Long Island teacher has students play modern tunes with a jazz twist

On any given Friday at Washington Street School in Franklin Square, 57 fifth and sixth graders voluntarily arrive 40 minutes early for jazzband rehearsals in Mr. O’Connor’s classroom.

They play a jazz arrangement of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica or "Now’s The Time" by famed jazz saxophone player Charlie Parker — unusual selections for tweens to tackle. Jazz bands aren’t typical at the elementary school level, said band director Jason O’Connor.

"I did them at the middle school and high school levels in some previous places where I worked, but I wanted to see how it would work at the elementary level, so I started one here," he said. "My background is in jazz, and I wanted to kind of expose kids to that."

For the first time, O’Connor's jazz band participated in the Long Island Music Festival earlier this month, performing two pieces for a panel of judges at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. The performance was followed by a field trip to Adventureland.

"He’s making a core memory for these kids — something that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives," said Washington Street School Principal John Stella. Stella credited O’Connor with guiding students from learning how to open an instrument case to performing on stage.

O’Connor, 38, graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston with degrees in music education and jazz performance and later earned a master’s in jazz performance from Queens College. He is a tenor saxophonist and lives in Sayville with his wife, Ashley, and their two dogs.

O’Connor graduated from Smithtown High School in 2006 before the district split into east and west campuses. He met Ashley playing in the high school’s pit orchestra for "Little Shop of Horrors." She plays violin and is now a music teacher at Shoreham Wading River High School. O’Connor worked in districts in Queens and in Copiague before joining Franklin Square in 2021.

O’Connor also directs the 84-member regular band, which includes all jazz band members. This year’s numbers include "Over the Rainbow" and "Defying Gravity." O’Connor also leads a junior band comprised of 30 to 40 fourth graders.

Students take group music lessons with O’Connor in woodwinds, brass and percussion, he said. "One instrument we offer is, as far as I know, not offered in any other elementary school — we actually do electric bass," he said.

His favorite thing about teaching music? "I say it's like ‘the click moment,’ where something that was difficult for them becomes easy, because they practiced it enough," he said.

Sixth graders Sienna Sparacio, 11, and Isabella Mandoukos, 11, both play tenor sax in jazz and regular band. "It’s one of my favorite things in the school day," Isabella said of band.

Sienna said O’Connor "pushed me to do so many cool things I never thought I would be able to do. He’s one of my favorite teachers — actually, he’s my favorite teacher."

By Beth Whitehouse

Special to NewsdayBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.