Scott Anderson. Physics teacher. Robotics coach. Friend to all students. Music man? A well-rounded music connoisseur at that. 

Anderson is a well-known teacher at BMHS, who is even recognized by students who do not even have him for a certain class. Most juniors and seniors also associate music with Anderson, though, this year’s upperclassmen were not around when he started playing the tunes. 

“So eight years ago, Mrs. Hirons’ dad was getting rid of a bunch of his old sound equipment, stereo equipment … and he had this nice set of Bose speakers,” Anderson said. “So I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll put them out in the hall.’”

According to Anderson, he noticed how many students were sitting in the hallway in the mornings listening to music in their headphones, so he decided to start playing music. 

“I’ve always thought music should be like a shared experience, not just you sit there in your own little world, and it bothered me that people were being all isolated,” Anderson said. 

Now, for what goes on the playlist, Anderson uses a mix of suggestions from his wife, requests from students and his own personal taste. 

“My wife and I actually have worked on the playlist and when I told her, ‘It needs to be upbeat,’” Anderson said. “So we just kept adding songs to it, and there’s like 215 songs on the playlist.”

To the surprise of many, Anderson’s playlist also includes many modern pop songs that are unexpected picks for someone who includes artists like the Blues Brothers. 

“Yeah, I mean, good music is good music,” Anderson said. “The reason I think that there’s more classic stuff in there than modern stuff is that the modern stuff just hasn’t been handled and hasn’t had enough time to find out: is this something that’s really going to last?”

According to Anderson, his music taste is well-reflected in the playlist. He likes classic bands like AC/DC, Styx, Chicago, the Blues Brothers, Billy Joel and Earth, Wind & Fire. The modern pop songs that he adds are genuine favorites. 

“I like the Jonas Brothers now,” Anderson said. “They’re good and Taylor Swift is good. Adele’s good.”

Not only does Anderson play the music just because he likes it, but also because he feels that it leaves a positive impact on students. 

“And then over the years, kids have actually thanked me for playing music in the morning,” Anderson said. “So … it must be good.”

Along with this, Anderson is glad that students enjoy his tunes. 

“You’ll catch kids dancing or whatever, and they’ll poke their head in the door and say, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s a really good song,’” Anderson said. “I really liked that. So yeah, I think it’s worth it.”