HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — FOX54 Top Teacher and music educator John Onder teaches music to inspire his students. In fact, he thinks it's the best subject ever. And it lights up the day for his students, from Pre-K to middle school.
"Music is just so important to me, and it's just so important to, just, our culture." John Onder's love for music began as a traveling guitarist, but his love for it took on another form after his daughter was born. She said her first words when Onder was in Michigan, and she was here in Huntsville.
His group now? It's the children he's taught for more than two decades. Onder even manages to squeeze in learning lessons with children during lunch. "Ever since I've been here for twenty-four years, during their lunch, they'll come in here and eat, and in between bites we practice and the ones who really just love it, I just try to take them to another level.
Principal Vince Aquila has nothing but praise for Onder. "He is a professional musician. One of the finest guitarist that you're ever going to see. He has the ability to bring out that musical gift in other people, and that's really, I think, the heart of who he is."
And for Onder, the message does beyond the music. It's the heart of who he is, because it's his life. "Music is life! If you listen to the lyrics of these songs, or if you listen to the lyrics of the songs that we sing at church, that's what's everything is based on."