You might recognize The Other Doors as Deerfield’s in-house school meeting band, filling in the transitions between announcements with catchy tunes and entertaining vocals. But aside from their brief School Meeting appearances, who are the talented musicians and how did the band come to be?
The band was newly formed this academic year at the request of Dean of Students Sam Bicknell. He had asked Director of Music Thomas Bergeron if there were any musicians who were interested in playing the song Security by Etta James for his portion at School Meeting, A Second for Security. Mr. Bergeron gladly accepted Mr. Bicknell’s request and started to envision a School Meeting band. He remarked, “I thought it would be fun for school meetings to have live music, so I brought the idea to Ms. Creagh and she was into it, so we decided to spice up the [Deerfield] Fight Song by playing along.” And thus The Other Doors was founded, with Mr. Bergeron as the bandleader.
Since then, the band has expanded its repertoire to include fan-favorite pop songs, most of which were arranged by Mr. Bergeron himself. Under his leadership, the band meets twice per week, learning new pieces each week. Justin Seo ’23, who played with The Other Doors in the winter, praised Mr. Bergeron’s dedication to the band, saying, “He created the Doors [and];the concept; he’s the bandleader. He does a lot of work for it, and very ambitiously, and it works because we get a lot done.” Despite his leadership of the band, Mr. Bergeron stressed the importance of student input in the band, stating, “The Other Doors is a band by students for students, but with professional guidance and you get to perform for the entire school every week.”
Mr. Bergeron often allows members to recommend songs to strengthen student involvement within the band and accelerate the learning process. He explained, “If one or two people in the band already know the song, they can embody it and the groove more easily as we’re playing it.” To further help with efficiency, Mr. Bergeron arranges songs selectively, choosing the most recognizable moments and then builds the rest of the song around them. This often includes improvised solos that give each member of the band a chance to shine. Kwasi Adu-Gyamfi ’26, a former saxophonist for The Other Doors, said, “It was fun improvising during the performances and sharing my passion with Deerfield.”
Still, the biggest mystery lies in the band’s name; why is it called The Other Doors? Turns out the name was inspired by Will Sussbauer ’23’s Deerfield story, in which he described “the other Deerfield student.” Sussbauer’s story also incorporated a witty reference to the American rock band, The Doors. When Mr. Bergeron presented the name to the newly formed student band, he was met with enthusiastic approval, recalling, “Some of the students in the band expressed that they felt like they were the other kind of Deerfield student, the kind of Deerfield student that is into the arts and music. The members of the band represented the other Deerfield.”
Although The Other Doors is a newcomer to Deerfield’s music scene, it has undeniably become a School Meeting staple with a bright future ahead. Mr. Bergeron has high hopes for the band, saying, “I like the idea of The Other Doors being Deerfield’s House Band, not necessarily just for school meetings. So if someone needs a band for a function we could ask The Other Doors to be that.”
For students interested in playing in the band, joining is as simple as joining and signing up for the music co-curricular. Although the co-curricular typically only takes students already involved with the music program, The Other Doors provides dedicated musicians with a bypass into the co-curricular and a way for them to further their musical journey at Deerfield. As such, it is a great opportunity for established and budding musicians to experience the cycle of preparing and practicing to perform in front of a live audience.
The Other Doors at its core is an incredibly flexible band that welcomes all musicians and caters to a diverse range of instruments. In the words of Adu-Gyamfi, “As a freshman, you don’t know as many people, and I think it’s a good opportunity to find new people who also share your interest in music.”