Kenai on Saturday, March 5, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough assembly to discuss Pierce harassment lawsuit

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will meet Tuesday in executive session to… Continue reading

The Kenai Peninsula Borough administration building is seen on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough looks to mitigate flooding around Big Eddy Road

The Kenai Peninsula Borough wants to better mitigate flooding around Big Eddy… Continue reading

The Homer Spit is evacuated during the July 28 tsunami warning at about 10:50 p.m. (Photo by Sarah Knapp/Homer News)
Tsunami warning test scheduled for Wednesday morning

The National Weather Service will conduct a statewide test of the tsunami… Continue reading

Most Read