Beat it: Teacher turns to music as outlet for emotions
April 19, 2019
Music helps release emotions within people and lessen the stress that constantly builds up, so it really isn’t much of a coincidence to have a drummer who is also a teacher. Special education resource teacher Timothy Blair is a part of the original country-rock band Pony Creek.
With the band having two nominations in the Omaha Entertainment and Arts awards, Blair is constantly balancing the life of a drummer with the life of a teacher.
Playing at his band’s show, special education resource teacher Timothy Blair plays the drums for Pony Creek. Being in the music scene isn’t new for Blair at all. It’s been 25 years since Blair started his music career in Omaha. He has been in Pony Creek since 2016. It’s something that he loves to do and enjoys working on.
A teacher and a musician can compare in one specific way, they both grab the attention of their audience. The bigger the audience the better, allowing the lessons and music to reach and influence more people. With traveling around cities, Blair’s mission is to reach more people with bigger shows.
“We tend to try to play bigger shows,” Blair said. “We open up for a lot of national acts that come through town and we’re also doing, through June, like a three-week regional tour and playing around other states and cities.”
Pony Creek has opened for artists such as Porter Union, Jermey Mccomb, Curtis Grimes and Jason Eady.
As he opens for such artists, Blair constantly looks for good feedback on his performances.
“That’s the reason why you’re a musician really. It’s the feedback that you get, and kind of the emotional release you get through playing music.”
In addition to music serving as a creative outlet, Blair finds music as an opportunity to de-stress and let off steam.
“I play drums in the band, so I get to hit things with sticks as hard as I can, so that really relieves a lot of stress,” Blair said. “That’s the reason why I started playing music, to just get away from the problems that I had as a child. I came from divorced parents, so you know I didn’t have the best situation. I think I just used music to get away from things.”
Music can lead people to a place where they can escape from their problems. Stress can become a big burden when it comes to being a teacher but luckily for Blair, he’s found a way to relieve it.
Blair has been a part of Pony Creek since its formation in the spring of 2016. Blair was also in another band at one point in the 1990s which was a hard rock act.
While during the school year Blair doesn’t have much time for many shows, the breaks he gets as a teacher have allowed him to do both.
“We’ve played some pretty big festivals,” Blair said. “Teachers have the summers off, so that’s when we tend to do most of our traveling and stuff.”
With the start of summer right around the corner, Pony Creek is gearing up for their next show which will be on May 4, at the Loess Hills Harley-Davidson in Pacific Junction, IA.
