Island Pacific Academy has a knack for finding teachers and staff who are multi-talented; so it comes as no surprise a facilities manager would be the latest guest in IPA’s Performance Series: Rich Griffin. One listen and anyone would think that singing American folk songs and playing guitar is what Griffin does full-time as a paid professional.
Rich Griffin performed a Woodie Guthrie song “The Buffalo Skinners” in which he also used his incredible talent as a whistler.
Griffin’s primary interest is in music that has been passed along. “I like to find music that is handed down from one generation to the next, but not written down,” says Griffin. He was inspired by his mother and grandmother who both played musical instruments. “My mother played a 12-string guitar in our home and sang all the time. My grandmother played drums in her school’s marching band!”
Griffin’s audience of middle and high school students after his performance.
His advice to the student audience was to listen to people who are passionate about music. “You have great music teachers here. Search out music theory teachers as you continue to learn. Find people who put their heart and soul into their music.”
Griffin performed in a number of IPA faculty bands and for May Day programs.
Griffin values the connections that music creates. “The songs I sing are stories that people sang to one another before the days of records, tapes, cds, iPods. My favorite thing is to play with people who love music or to play for people who love music. Music is like a book, a document, it connects us with one another.”
