School of rock: Annapolis teacher, kids collaborate on songs
Richard Mason, a teacher at Bates Middle School in Annapolis who is also known as “Maestro Mason,” wanted to challenge himself by releasing a new original or cover song every month, so he started with a Christmas song featuring some of his students.
“Christmas Time in Maryland America” was originally Mason by himself, but some students heard it and wanted to be a part of it.
Mason teaches Italian and seventh grade social studies at the middle school. He has been in Annapolis for nine years and, before that, lived in Rome and around Italy. The Scotland native, who was also a university professor for a time, traveled around the United Kingdom and Europe playing in rock bands before moving to the United States. He describes his music as “British rock.”
“I noticed the songs I wrote in Italy and
Scotland and here are influenced immensely by the place that I am in,” Mason said. “In Rome, it was an impressive city and there were so many things to get inspired by. In America, there is an openness to it and it is very vast and that influences me.”
The subjects of Mason’s songs are just what is currently going on around him, he said, and his new song, “January Six, has to do with last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Mason remembers teaching virtually last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and watching the news of the attack. For the song, Mason created lyrics from transcripts of people speaking about the insurrection, where thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump sought to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.
“I was at home with the guitar strumming away and watching the events take place, and that song kind of just wrote itself,” he said. “Their words seemed to fit better than anything I could say.”
The monthly songs, he said, are his newest challenge so he can prepare for another possible lockdown amid rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. By the end of the school year, Mason said he will have enough songs to put out an album, but he doesn’t have a name yet. He expects some of his students will give him a good title.
“I am not hoping for another lockdown or online learning. I am having the best year teaching in person,” Mason said. “This group of kids is just so much fun.”
For February, the kids will be taking over again for a Valentine’s Day song, covering The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.”
“This is an art school, so they just love taking a part in anything involving being creative and they get to put what they study into practice. They leap at it,” Mason said. “They had so much fun with the Christmas song, and they are so brilliant.”