She has been a teacher at Riverside Elementary School by day, by night and on weekends, performing live concerts throughout the State.
On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to a weekend regional music festival in American Fork. That’s where we catch up with teacher, Lydia Theobald, who is a vocalist and keyboard player with the very talented local folk-rock band “Seaslak.” Hear first-hand about the history of the band and how Lydia’s love for music has spread to students in her classroom over the years.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
You talk about the relationships with students. Did you feel like music drew you closer to students and allowed you to make maybe a faster and deeper connection with them?
Lydia Theobald:
I think music definitely enhanced everything we did in the classroom and specifically our relationships for sure. It's fun to have songs to show my students. I would always show them songs before they came out and they always gave us feedback and loved them and we would do dance parties sometimes.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She has been a teacher at Riverside Elementary by day and by night on weekends has performed live concerts throughout the state. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to a weekend regional music festival in American Fork. That's where we catch up with teacher Lydia Theobald, who is a vocalist and keyboard player with the very talented local folk rock band, Seaslak. Hear firsthand about the history of the band and how Lydia's love for music has spread to students in her classroom over the years.
Anthony Godfrey:
We are in American Fork at the Fork Fest Music Festival and we're talking with Lydia Theobald about being in the band Seaslak and she just finished up her time at Riverside Elementary School. So a lot going on for you right now.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, it's been a busy week for sure.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, thank you very much for talking with us. So you're a member of the band Seaslak. Tell us a little bit about that and about the performance today.
Lydia Theobald:
So my friend from high school, Mick Rudolph, started the band about three years ago and I joined the band two years ago and it's just been super fun to be in that while being a teacher at Riverside. It's been a really fun balance. I sing in the band and I play keys. We perform probably every couple months and so tonight we're playing here on the Forest Stage which is a really fun location to be in.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now the Forest Stage for those who have not been to Fork Fest, and until today that included me, is in a forest at a park in American Fork and it's the coziest, most welcoming venue I've ever been to. I'm a big concert guy. Red Butte is very welcoming but I've never been surrounded by trees quite like this for a performance. Have you performed here before? Have you watched bands before? And what are you thinking going into this?
Lydia Theobald:
We performed here the last two years and I was here last year and it was such a fun show. So going into tonight I'm just excited. I feel great. I'm really, really excited for our performance tonight.
Anthony Godfrey:
Do you think your music is particularly suited to this stage?
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, I think so. I think we have a little bit more of a folk vibe and so I think it does well with the colorful banners on the, you know, strung between the trees and the lights. It feels like it suits us really well.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about juggling being a teacher and a performer musician at the same time.
Lydia Theobald:
It hasn't been too bad. The only hard thing is that we practice down in Springville and so we get home pretty late the night before you know a school day. So Thursdays I was always a little more tired at school, but it was always fun to have songs to show my students. I would always show them songs before they came out and they always gave us feedback and loved them. We would do dance parties sometimes and I do a lot of music with my students as well. So it just felt like a natural extension of who I am.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now I talked with one of your parent fans from Riverside Elementary and apparently there are a number of them that came to one of the Seaslak shows. She told me that you write songs that you teach the kids songs that you've written. Talk to me about that.
Lydia Theobald:
So my second year, I had a student who had some pretty big emotions, and I thought I just needed to give him some kind of tool. I know there's something I can do to help him and I just kind of started thinking of this song. I don't know if every school uses the zones of regulation or if that's just a Riverside thing.
Anthony Godfrey:
Not everyone. I've heard of it.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Which would be another name for a band that really turns out.
Lydia Theobald:
The Zones of Regulation. Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
And now ladies and gentlemen, the Zones of Regulation.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah totally. So the zones just describe how ready you are to learn. Blue is sad and tired. Green is ready. Yellow is a little too much energy and red is out of control and so the song basically kind of goes through when you're in the blue zone what does that feel like, when you're in the red zone what does that feel like, and then the chorus is you being your own friend and talking to yourself and encouraging yourself to get back into the green zone. I've taught my students that song every year. One of the moms at school said, “you have to get your students together before you leave, all the students that know that song to sing it.” So on Thursday we all we all came to the gym and they all sang it. It was so sweet to see. A lot of the moms have said. “we still sing that you know. Anytime we're having a hard time, we just sing that chorus, “so you can do this you know you're so loved take a breath and look inside” and so that's been really meaningful.
Anthony Godfrey:
We expect to hear a recording of that as a rare Seaslak B side, maybe Japanese import flexi disc or something?
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah. I think I think that's a good idea.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'm watching for that. Let me know I want to be one of the people that gets a limited edition copy. So talk to me about the set list tonight. Did you guys set it up in rehearsals or did you plan that out well in advance? Talk to me about that.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, so we have a pretty short set it's only 30 minutes which flies totally flies by. So we're playing mostly songs that we've performed a lot. We have one new song tonight that we've never performed before and then we have a song that isn't released yet. I think all the other ones have been released but The Funeral is the one that hasn't been released that will be coming out in the next month, hopefully, so we're excited to sing that one for sure.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well once I heard that you were in the band, I started listening and here's some great stuff really.
Lydia Theobald:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
People, I feel like, I overlook local bands, and I was really glad that your recordings were drawn to my attention because of this interview. I really like If Only in My Mind. I mean that there's some great lyrics there and just really really good music. So I'm looking forward to the performance separate from just the fact that I get to talk with you and record this. Talk to me about what's next. You're done teaching at Riverside after five years, is that right?
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, so I'm hoping to just do a lot of little things kind of exploring my options and I'm starting out teaching piano lessons and doing some tutoring teaching voice lessons. I'm gonna work at a garden, you know, just little fun things but I am excited to have more time to work on music stuff, both Seaslak and then also just my own music stuff. I don't have anything released, but you know just some different stuff.
Anthony Godfrey:
A little solar stuff on the side.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah nothing crazy but it'll be nice to have some time.
Anthony Godfrey:
You heard it here first. This is the exclusive from Lydia with the Zones of Regulation as an early EP title. That's really exciting. What turned you to music? When did you first want to record music, and then when did you first realize you had some talent in that area?
Lydia Theobald:
I think it's been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I took piano lessons from the time I was probably eight and started singing probably I mean I was singing my whole life. My mom says I sang more than I talked to as a kid, but I think it wasn't until junior high when I found my sister's old guitar in the closet and thought, “oh, this seems fun and not too hard,” so I kind of taught myself a little guitar. I sang in the junior high talent show Fix You by Coldplay.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah yeah.
Lydia Theobald:
A classic for sure. That's when I realized like, “oh, this is something that I really like and it seems like I have some talent for it.” So since then I've been doing a lot of singing playing guitar piano stuff and so joining Seaslak has just been so fun to feel my talents magnified. Everyone in our band is so good. I would say they're all better than me musically, they're all more accomplished, you know. You've got a music major, someone who's done guitar their whole life and teaches guitar, they're all really talented. So it's been really fun to feel myself stretched by how good they all are.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'm gonna ask you two questions about music. First of all, you mentioned earlier that you know these other local bands. Tell me what are one or two local bands that everyone ought to know.
Lydia Theobald:
Local Kin is a band who we are really good friends with, and we're crazy about their music so definitely look them up.
Anthony Godfrey:
Local Kin okay.
Lydia Theobald:
Local Kin. Then another one I would recommend is the band Farin. I actually don't know if they have any music released but they're amazing. I really really like this.
Anthony Godfrey:
Ferrin, like F-E-R-R-I-N?
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, they're really fun
Anthony Godfrey:
What music has inspired you? What are some of your favorites that people might know?
Lydia Theobald:
When I was in high school, Regina Spector was my idol.
Anthony Godfrey:
She's coming August 1st.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah. I saw her a couple years ago. Yeah I think she music musically influenced me quite a bit and these days I'm listening to a lot of Fieste, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear. I'm trying to think who else. There's some great The Steve's, Kishi Boshi.
Anthony Godfrey:
I don't know Kishi Boshi.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, he's a Japanese American artist. He's really cool.
Anthony Godfrey:
I saw Grizzly Bear years ago in New York. They're awesome and I'm a huge Vampire Weekend fan. I saw them.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah they're so fun.
Anthony Godfrey:
They played some of their songs twice at the first show and I saw them because they didn't have enough to fill the whole concert.
Lydia Theobald:
So cool.
Anthony Godfrey:
Good taste, good taste. I'm gonna check those out.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, awesome. You talk about the relationships with students, did you feel like music drew you closer to students, allowed you to make maybe a faster and deeper connection with them?
Lydia Theobald:
I think music definitely enhanced everything we did in the classroom and specifically our relationships for sure, both the song that I described which was so I think important to kids, and then also other songs that were fun. I got caterpillars and got to watch them transform into butterflies, and we ended up doing a song that goes through the different stages of a butterfly's life from its perspective. There were just so many giggles and just so much laughing, and I know the kids learned that better and are gonna remember that forever. I do feel like it was a really special bonding experience that the kids for them to experience that, for us to laugh together and sing together, so I think music has really enhanced the relationships I've had with my students.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. It sounds like a really engaging, really fun classroom. Have you noticed in your students some of the same things that you noticed in yourself in terms of musical talent?
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, it's been really fun as we've learned different songs to hear some voices that I think, “oh, they're having fun but they might not ever do anything that, right?” Then some that I definitely I would love to somehow work with again because their voices are beautiful or they have natural rhythm. It's really fun to see. I believe anyone can learn to sing, anyone can learn to understand music but it is fun to hear who kind of already is interested in that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's exciting.
Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now that you are just days past your last days teaching at Riverside, reflect on those five years. Tell me what you liked most about being a teacher, and what it was like being a teacher at Riverside.
Lydia Theobald:
I have really loved my journey as a teacher. It was really hard to walk away because of the relationships with the kids and the parents and the faculty. I think the relationships with the kids were by far the most important thing, the most rewarding thing. Seeing the transformation of the kids from the beginning to the end. Academically for sure, that was rewarding. But seeing how their emotional regulation skills improved and even just our relationship because you would see at the beginning of the year these kids that really struggled regulating themselves and were prickly and cold and then at the end of the year were glued to my side. I knew like okay, my efforts to love you were not in vain. That was really rewarding to see every year.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well thank you again for taking time before your performance today. Thank you for everything you did at Riverside. I wish you the best going forward. I can't wait to hear your live set today and I'll be listening to Seaslak and watching for your solo work.
Lydia Theobald:
Thank you so much.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, hear Lydia perform live with Seaslak.
Male Voice:
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Sandy Riesgraf:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, director of communications for Jordan School District and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict. org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @Jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, we're just entering the golden hour here at American Fork. We had a huge audience here in the forest line up ready for Seaslak, so we're excited to hear this concert. I understand that there are going to be a couple of songs that they haven't performed before in addition to their newest single. It's just really exciting to see the support that they have even though there are other bands performing at the same time. You look at in the forest, and first of all, the stage itself has a lot of cool kind of antique frames and lights that look like candles and lamps. The backdrop is shutters and doors and it's just a really cool setup. Then out in the crowd in the forest, you can set up a camp chair but there are also just random couches and other chairs and things set up in the forest, and it's really, really a cool vibe. Strings of lights in between trees, just really exciting to see the success that Seaslak is enjoying. We're looking forward to hearing it.
Announcer:
All right, Forest Stage, how do we already arrive at the second to last act on the stage? Our penultimate act of the night has been compared to Miller Khan and Shaky Creams but that, that undersells their rock solid research and harmonies that would make Crosby, Stills, and Nash jealous. Last year, this band hit the road for a string of dates with our friends the National Parks. Please put your hands together for a personal favorite of mine, Seaslak.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there.