June 9, 2025 by Elias Prodger (‘26)
Walking past Mr. Halstead’s room in the E wing can often feel like a sonic assault. Between the mix of classical era compositions and 80’s progressive rock, his passion for music is amplified throughout the E wing halls. In his final year, after decades in the music department, Mr. Halstead is as musically inclined and as passionate about his students as ever.
The more you talk to Halstead, it’s clear that music has touched his life ever since his adolescence. “My earliest musical memory is hearing Kermit the Frog singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green” on Sesame Street and tearing up listening to the song” he recounts.
Halstead notes pioneering artists like The Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, and grammy winning producer David Foster as his key early musical influences.
As soon as he touches the keys of the large Yamaha keyboard that he uses for lessons, the influence of classic pop is clear. His ear searches for hooks and enthusiastically points out the moments of wonder that he finds in his listening. From unique melodic motifs to interesting chord extensions, his excitement is infectious.
After playing bands throughout high school and college, he continued his career as a sessions musician working in studio and touring with countless bands. Retelling his fondest memories of his early career, he notes “On tour, I played at the Hunter Mountain Country Music Festival. I got the chance to meet Ronnie Milsap before the show. We were the opening act. I told him I was the keyboard player in the band. He asked me to give him my hands. (He was blind). He took my hands and said, ‘Why don’t you play my grand piano for your set?’ It was a beautiful Yamaha MIDI Grand. I played that day in front of 6,000 people and a huge smile was on my face for the whole show.”
After years of touring in cramped vans, he realized it was time for a new chapter in his life. “I knew it was time to leave when I realized it was not a life that was conducive to maturing into any sort of reality. Living in hotels. Not having a home. Risky behaviors. I needed to have a normal existence and still find a way to be a musician” Halstead notes.
Throughout the decades leading the school’s music in our lives, MIDI studio, and UHS/AP music theory program, his passion for music has left an imprint on his students. From my own personal experience to the experience of students like junior Ella Warden, who notes “I have never met a student who took a class from Mr. Halstead that didn’t have an incredibly personal and positive moment with him I have never met a student who took a class from Mr. Halstead that didn’t have an incredibly personal and positive moment with him.” His enthusiasm and his love for the art form is infectious and you would be hard pressed to find a student who doesn’t admire his level of shear love for the artistic medium he gave his life to.
Halstead’s class frequently oscillates between music and deeper philosophical pieces of advice that he looks to impart on his students.
Some of his advice is purely musical. He stresses the importance of musical wonder and emotion “As a musician, you have an eternal quest to bring the spectrum of emotions into musical form, strive to be able to represent those emotions through your musicianship.” He will fight to help his students facilitate that process while stressing the importance of the various types of triads and minor scales, that are forced into your musical vocabulary until you are able to recite them while brushing your teeth.
Besides his practical music education, he will often assertively state so much advice that is not explicitly musical. “Be a sponge. Be a human sponge in as many aspects of living as you can” is a mantra that he swears by, stressing the importance of absorbing information from all sources in various factions of life. He loudly preaches respect and personal responsibility through his charismatic teaching style that touches the lives of the vast majority of his students.
So, what’s next on his life journey. When it comes to music, he stresses the importance of music as a uniting force in society. “In such a fractious and divided humanity, I hope that music will always lead to common emotions and common realizations of brotherhood and sisterhood. I hope that music continues to be a massive, mysterious, and wonderful force in the world. And I hope I can always be a small part of it.”
It’s hard to doubt he will continue to be an integral part of the local music community, and a long-lasting figure in the lives of countless aspiring musicians.