While walking in C or D hall in the mornings, you may hear someone playing acoustic bass – that is AP US Government and gifted teacher Kurt Sherry. 

“Sometimes I joke that I have never played the same song twice because I always improvise somewhere in there – it might be a little flourish, it might be a shift, any of the number of things,” Sherry said. 

The improvisation style started with a neighborhood musician who found out he was learning bass.  

“Somehow, he had found out that I bought it,” Sherry said. “He had a gift for me of two things. One was a book called ‘improvising rock bass,’ so I had this book on technique for playing improvised bass lines, and the other was a subscription to Bass Player Magazine.”

You can improvise in any genre, and he plays a wide variety of them. 

“I would describe my preferred genre as progressive metal. I mean, there are other things, I’ve played blues, I’ve played a little bit of jazz, I’ve played – and this is primarily on bass – classical music, I’ve done a number of things,” Sherry said. 

As a past member of a few different bands, he was able to showcase and strengthen his ability to play different styles. 

“(I’ve) done a whole lot of different things there,” Sherry said. “Just depends on what the demands are and who is available.” 

While student teaching, his cooperating teacher happened to be a musician too. 

“He had a 12-string Taylor leaning against the wall, and I said, ‘Oh nice axe,’ and he said, ‘Do you play?’ and I said I was a bass player, and his eyes lit up,” Sherry said. “It was just a nice coincidence that had worked out. It’s always been there with my teaching, always maintained. Typically kept one in my room or my office.”

Playing in the hallways has been there since the beginning. 

“I brought one of my acoustics to school one day and was just messing around with it. The kids seemed to react to it, so it became sort of a thing,” Sherry said.