Pointlife
Professor John Coletta’s abilities stretch from the classroom to the stage.
Professor mixes blend of quality environmental literature and music to create harmony in life
The Pointer
jspra793@uwsp.edu
A professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point teaches English literature during the week and toots his whistle for crowds across the country on the weekends.
John Coletta, who has played musical instruments since he was a kid, is not your average professor.
While growing up with an artistic family in New York, he learned to play the clarinet all through his college years.
“It’s kind of an unwieldy instrument,” Coletta said of his clarinet. “If I hadn’t played it, I would have never picked up the flutes and whistles.”
His father is a world-class musician who attended Julliard School of Music; his mother, a professional ballet dancer.
Presently an English professor with an emphasis in environmental literacy, Coletta began his education with an outdoor recreation degree in New York moving on to an environmental Education degree in Wisconsin, an English degree in Alaska and earning an English Ph. D. in Oregon.
“I have four different college degrees and each within a different time zone,” Coletta said.
After completing his education, he landed a job in the English department at UW-SP. About 25 years had passed since he’d really picked up his clarinet. Then one day, Coletta found some $10 whistles and “just started picking them up and playing them.”
A course with a non-traditional student led him down the path toward vital flute player to Celtic band Green Tea. The student missed class one day due to a faulty car and expressed apologies to Coletta and that he had also missed his Celtic band practice.
Coletta, intrigued by the thought of Celtic music, took the student into the stairwell where he took out his whistle and began to play for the student. The student proceeded to invite the professor to the next band practice.
For a couple of years, the band just jammed out together, with an influx of changing members over time. Their latest album, “Beautiful Fault,” has more “funky” tunes while their latest demo, “Shafted,” has more of a Flogging Molly appeal.
“It’s about these miners that die in a mine shaft and are blamed for their own deaths, which is why we called it “Shafted,” Coletta said of the demo.
The band will be making its first appearance at this year’s Summerfest on a main stage and will continue to play for universities and crowds across the country.
It’s obvious that Coletta’s musical career combined with his environmental education has led him to some unique experiences.
“My literary interests do come together with my music interests,” he said.
With a wide array of publishings, including essays in the book, “Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment,”Coletta has future plans of incorporating his literary knowledge with his music.
“The poet naturalist, John Clare, 1793 to 1864, was a collector of folk songs from central England and I’m planning on adapting some of Clare’s collected folk tunes and even his own lyrics for Green Tea and the stage,” he said. “I’m especially interested in Clare’s environmental lyrics.”
Look for Coletta as he joins the stage with musical guests Futureman of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Trevor Garrod of Tea Leaf Green, featured conductor Matt Butler and others at the Everyone Orchestra show sponsored by Centertainment in the UW-SP Encore on Thursday, May 7.
