Sixth Story: Music Aspirations

"I always wanted to do it for a living. I never had that 'I don't know what I wanted to do thing in college'. I went into college, and I went to that college to study with the guitar teacher that was there. So I knew kinda where I wanted to go. But the idea of doing it for a living was always sort of tenuous...and that's what I knew how to do," said Anoka-Ramsey Professor Jason Vanselow.

That was some of the thinking of Jason Vanselow before heading to the Cleveland Institute of Music. "I auditioned at a bunch of different places, that was the place that I got in and I liked the teacher enough and just decided what the hell: try it," he said. Vanselow started his music career there immediately after high school.

Today, Vanselow is a musician, music teacher and music student. He's in second full-year here at ARCC. Vanselow teaches about 175 kids in classrooms and 20-25 for private guitar lessons. "Here I teach guitar and rock history, and I teach classic guitar at the U of M (Minneapolis campus)," he continued, "And I teach piano at St. Paul Academy in Summit School in St. Paul, and I teach guitar at a little place called Grace Academy over near Round Lake Blvd and Bunker Hills drive."

Among his credentials that helped him receive a job here at ARCC, Vanselow received a Bachelors degree from the University of St. Thomas. "I got a Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music which is in the arm of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and right now I'm studying for my DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) at the U of M," Vanselow said.

Vanselow first started playing the piano at the age of four and the guitar at the age of twelve. "My parents were musicians and we always had music in the house like Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills and Nash. So there was always a sense of sound in the house," he said.

Vanselow used this early inspiration to play in several different bands while growing up and attending college. He played in church bands at first. "I played in wedding bands where you play 'Brown Eyed Girl' and all of the standard cheesy stuff and I played in bands where you played some guy's original material and seven people show up and you just play for rehearsal money basically," he said.

"It can be really, really nerve racking when your up there by yourself and you don't know anyone and there's a lot of people out there," he said when explaining what it was like playing before an audience. "When your with a group of people..when your with a band..or a couple of other guitar players than it is somewhat comfortable and the sound you can make with each other is really amazing." This type of love for playing music translated to the classroom for Vanselow.

"I love talking about rock and roll because it's what I grew up listening too and I'm a geek so I love all the you know, the stupid urban legends and stuff like that. Playing guitar has been a great thing in my life so sharing that with other people is a great thing too," Vanselow shared.