Garrett Doo strongly believes that hearing the right song can turn anyone’s bad day into a good one.
“That’s what I tell my students, that we can come into this room, leave our baggage at the door and use music as a release,” said Doo, who teaches choir and piano at Smyrna High. “For me, choir is what I leaned into in middle school when my mother was sick.”
On Sept. 19, Doo will be one of 30 music educators nationwide to be recognized by the CMA Foundation as a 2023 Music Teacher of Excellence. The program recognizes 10 teachers from Metro Nashville Public Schools, 10 others from Tennessee and another 10 from other states.
Doo began his teaching career at Eagleville School, where he taught for three years before transferring to Smyrna High for the 2020-2021 school year.
“I always knew I wanted to teach high school, but that was a tough year. The largest choir we had was 10 students. We were all in masks, having to social distance, and it was tough to build confidence and rapport,” he said.
Doo made it his personal mission to be “as visible as possible” by speaking to anyone he saw in the halls and supporting teams and clubs as much as he could. By the next school year, about 75 students were in choir with another 40 joining for the 2022-2023 school year. This year, the program boasts 130 students.
The CMA Foundation created the Music Teachers of Excellence program in 2016 “to recognize educators who are having the greatest impact on their students, using the power of music as an avenue for change,” according to its website.
“Music isn’t tested and sometimes it can be unappreciated. A song is more than a song, and it can teach us a lot about emotion and empathy,” Doo said.
Winners receive a stipend of $5,000 to be evenly split between classroom and personal needs. Doo plans to use the classroom portion to buy choir uniforms for students to use each year.
Doo is the fifth RCS teacher to receive this honor from the CMA Foundation. Past winners are Lisa Kemp (2017), Alexis Yatuzis-Derryberry (2018), Anna Laura Williams (2019) and Andrew Lynn (2022).