Guitar professor honored in D.C.
Michael Christiansen, professor of music at Utah State University, has been playing the guitar for more than 55 years. He has been teaching at Utah State University since 1977. Recently, he was honored as Utah’s 2012 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching on Nov. 15.
Out of 300 nominees across the United States, 30 were selected to receive the award. Christiansen was one of two professors in the arts to be honored. He was nominated by USU professor of physics David Peak, a past winner of the awards, which are administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE.
“It’s quite a process,” Christiansen said. “It’s not just like they put your name up.”
He said nominees have to write a self-assessment letter, put all of their teaching materials together and have outside letters of recommendation form students, colleagues and community members.
Christiansen and his wife flew to Washington D.C. for the awards ceremony and reception held at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill.
“It was really cool because they asked me to play, and so I got to play at the National Press Club before the awards,” Christiansen said. “It was kind of cool because they had me stand up at the awards and thank me for the music so USU got a lot of press out of it. They really rolled out the red carpet for us.”
Christiansen got his degree in music education from USU.
“I love to perform and I love to play, but I really had a passion for teaching and still do,” Christiansen said.
Christiansen began his contract with USU 36 years ago. He is the founder of the university’s guitar program, which started when he realized teaching 90 private students week was too much. He cut down and combined the lessons into classes taught for credit.
“At that time you really couldn’t go anywhere and study guitar,” Christiansen said. “Gradually, we just started adding classes to the curriculum that made it more specialized.”
Christiansen said he added more classes including style, fingerboard theory and guitar ensemble until it blossomed into a full fledged program.
“There are some programs around the country now that kind of similar, but it’s still kind of a unique program,” Christiansen said.
Kellan Tew, one of Christiansen’s students, said he deserves the award for many reasons, including the fact he built up the guitar program from scratch.
“It is a real testimony to his determination and dedication to make the guitar a more widely viewed art and legitimate instrument,” Tew said. “He has put his whole heart into something that has become recognized worldwide.”
James Smith is a music education major and has been studying with Christiansen for two years. He teaches guitar lessons through the university and said he uses Christiansen’s published method books not only for his own benefits, but for his students’ as well.
“There are guitar players and then there are guitar teachers and then there’s Mike, and I think he’s both,” Smith said.
He said some teachers will give a lesson that was just given to another student, but that Christiansen is aware of the personal needs of his students.
“Half the time I’ll show up to my lesson and he’ll have a piece of paper with my name written on it, and I know that he’s prepared in advance,” Smith said. “He’s a phenomenal musician and a great example. I aspire to be a teacher like him.”
Students describe Christiansen as a relaxed, easy-going teacher who cares deeply about other people and is always willing to help his students.
“He goes out of his way to make sure you succeed in certain areas,” said Nick Farr, a music therapy and guitar performance major. “Whenever you need help, you don’t even have to wait for your lesson. You can e-mail or call and he’s always available. He always has that open door.”
Christiansen said he enjoys performing and recording as well as teaching and that they all have their own benefits. Performing brings instant rewards with the reaction from the audience, and recording gives instant gratification being able to hear it play back.
“But with teaching it’s a long lasting gratification,” Christiansen said. “It’s like the students keep giving back to you.”
Along with being a professor, teacher and publishing technique books for Warner Brothers and Mel Bay, Christiansen performs in with clarinetist Eric Nelson as Lightwood Duo. They perform everything from Jimi Hendrix to Sting to Bach.
“Mike is something of a musical chameleon,” Tew said. “He can hold his own in any situation.”
Nicholas Manning said one of the greatest things he’s learned from Christiansen is the importance of being versatile and marketable in all genres of music.
“And he’s taught me how to do it,” Manning said. “If you follow his instructions to the T, he gets you there. It’s miraculous.”
Christiansen said the best part of winning the award was hearing the support letters from all his students.
“Even if I hadn’t have won, just to read the letters from students that I have now, students I had before and colleagues, that alone is enough reward to know you had some kind of an impact on them,” Christiansen said.
– tmera.bradley@aggiemail.usu.edu