PVCC Puma Press: December 2002

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	Photo Courtesy of Lynn McClelland
	Lynn McClelland, teacher at PVCC practices on her drumset (covered with towels to decrease noise) in her apartment.
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In Lynn McClelland’s office the desk and shelves are filled with books and stacks of paper. There’s a large, empty fish tank sitting on the floor and the Virgin Mary is perched on a window sill, keeping watch over a computer screen featuring a close-up of her greyhound’s snout.

McClelland has been teaching English at PVCC since 1997. Like most teachers, she has a never-ending stack of papers to grade for any one of the seven classes she teaches. Like most teachers, McClelland can get a little overwhelmed with the amount of work she has to take home with her. However, unlike most teachers, she works out her frustrations with a good old-fashioned beating—drum beating, that is.

“It feels wonderful when I go home, put on the headphones and just play,” she says, briefly closing her eyes as if picturing it.

McClelland got her first drumset when she was just 7 years old. Her two older sisters were in the drum and bugle corps, and when she went to see them play, she found that she could pick up the rhythms quickly.

She learned by playing along with some of her favorite jazz and big-band artists, such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. In fact, she still loves to listen to and play along with jazz greats.

So it’s somewhat surprising to hear that this jazz-loving English teacher used to be a card-carrying punk rocker.

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Drums were a way to express my frustration with a system that didn’t care about me
—Lynn McClelland, English Faculty
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“I was a disgruntled youth,” says McClelland. “I was an idealist, then became a rebel.”

McClelland became disgusted with the politics of school while growing up in Butler, Pennsylvania. If you weren’t a “rich kid”—the child of doctors or lawyers—you were nobody, she explains.

That frustration helped turn her attention to a burgeoning style of music called punk. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Clash and the Ramones inspired her to start a band of her own. She used the drums as a way to protest the injustice she felt.

“Drums were a way to express my frustration with a system that didn’t care about me,” she says.Her band had many names (Acid Rain, for example) and incarnations.

She and her friend Dave, who helped start the band, saw many musicians come and go over time. Eventually the band moved from Pennsylvania to New York in an attempt to “make it big.” Apparently, New York had other plans.

“We starved and came home,” she says. “I never felt sorry that we went. At least we tried.”

When she moved back to Pennsylvania, the local economy had taken a nose-dive and it was extremely hard to find work. Shortly thereafter, she visited Arizona and found a lot of jobs available. She then went back home, sold her drumset and moved to Phoenix for good. McClelland studied and got her master’s degree in English with a focus on Medieval Literature at ASU. She now teaches classes ranging from English 101 to a class on the history of cinema—that’s where the fish tank comes in.

“I’m using it to show my class how [filmmakers] do the ‘rolling cloud trick,’” says McClelland. The effect, she explains, is seen in movies such as Independence Day, where storm clouds appear to be moving overhead at warp speed. Special effects artists use a giant fish tank and chemicals to create a miniature cloudy “sky” in the studio.

She has a fascination with movie special effects and how they are done, but her main love will always be the drums. McClelland just bought a brand new set—a white Pearl Forum kit. She set it up in her apartment so she can practice during the week. She muffles the sound of the drums by putting T-shirts over the drums and cymbals, and uses wire brushes instead of sticks. So far, the neighbors haven’t complained.

McClelland plays drums every Sunday during the service at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 16245 N. 60th St. in Scottsdale. However, it’s not exactly a punk show with prayer. She has to keep it quiet and plays behind the church choir, but for now, she’s happy just to play.

“I love to lose myself in the music … I don’t just want to keep time,” she says.

McClelland would jump at the chance to be in a band of her own again, if she had the time. Teaching, grading papers and jamming for God leaves little time for much else. Drumming at home is good enough for right now.

“Drumming has helped me reclaim who I am outside of teaching,” she says.

Who knows? Maybe one day some people will be able to say they had a rock star for an English teacher.