Making Music with Mr. Losi
“For a long time, Mr. Losi was a performer in a show STOMP, which he also mentioned. It's crazy how he came from doing shows in the Orpheum Theater to teaching at a school in the Bronx.”
Many students don’t acknowledge all the teachers in the school. There are some teachers that do things like help with special projects, or are included in showcases, or even teach different electives. But such teachers often do their work “undercover,” meaning they aren’t mentioned too much and not many students know about them.
Mr. Losi is one of those teachers. Occasionally he gets mentioned by his past students, but a lot of students don’t know how it is with him being the new music teacher, only in his second year at Comp Sci High. They also don’t know how it is for him living with synesthesia.
So I went to speak with Mr. Losi to more fully understand his story.
He told me: “When I was a kid I was confused, I thought synesthesia was something everyone had.”
He continued: “So when I told people about it, I found out it was weird. It was mainly difficult in school trying to focus in class and the teacher. But as I got older it became easier to manage.”
I asked him how it is being a music teacher at Comp Sci High.
He told me: “It's challenging because I’m building this program from nothing. I’m so used to coming into a space where everything is already paid for and set up like in my show STOMP.”
He continued: “So starting from nothing makes it hard. But when it comes to Comp Sci High, the students are amazing. After they learned who I am and how they started respecting my version of music class, it's actually been really fun. Working with the students the way I do ended up helping my synesthesia because of the fact that the students helped me come up with more ideas.”
I asked him more about his condition. When asked, he said: “My synesthesia is so cool that they made a movie about it. It’s a movie that I’m in called Musica. My synesthesia has always helped me think outside the box. So that’s why when I come up with something original, it keeps students coming back for more.”.
His responses were pretty interesting because I know about some of his shows. For a long time, Mr. Losi was a performer in a show STOMP, which he also mentioned. It's crazy how he came from doing shows in the Orpheum Theater to teaching at a school in the Bronx.
Mr. Losi came from Sodus, New York, a very small farming community upstate, nicely snuggled up against Lake Ontario.
I asked him what brought him here to Comp Sci High, and he told me: “No matter where my career has taken me, it has always put me in front of young people. Using my talents to teach them about the wonderful world of music and life. During the pandemic when everything in the world locked us all in our homes, many schools and organizations could not figure out how to teach music under these difficult conditions.”
He continued: “Using all my talents I created original and creative music lessons for all grade levels. From Elementary to College. Quickly the word through the internet spread across the US From NYC to Cali. Schools were contacting me for classes. After the pandemic was coming to an end, I thought that my ride was over. But nope, schools and students wanted it in person. So I traveled around the world and taught music using my very unique and original pedagogy.” Even then, he still hadn’t arrived at Comp Sci High. But then it changed. He told me: “Then one day Mrs. Elle, our health teacher, called me. We have a very close relationship from our time in STOMP. She asked if I would be interested in coming to teach at Comp Sci High and I started teaching last year.”
So I now realize Mr. Losi didn’t find Comp Sci High, Comp Sci High found him.