The minute music at East has always been a medley of different genres. From pop to jazz, Ke$ha to Sinatra, students could never be sure what they’d be hearing in the halls. But this year, Principal John McKinney decided to make a change.
“One of the things I thought might benefit [students] was to have classical music playing in between classes,” McKinney said. “Rather than music that might want to make you stay and finish the song before heading to class.”
Over the summer, the school administrators were discussing changes they wanted to make, one of which included the minute music. After bouncing around several ideas, it was decided that classical music would replace the typical pop songs that were normally played. In the past, the music was solely pop. On occasion, clubs and student organizations would take over the minute music and promote themselves: French music for French Club, or having students pay to stop hearing Rebecca Black’s “Friday” the entire period.
Minute Music was started three years ago by Student Council, and is now a joint-effort between the office and StuCo. To remind students to get to class, the office plays a pre-selected song from the school’s iPod for the last minute of each passing period. But this year is the first major change the minute music has undergone.
“For me, [classical music] was a nice change from the other music,” McKinney said. “That was sort of my preference. For the other administrators, maybe not. Higgins likes country, and Mr. Haney likes rock jams, which are intermingled in there now.”
Currently, the minute music is a mixture of both classical and pop music, which McKinney hopes to change in the future. In the next few weeks, he’s considering changing the music each day. This would give each administrator a chance to play their favorite music for one day a week, and then on Fridays, certain clubs and classes could choose the music. The new goal is to work to appease everyone at East, whether it’s with “Beethoven’s Fifth” or “Call Me Maybe.”
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