By ERIC ZIMMERMAN
Mr. Blutman first discovered his love of music when he was in the 6th grade. Decades later, he is now a new hire excited to teach Music Theory 1, A.P. Music Theory, Jazz Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Concert Band in the high school and Band 7 in the middle school.
Even though Mr. Blutman is new, he is still a familiar face to many of the JHS music staff. Mr. Blutman grew up near Jericho in East Meadow, where he met many Jericho music teachers. These friendships, the desire to teach, and his prior knowledge of Jericho’s reputation attracted Mr. Blutman to JHS. “I knew those people and their families for years, so in many ways coming to Jericho is a homecoming of sorts,” he said.
Despite the pandemic, Mr. Blutman is ecstatic to be at school teaching and learning music among his students.
After graduating high school, Mr. Blutman attended the Juilliard School and the University of Maryland to grow his musical talent with the trumpet, his primary instrument. He has taken gigs in traveling bands and performed in Broadway plays such as “The Phantom of the Opera.” Mr. Blutman even worked with John Williams, the famous musical composer for movies such as “Star Wars” and “Jaws.”
Previously, Mr. Blutman taught at Ithaca College and Five Towns College. Additionally, he co-founded along with his brother a music printing company called Pinnacle Music Press, which coincidentally has sold books to JHS.
Mr. Blutman said what he loves most about Jericho’s environment is the determination students hold. He said, “Students take challenges and seek challenges in ways that I haven’t seen anywhere else that I’ve taught.”
Mr. Blutman also admires JHS students because of their diligence and care for their work. “If you offer, ‘here’s one choice and here’s a harder choice,’ they tend to go for the harder ones, and that’s just an incredible attitude,” he said. Mr. Blutman is excited about contributing to the “energy of this town” which he claims stems from the administrators, teachers, parents, and students.
Sophomore trumpet player Nikhil T. values Mr. Blutman’s supportive teaching approach, and is glad to have a fellow brass player teaching him. “I appreciate the fact that he’s a trumpet player because the other band teachers don’t specialize in trumpet,” Nikhil said.
Mr. Blutman’s advice for students is, “Straight ahead, strive for tone.” When translated from musical lingo to English this means, “Strive to be your best and most honest self.”
Thanks for interviewing me and for the nice article, Eric! It was great reconnecting with you through this!
Nice article Eric!
Great article! It’s so interesting that he has performed in “The Phantom of the Opera!”
Great article!
Great Article Eric!
Great article Eric!
Awesome job Eric! The article has a great flow, and I love the feature image!
It is awesome that a he worked with John Williams
Good job!
Great work, Eric!
Great job!
Loved this article…as a former music student myself, it is great to see a fantastic and dedicated teacher like Mr. Blutman join the music staff 🙂
It’s great working with Kaz in Concert Band!
Great piece!
Great job Eric.
What a great piece!!
Very well written!