Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Dec. 9, 2017
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
For Ryan Meisel, a frequent target of bullying growing up,
there was never a choice.
He wasn’t good with girls, either.
Still, that didn’t matter.
“I wasn’t confident in life,” he said. “Music got me through
life.”
Today, he’s turned music into a profession as a teacher and
a performer.
Meisel is a music teacher at Erin School and is the lead
member of Ryan Meisel QuArtet, a jazz quartet featuring musicians from
southeastern Wisconsin.
Meisel’s quartet will open a three-show weekend devoted to
the holidays at the Schauer Arts and Activities Center in Hartford on Dec. 15.
Meisel’s show is at 8 p.m. Dec. 15. The Lettermen follows
with a 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. show Dec. 16. Paddy Homan & The Noble Call wrap
up the weekend with a 3 p.m. show Dec. 17.
As someone from the community, Meisel said playing at the
Schauer Center is special.
“I live in this community, teach in this community and
support this community of Hartford,” he said. “All of my friends, colleagues,
family and students are all going to be there so this is a very personal show.
I owe them my best.”
The show has value, too.
“When you think of going to hear jazz, you think of big
cities, New York, Chicago, even Milwaukee and Minneapolis,” Meisel said. “I
want to continue to show that jazz thrives in small communities like Hartford
and other towns across this area and the country when schools and places like
the Schauer Center support it.”
Meisel, 39, was hooked to music early on. He picked up his
first instrument, the violin, when he was 4. A few years later, he took on the
harp.
“I loved it,” Meisel said.
Unfortunately, it was frowned upon by Meisel’s classmates.
They teased him for it. He said he was seen as a kid who played girl’s
instruments.
“I was made fun of a lot for embracing the artistic side of
music,” he said.
He was never deterred from putting any instrument down just
so he could be like the other kids.
“It was never an option,” Meisel said. “It was too much fun.
I loved it.”
His mother also had an interesting theory that helped him at
the time and for many years after.
“My mom always said they were jealous,” Meisel said, adding,
“it was something I knew I was good at.”
He was reminded of it, too.
“My parents were very supportive and I had great music
teachers,” Meisel said. “They saw the talent I had and they gave me
opportunities to be featured at concerts.”
He played violin and harp through fourth grade. When he was
in fifth grade, he started playing the saxophone, the instrument he still
plays. He did it because of his mom. She played alto and tenor in her school
bands and was a drum majorette.
“Her positive influence guided me to wanting to play those
instruments as well,” he wrote on his website.
Set on becoming a musician, Meisel got more and more
involved in the art form,attending camps and eventually college at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied music education.
Through that, he found the perfect combination. In addition
to music, he also loved working with children, teaching the beauty of music and
the sanctuary music offered.
Meisel has always liked music because of the opportunity it
presents to express feelings and emotions.
“I always felt a need (to play music),” he said. “I don’t
feel normal when not playing an instrument.”
In his early adult years, two people provided him the
foundation for his musical career as he knows it today: Chuck Hedges and
Richard Davis.
Hedges frequently played at a jazz club in Elm Grove called
Red Mill West.
“He tutored me in swing music and jazz,” Meisel said. “Every
time I came home form college, he would let me sit in with the band.”
Davis was a music instructor at UW. He also played with some
of jazz’s legends, including Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.
“They set the standard,” Meisel said. “They taught (me) how
to be in a band. Nobody teaches you that in college. They don’t teach you how
to write your music, book gigs or how to talk to an audience.
“Chuck Hedges, I remember once told me you have to make the
audience feel like they’re in your living room and they’ll keep coming back.”
Music has allowed Meisel to have a hobby and a solid job.
He has recorded 10 albums. His first, “Live Themes” was
released in 2002. His most recent album, “Spiritual Currents,” was released
this year.
One of the other great parts to music for Meisel was it did
lead him to his wife, Celia.
“I married a saxophone player,” Ryan said, adding, “I was
always confident music.”
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