Workers in Jackson Hole face unique challenges to power the community. The beauty, wild nature and outdoor access the region offers are some of the great perks of life here. But servers, educators, nurses, home builders and more often have to deal with the high cost of living, long commutes and, for some, learning new languages for their jobs.
In KHOL’s new Workers series, we get to know more about some of the folks who help our community thrive and what drives them to stay here. You can listen to the full interview in our newest episode of Jackson Unpacked.
Tom Goicoechea wears many hats in Jackson. To his students at Teton Music School, he is an impassioned and enthusiastic music teacher. To his patients at the C-V Ranch Therapeutic Residential School, he is an observant and thoughtful music therapist. And to local fans of jazz and funk, he is the thumping beat of Cache Funk, Jackson’s newest collaborative funk band.
One quiet afternoon in July, Goicoechea wandered into his classroom at Teton Music School to prepare for his first student of the day. It was that particular hour of a summer afternoon when the streets seemed deserted and one felt like taking a nap, no matter how well-rested. But Goicoechea had particular cause for exhaustion.
“I’m wiped out today because I ended up getting a gig—I played at the Millionaire Cowboy last night, and I am again tonight,” he said. “This out-of-town couple, their drummer fell through last minute, and so I subbed, you know, and I had to learn all these country songs, which I still don’t really know…”
But despite the measly few hours of sleep the night before, Goicoechea was excited and ready for his student, diving into a hands-on review of triplet beats with the young drummer with the casual energy of a jam session. “One two three one two three one two three…” he chanted before the pair shattered the quiet afternoon with their dueling percussion.
Goicoechea’s professional life, representing a one-two-three of its own with his triple role as teacher, therapist, and musician, seems to resonate with his lifelong passion for music, which began in his hometown of Elko, Nevada.
“I was into music since before I can remember,” he mused. “I won like a couple of funny Nevada state talent contests when I was really little, like eight and nine, singing Beatles songs.”
After graduating from high school, he was ready for a bigger scene and decided to move to New Orleans to study jazz at Loyola University. By the time he finished his undergraduate studies, he was already working as a professional drummer, which would become his career for the next several years of his life.
Tom Goicoechea instructing one of his students at Teton Music School during a one-on-one lesson in July. (Kieran Hadley / KHOL)
“All told, I was in New Orleans for more than eight years playing and learning from all the greats down there,” Goicoechea said.
After New Orleans Goicoechea moved to Portland, Oregon, where he continued drumming and took a job at Portland Community College as an adjunct professor of the History of Jazz and World Music Cultures.
But though he did enjoy the challenge of balancing teaching and drumming professionally, Goicoechea yearned for a more community-oriented way to engage with music.
“My last couple of years in Portland… I guess the word is sort of disillusioned. I started becoming a little disillusioned and tired of trying to make it as a music player and teacher,” he reflected. “I wanted to do more with music on a personal level and maybe even on what I felt was a social justice level.”
This led Goicoechea to music therapy, which he describes as “using music in a clinical sense to target nonmusical health-related goals”. It involves working in either individual or group settings to help patients with a range of issues, from emotional regulation to improving attention spans.
Like other therapeutic practices, music therapists are credentialed professionals who undergo a rigorous certification process, involving at least four additional years of school, internships, and a certification exam. Goicoechea received his credentials from the University of Utah, which he attended after his time in Portland.
Goicoechea’s credentials as a music therapist are what brought him to Jackson, where he works at C-V Ranch Therapeutic Residential School, a Wilson-based public therapeutic school serving the needs of K-12 students with emotional disabilities. His work, and the needs of his patients, vary from day to day.
“There isn’t an average session,” he said. But the goal of his practice is consistent. “When I work with the kids, most of them, in one way or another, I’m working on how to facilitate their own personal use of music as an emotion regulation tool so that ideally, when they’re not around me, they can use music to feel better.”
The reason that music therapy can be so effective, according to Goicoechea, is that playing music uses more of the brain than many other audiovisual activities.
“The simple way to try and answer the question about ‘why music therapy?’ is simply that, for most people, engaging in music uses more of our brains than any other form,” he said. “The whole of the brain is firing, especially when you’re playing with other people.”
The collaborative aspect of music therapy is what Goicoechea finds so rewarding—it is precisely the kind of community and justice-oriented career that he was itching to find during his time in Portland.
When he talks about why he loves his job, he says, “It’s the people that I get to work with, and sort of watching our relationship grow together and their individual development with the help of music.”
Goicoechea’s journey as first a musician, then a teacher, and finally a music therapist has now come full circle, with his therapeutic practice influencing his personal craft. After witnessing the potential of musical collaboration as a way to improve the lives of his patients, Goicoechea wants to find a way to bring that same collaborative spirit to Jackson’s music scene.
On July 25, Goicoechea and his band, Cache Funk, opened at Music on Main for “The Rumble”. Cache Funk has provided Goicoechea and his bandmates with a fun and inclusive outlet with which to express themselves and foster community in Teton County. (Kieran Hadley / KHOL)
“My identity as a music therapist has changed the way I approach being a professional drummer,” he said. “Going back to the social justice idea, I would like to see more community amongst the musicians in town.”
This idea led him and fellow Teton Music School teachers Joe Rudd, Clay Humphrey and Collin Binko to create Cache Funk, a new jazz and funk group in Jackson, last December. Their goal, in addition to expressing their own art through funk and jazz, is to create an inclusive environment for local musicians to express themselves and collaborate.
“I think with Cache Funk, mostly I just want to have fun and have it feel like an inclusive thing in the community,” said Goicoechea.
One idea that the group has is to host a monthly jam session—like the Hootenanny does for acoustic artists—for artists with bold, more electric sounds.
“A long term goal of Cache Funk is to try and have a monthly jam session where anybody who wants to plug in and play loud, electrified groove music has the opportunity to do so.”
Despite starting in January, Cache Funk is already garnering attention. They performed at Music on Main on July 25, opening for The Rumble, a well-known funk band from New Orleans.
