The arts–particularly the Coffee House–are in grave danger and only YOU can save it, John (if your name isn’t John then ignore that and pretend I said your name, I just chose John because it’s a very common name and I wanted it to sound more personal). “Why should I care about a small bi-yearly event which draws a small audience and doesn’t even include coffee 66.66% of the time despite the extremely coffee-centric connotation of its name?” you might ask. Well, if you read on, I’ll tell you exactly why the Coffee House, as well as the arts in general, are currently under threat.
Before I get into the reasons, however, I’d like to clear something up about the whole “coffee” situation. The real focus of the Coffee House is the music and art of the students who perform in it for the entertainment of the audience, not the presence of coffee. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to change the name to “open mic night” or something that makes sense, since the Coffee House does not occur inside a house and does not always include coffee so people might feel as if they have been the victims of false advertising. But then there’s jellyfish and the Holy Roman Empire whose names certainly don’t pertain to their actual qualities and people don’t make a huge fuss about that, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if no name-change occurs.
The MLHS Coffee House: A History
Now that that’s out of the way, allow me to give you a brief history of this event (Don’t worry, this isn’t the type of history that involves meat scandals, Spanish religion, and pink boxes (if you didn’t understand that I apologize, it’s an APUSH reference (Are parentheses within parentheses considered acceptable in formal writing? I hope that’s the case because that’s what I’m doing))).
Long ago, in the 2000s, there was a yearly event in our school called Spring Arts: a festival of physical artwork as well as theatrical and musical performances for people of all shapes, sizes, volumes, and cross-sectional areas. However, several years ago, this enchanting event ceased to exist in Mountain Lakes as it was considered unnecessary by the administration. After that, the first Coffee House events were planned and made possible through the support of Mr. Paul Henry, Principal Jeremy Davies, and the Friends Of The Arts.
As long as I have been in high school, there have been two coffee houses per year, usually including the Winter Coffee House and the Spring Coffee House. This year, there have been three Coffee House events, due to the addition of a new event organized by the MLHS Young Democrats club to raise money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. This event is likely to become a recurring yearly Coffee House, which may raise money for a different charity each year. These events have always been enjoyable and a great opportunity for students to perform their music in front of an encouraging audience. Music theory teacher and choir director Mr. Vallies calls it “great for feeding the soul and giving an output for emotional expression.”
The third Coffee House, which occurred in April, came dangerously close to being canceled. The explanation for this was that mid-late April was “a busy time” for the high school, although, in reality, there were no direct conflicts with the proposed date for the event. An email was sent out to the usual participants and fortunately the enthusiastic student performers made sure the event happened, but the possibility of its cancellation made me wonder about the implications and broader context. It may have been that certain people (it is unclear who the original source of this idea was) thought that three Coffee House events in one year was a bit much compared to the usual two, and may have been scheduled too close to other music events However, according to my calculations, that’s a bunch of nonsense.
Let’s take a look at Morris Catholic High School as an outside example: This school has consistently been holding monthly open-mic nights. That’s right, monthly– that’s nine or ten events per school year, if I’m counting it correctly (but take that with a grain of salt because math isn’t my forte). Not only that, but they actually have to prohibit students from performing in two consecutive monthly events because there’s too much interest in participation. Another example is Ridgewood High School: I know a student who goes there and she says there are “well over 50 performance opportunities throughout a school year” including theater productions every six weeks, monthly student recitals, a yearly Celebration of the Arts, as well as plenty of jazz concerts, coffee houses, a capella competitions, marching band competitions, and chamber group performances. The point is that three events per year isn’t too much– it’s not enough. If anything, we should be having more of these.
For now, however, I’m personally content with three; it’s time to get on to the juicy details about how the Coffee House could cease to exist next year as quickly as if a large bald purple man wanted to disintegrate it (if you have a social life you might not understand that last one and that’s totally fine).
Preventing the Extinction of the Coffee House
Here’s the dilemma: for the past year, the Coffee House has been enlivened by a group of current seniors, many of whom have participated in the choir and/or musical, and those seniors are now graduating. At the recent April Coffee House, 8 out of the 11 total performances were put on by seniors, and the 3 others were all juniors; not a single freshman or sophomore performed. This is a very concerning problem because those seniors will be long gone by the time the next Coffee House occurs, and from this point on the events will rely on the participation of younger students– a participation rate that does not look promising. If there is no interest in the event next year, it may not happen at all. This is where all of you underclassmen come in.
We need more underclassmen to perform at or at least attend the Coffee House in the coming years. Many students have expressed anxiety about performing in front of an audience, but if you’re one of those people, you must understand that this event has a very casual, non-judgemental environment. The legendary tap-dancer and American Sign Language expert Samantha Charwat (’18) describes it as “such a supportive environment and one of my favorite nights of the year.”
To those with stage fright, a small and casual event like this could be a good way to deal with that anxiety, to conquer fears and gradually learn to perform in front of larger audiences, maybe even building up the courage to eventually perform in a talent show.
Harrison Hsiang, a member of the band The Giant Peach and an MLHS alumnus, performed at one of the first Coffee House events to raise money for cancer research. In regards to the preservation of Coffee Houses, Harrison emphasizes that “the more venues for students to share and develop their talents, the better! I mean, that’s how bands are formed.”
Having won Battle of the Bands when he was a freshman, our school’s guitar teacher Mr. Jardim adds that “I often ask where are the bands in high school? I hope we still live in a world where young people desire to express whatever angst they may have by playing in a band or performing solo in a coffee house.”
When I was a freshman, I was initially nervous to perform at this event and did not attend the first one. Since then, however, I have highly enjoyed performing and watching, and I would definitely not miss another Coffee House. You won’t be judged at this event; you will be greatly appreciated, especially in this time of passing the torch down to younger students. It has even been suggested that we extend the event to eighth graders in order to introduce them to the arts that MLHS has to offer.
Another important thing to know is that any type of performance is welcome at this event: It is NOT just for singing. The Coffee Houses are also open to instrumental performances, poetry, tap-dancing (someone’s going to have to do it when Samantha’s gone), short theatrical scenes, standup comedy, comedy skits, juggling knives, juggling forks, and much, much more. The more unusual your performance is, the more entertaining it will be.
As singing is the most common type of act at the Coffee House, we would love to have a more mixed variety of acts. That said, if you have a more uncommon talent, then please consider performing. I am also hoping to help restart the Chamber Music program next year so that chamber groups can spice up the Coffee House events. If you’d be interested in being a part of that, please keep an eye out for any emails pertaining to it.
If you don’t consider yourself a performer, then you can help keep this event alive by simply attending and supporting your fellow students who are performing. Recently, the audience turnout has been a bit disappointing in quantity, sort of like the mozzarella sticks at Burger King. I know that many students prefer other activities on Friday nights–such as crying, underage alcohol consumption, and killing imaginary aliens and British people in video games–but I assure you that attending the Coffee House is a much better way to spend a couple hours of your night and you will not be let down.
The Coffee House is more than just an event; it’s a platform for expression, creativity, and the arts. Head of the English and Arts departments, Mr. Henry, has described these events as being “just as important in cultivating an environment where the arts are appreciated and supported.” He adds, “I’d love to see more students come out and show their talents, and definitely more students come out for an hour or so of great performances in a laid-back atmosphere.”
In a town overwhelmingly dominated by interest in sportsball, and facing a seemingly uncertain future in terms of administration changes, we should definitely be thinking about more ways to support the arts, and working together to elevate a platform like this is a fantastic way to start. It’s important to acknowledge the teachers, staff members, and parents who help make these events happen, but it is now especially clear that the responsibility to keep the arts alive rests mainly on the shoulders of us, the students.
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