Full name: Shawn Salmon
Department: Music
Title: Director of Jazz Studies, Guitar professor
Dr. Salmon was born and grew up in Chicago land area. He got his undergraduate degree from Eastern Illinois University, then went on to earn his Masters from DePaul University, and finally went to Ball State University for Ph.D.
After earning Ph.D. he got married and moved back to Chicago. He has two young children, a boy and girl, who love music as much as he does.
Salmon started working for SXU during 2013-14 academic school year. When asked about how much he likes his new job, Salmon responded, “I’ve got one of those jobs when you wake up and go, ‘Wow! I get to do this? This is great!’”
He has no complaints yet. “The students are fantastic, they’re easy to talk to, hard-working, supporting, and just wonderful,” said Salmon.
He also thinks the faculty is fantastic, and enjoys everyone that he has worked with.
But Dr. Salmon almost didn’t apply for the job because of the description. It did not seem like the long-term job he was looking for.
However, it turned out to be everything he was looking for; a director of jazz position where he could also teach guitar in particular. As he simply put it, “it was too good of a job to pass up.”
Although Salmon used to play guitar for a living, there are a lot of similarities between preforming and teaching. Particularly in jazz there is a communication that is always going on.
Similarly, while teaching you have to be ready to answer student questions, like you have to be ready to improvise while playing jazz. He also cited that there is an element of excitement and creation that he enjoys in both activities.
Dr. Salmon jokingly said that teaching provides a safer environment and better pay while considering which job was his favorite. He could not recall teaching a class where he got a barstool thrown at him.
Ultimately, teaching has a lot of pluses. Dr. Salmon said, “I feel like I am always growing because students are learning very different things than I learned while an undergraduate student, mostly because of technological innovation.”
He encourages musicians of all majors to keep playing, especially since SXU offer musicians a chance to play in a university ensemble regardless of discipline, an opportunity that is rare to most university students.
Salmon’s favorite artist is a jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, and favorite album is The Incredible Guitar of Wes Montgomery, but he also enjoys listening to John Scofield, James Brown, and The Doors.
His hobbies outside of music include grilling and reading. His favorite grill in Chicago is the Smokers Shack in Hyde Park.
He was also relieved to move back to Chicago,from Indiana because he could finally have some decent deep-dish pizza.
“I like to read. When I’m not reading a jazz biography, or a music-related book, I like to Sci-Fi novels; I recently started to read Game of Thrones,” commented Salmon.
But Friday nights he gets to do his most favorite hobby. Then, he enjoys a pizza/movie night with his family.
His first SXU jazz concert is on Friday, at 8 p.m. in McGuire Hall. Next semester Dr. Salmon is teaching two classes open to all SXU students’ regardless of their musical skill level; an introduction to guitar class, MUS-104, and Jazz in Chicago, MUS-129.
He strongly encourages everyone to consider a music course or attend a music event during his or her college career.
David Roderiguez
News Editor
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