Eliot Smith and the Hackley Coffeehouse

“Performance” is the theme that connects the seemingly disparate threads of Eliot’s life, from his days as a professional musician to his graduate thesis to his work in the classroom, so it is no surprise that the role for which he may be best known at Hackley is as musical director of the Hackley Upper School Coffeehouse.

The Coffeehouse was established some years ago by former choral director Sarah Bonsignore, and when Sarah left Hackley, Eliot teamed up with Hackley parent Theresa Kilman to continue the program. Eliot and Theresa worked hard to “create an event that would stand out,” Eliot recalls. At the same time, Becca Kilman ’07, Community Council president that year, was working to encourage “school spirit,” and the Coffeehouse became the magic formula.

With the Coffeehouses, school spirit” came to embody something intrinsically “Hackley”: the building of a constructive social community that brings the motto “United we help one another” and our invitation “Enter here to be and find a friend” vividly to life. Referencing his belief in the power of expressive culture, Eliot believes the Coffeehouse phenomenon is a great example of “the kind of transportation that happens through the music, through our keeping together in time. We are transported to a different place. And we come out of the event talking about what a great community we are…when in fact we are really just noticing what happens when a group of people gets together and enjoys the therapy that expressive culture offers us.”

Eliot raised the bar on student performances beyond the old “talent show” model and drafted a proposal to the HPA for a more effective sound system and lighting, allowing for better quality performance. The Coffeehouse nights started out in Allen Hall, which, Eliot notes, “was a small space, where the kids were central. While adults are not excluded, the students know they are the desired customer.” The popularity of the event encouraged the recent move the PAC, where Eliot orchestrates performances on three stages, which both increases the pace and energy of the event and lends visual excitement. At the April 2013 Coffeehouse, the multiple stages facilitated a spontaneous jam session, as one musician answered to the performance of a fellow student band from opposing sides of the stage.

“Every year,” Eliot says, “I think…it’s going to die. The Coffeehouse will lose its momentum. And it’s possible that it might. But as long as we stay focused on what’s really there – an amazing love fest for all comers in the student community – it can keep thriving.” The support they give each other for getting up and taking a risk is amazing. Some performances are polished and professional. Some students are scared to death, trying it for the first time to see if this is something they can do…uniformly, the Hackley community is a loving community in this context. That’s why I keep doing this.”

His colleagues applaud his efforts. One noted, “Eliot literally has created a time and space for students' voices to be heard in our community in an open and supportive atmosphere. The Coffeehouse has transformed our Upper School culture, taking the ballad, the folk song, and the jazz and classical performance from academic readings to the level of community praxis where students openly share who they are to and for one another.” Still, Eliot says, “I can’t claim a whole lot of credit here. The students are thirsty for community events like this and they drive it every step of the way. All the faculty who give their time are facilitators. If you see yourself as more than that, you should get the hell out of it, because that’s where you kill the energy and sincerity of it.”

While “spare time” is a rare commodity for Eliot, he still creates his own music as well. He and Hackley colleague Erick Storckman have just completed a CD of original compositions – their own collaborations in performing and writing, which he terms “a funky ensemble with some very sing-able melodies juxtaposed with dynamic improvisation – some accessible, some pretty wild.” He is already looking forward to the next project – a collection of 60 one-minute songs, “like the haiku of musical thinking!” As a composer, he did the music for an award-winning poetry program called “Line Break,” produced under the auspices of SUNY Buffalo, which interviewed major American poets, and he did “a crazy musical rewrite of Dante’s Inferno” with his sister that resulted in an opera.

Eliot’s wife, Anne Longley, was also a valued member of the Hackley community in her role as French teacher and, later, the dean who saw the Class of 2012 through their four Upper School years and the creator of the Senior Projects program, which has just completed its second year. Anne “graduated” from Hackley along with her Class of 2012 and became Head of the Upper School at The Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. She and Eliot live on campus in an apartment that, not surprisingly, emanates music at all hours. Recently, he has been completing the keyboard tracks for the last track on the new CD. “It’s hilarious,” he says. “Me, in the half hour while Anne is in the shower in the morning, with my headphones on, perseverating…’I gotta get this part right….’ I’m a fanatic. But, you need to make time for these things. I have found over the years that music has been a mainstay of survival. A reflective and regenerative force. I stick with it.”