For Scott Pazera, music is an obsession. There is a strong emotional element of music that draws him in. To him, this emotional element makes music therapeutic.
“It’s like medicine,” said Pazera. “It’s just there. It’s ready for you to choose what you need to listen to today.”
Pazera sees his introduction to music as similar to most people who start music when they are kids. In middle school, Pazera’s friend needed a bass player, so for his 12th birthday he got a bass guitar and learned how to play. He then wanted to learn the guitar, so the same year he learned that. Soon though, music became more than just a hobby.
“I was one of those kids that was obsessed with it,” said Pazera, “I played for about seven hours a day for four years.”
Despite his dedication to the art, Pazera did not always intend to make it his career. He got a master’s degree in public administration, wanting to make a career of catching serial killers, another interest he had at the time.
However, he found that the job was not at all what he wanted to do and interfered with his passion for music. Working a nine to five does not fit a musician’s schedule. Pazera found himself having to stay up late, drive several hours back from a gig and then wake up early for a job he had no love for. Pazera quit his job, pursued music full time, eventually got a master’s degree in music and has been teaching music ever since.
Pazera began teaching music when he was only sixteen and has since worked with many musicians, ranging from private lessons for all skill levels, to directing Purdue University’s jazz ensembles and since 2012, teaching and directing at Wabash.
Pazera loves teaching because it allows him to share what he loves about music with others.
“What I’m always trying to do is get the person in front of me as excited about this stuff as I am,” said Pazera. “At 51, I get as excited about hearing something new and figuring it out as I did when I was twelve.”
His excitement strongly resonates with his students, who love Pazera’s teaching style and energy.
“It’s due to his energy and raw passion for jazz that I find myself so excited for Tuesday rehearsals every week,” said Jazz Band and Chamber Orchestra member Dane Market ’26. “His musical knowledge and confidence is very clear, and he always finds ways to involve himself and stay engaged in the band instead of simply just leading it.”
The point for Pazera is not just to teach those wanting to become professional musicians. In fact, most of his students today are just learning it as a hobby. Pazera believes a person does not have to have a desire to be a professional musician to make teaching them meaningful.
“Not everybody is taking gym class because they’re going to become a PE teacher,” said Pazera. “It’s just part of making you a whole person. It’s just as important for me to help somebody who needs a break from their job to be able to unwind and get the emotional attachment to the music that they like and make it on their instrument.”
This is the environment that Pazera finds teaching at Wabash. Most of his students in the Jazz Band or Chamber Orchestra do not want to become professional musicians and none of them are there to become music majors or minors. Pazera finds this as a benefit in that everyone who is there is there because they want to be, not to fulfill a credit.
Wabash’s small size is also a unique element that plays into this. Not having enough students to fill an entire band, Pazera turns to local community members to pick up instruments and join them.
“They’re here because they want to participate and they want to be part of something,” said Pazera.
There is also not a lot of time for practice at Wabash. The Jazz Band only meets once a week for two hours, yet they are able to pull it all together for their concerts.
“We still take it seriously,” said Brewer. “We do our best to represent the art form.”
Pazera and the jazz ensemble hope to pull it off again for an upcoming concert on Thursday, November 16.
Even after all his years of experience, Pazera is still taking on new challenges. In one week, he will be conducting the orchestra for the musical “Something Rotten!” in Ball Theater next week. This is his first time directing a band for a musical and he says there is a very limited amount of practice for the orchestra before the show.
It is a tight turnaround, but those who work with him are confident in his ability. Professor of Theater Michael Abbott ’85, the director of “Something Rotten!”, knew he needed Pazera for this show.
“Scott is one of most respected bass and guitar players in the Midwest,” said Abbott. “He has breathed vital life into our Jazz Band. The audience has grown too, because students know they will get a fun, lively concert from the Jazz Band. I heard them play last year and immediately knew I wanted Scott to lead the orchestra for “Something Rotten!”. We’re lucky to have Scott Pazera teaching and working with students here at Wabash.”
“Something Rotten!” opens Wednesday, November 1, and runs through Saturday, November 4.
Pazera feels that music has something for everybody. For him, it is an obsession that he pursues every day of his life, but he recognizes that for others it may just be a way to unwind and relax from a stressful day. Either way, music is important, no matter how we enjoy it.