Ted Clous wrinkles his nose as he recalls his first introduction to music.
Fourth grade; piano lessons.
“My mom made me go, “ he recalled. “I hated them.”
For the next two years, young Ted would grudgingly go to his lessons, pining all the while to be pretty much anywhere else.
Then an epiphany.
“It turned out music was about the only thing I was really good at,” Clous joked.
Those lessons led to band classes in middle school and high school, then onto college, where Clous found another talent: teaching.
Clous, who celebrates his 31st birthday Sept. 11, took the reins this month of the Allen County Community College music department, where he oversees both instrumental and choir programs.
Clous’ hiring capped a whirlwind month in which he was interviewed for the position in mid-July and was offered the job four days later.
He accepted, from his home in Traverse City, Mich.
Cloud said he was eager to get both programs up and running again at full speed.
“Right now I’m still catching my breath a bit,” he said, as he continues to prepare a full slate of music programs for the upcoming school year. In addition to a number of performances featuring the college students, Clous has expressed an interest in resurrecting the popular Tuba Christmas concert in December and an honors band featuring ACCC students as well as band members from surrounding high schools in the spring.
And that’s not to mention his preparation for the upcoming ACCC musical “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a collaboration between the music and drama departments.
The plans, he said, are to provide a full pit band.
“We’ve got plenty of horns,” he said. “We need somebody for percussion and bass.”
The choir has a full chorus — literally — at 25 scholarship students. His band, however, has only 15 students, a number he’d like to see grow.
“There are still scholarships available,” he said.
Students can audition by contacting Clous at 365-5116, extension 258.
CLOUS SPOKE about the competitive nature facing band instructors across the country. As the economy has struggled, and schools have faced cutbacks, one of the first programs on the chopping block have been fine arts programs.
That’s what happened to him after he was hired as a band teacher out of college. Clous received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mi.
Over a three-year period, Clous saw his job go from full-time, then to half-time and finally “to something even less than that.”
He gave up his job in 2009 with the hopes of finding another full-time teaching position. In the interim, he performed as a skilled jazz pianist and trombone player.
“I wasn’t really part of a group or anything,” he said. “I would just play with show bands, or for New Year’s Eve parties, things like that.”
All the while, he submitted scores of teaching resumes to prospective employers over the next two years.
“I guess it surprised me more than anything,” he said. “I remember getting out of college and seeing lists of 30 and 40 job openings. Now, there may be only one or two a year.”
Wife Emily, meanwhile, continued her job as a marine biologist aboard fishing boats in the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska.
“You’ve seen the show ‘Deadliest Catch?’” he asked. “Her job was on boats like that.”
She was not among the crews landing the fish, however.
“Her job was mainly to monitor the numbers of the fish they caught and count the data,” Clous said. “She asked me several times if I wanted to go along.”
Clous would travel occasionally with his wife to Alaska, but politely declined offers to stay on the fishing vessel, he said.
BECAUSE HIS wife already traveled out of state to work, the decision to move to Kansas was made a bit easier for the Clouses.
“We’d already talked about the lack of job openings, and the possibility that we’d have to move,” he said.
Clous sent out 65 resumes early in the summer. He got two call backs: one for a school in Texas; the other at Allen County.
He was offered the ACCC job July 26. As fate would have it, the Clouses found a house in Iola the same day.
“Everything just seemed to come together,” he said. “It’s a good move.”
He noticed one peculiarity about Iola and Allen County upon his arrival, one he frankly enjoyed hearing.
“At other places I’ve been to, I’ve heard from lots of people who know people who have been in band or played music at some point,” he said. “It seems like everybody I’ve met here still plays. It’s exciting.”
AS AN aside, Clous is frequently asked about his height — he’s 6 feet, 10 inches tall — and whether he played sports, particularly basketball.
He did play in high school, “and basketball remains my favorite sport, but I don’t play anymore,” he said.
In fact, he gave up his basketball career after his sophomore year in high school, instead to focus on band.
“People ask what I do in my spare time, and I say ‘music,’” he said. “That really is my hobby. Music is what I do.”
