After Bridge Over Troubled Water achieved international success in 1970 and Art Garfunkel was honored with three Grammys for Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1971, he entered a period that included various professional activities outside the music business. In 1970, Art Garfunkel took his first film role in Catch-22, followed by Carnal Knowledge in 1971.

At the same time, Art Garfunkel sought distance from show business. Looking back, he described this period as a time of withdrawal: “It was a weird stage of my life, to leave Simon & Garfunkel at the height of our success and become a math teacher.” In another conversation, he explained: “I was trying to get away from all that ego that is involved in show business. It was my quiet time, my retreat. I tried teaching. I loved the curriculum, I loved the act of teaching.”

On September 7, 1971, Art Garfunkel began working as a teacher at Litchfield Preparatory School in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Art Garfunkel as a Mathematics Teacher

Art Garfunkel taught mathematics and was the homeroom teacher for a 10th-grade class. His subjects included geometry and algebra. On September 13, 1971, the students arrived at the school and regular classes began.

Art Garfunkel later described his introduction to school life: “I was their math teacher. I had on my suit and tie. And I started putting triangles on the blackboard.”

Art Garfunkel did not bring up his musical career in class himself: “I never told them I was the guy who gave you, ‘The Sound of Silence.’” His approach to teaching was clear: “But we were there for geometry!”

The students nevertheless asked questions about his previous work in the music business. Art Garfunkel recalled: “When they were curious, I told them that, on the last day of class, we'd do a Q&A and I'd answer questions about my show-business life. But we were there for geometry!”

Art Garfunkel did not avoid the students' questions; instead, he postponed them until the last day of class. Initially, the focus was on the curriculum and geometry lessons.

Litchfield Preparatory School

Litchfield Preparatory School was founded in 1970. For the school's operation, buildings on Route 202 that had previously been used for industrial purposes were converted. When Art Garfunkel began his teaching position on September 7, 1971, the school had been established only about a year earlier.

Art Garfunkel taught there during the 1971/72 school year. The yearbook for that school year documents his membership of the faculty.

Litchfield Preparatory School closed in 1973. Art Garfunkel's teaching position ended in 1972.

Art Garfunkel and Teaching

His position at Litchfield Preparatory School was not Art Garfunkel's first experience with teaching. During high school, he had already tutored children.

Art Garfunkel later said that he could have worked as a teacher even without his musical career: “I would have been happy being a teacher.”

Art Garfunkel Between Film and Music

The teaching position came at a time when the successful duo had broken up and Art Garfunkel was gaining his first experiences as an actor. At the same time, his teaching career came before the beginning of his solo career.

From the Classroom Back to Music

Art Garfunkel's teaching position ended in 1972 with the conclusion of the 1971/72 school year.

Later that year, preparations began for his first solo album, Angel Clare. The actual studio recording sessions began in the fall of 1972. After a production period lasting several months, the album was released on September 11, 1973.

An Unusual Professional Chapter

By the end of the 1971/72 school year, 30-year-old Art Garfunkel had already worked in three different professional fields: as a musician, an actor, and a teacher. Preparations for Angel Clare subsequently marked the beginning of work on his first solo album under his own name.