Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Henseler.
Hi Jake, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hi! My name is Jake Henseler! I am a teacher dedicated to guiding our youth today! Whenever you asked me what I wanted to be when I was a young kid, I always said I wanted to be a teacher! As a child, I kept to myself until I got involved in my two passions music and swimming. The two helped me through my challenges in school. I also always did well in math classes, but it is not what I love to do. What always made me feel strong was Music and Swimming.
My journey began after high school in 2013. At the time, I was chasing a degree in computer science. Everything was going smoothly. I was teaching swimming on the side, something I have been doing since I was 16. However, on June 8th, 2015 everything changed. It was my birthday and I had a full day of teaching swimming. At the end of the day, a police officer and my cousin pulled me out of the water. In the car, they told me my youngest brother, Jarron (age 14), took his own life.
Many emotions took control. Depression and anxiety stopped me from finishing classes. I also had an overwhelming feeling of needing to help people and change the world as if that would somehow stop other people from doing the same. I convinced myself I was okay, but I was not. I was holding myself to a perfect standard and constantly beat myself up when I did not meet my own ridiculous standard.
Things started to change a year later. I took a leadership class as a credit to fulfill my Associate’s Degree in General Studies, Something I was close to completing before the loss of my brother. In that class, I learned something really important, something that began changing the way I thought about myself. A video called Trombone player wanted, told me to stop putting all my energy into my weakness and start putting that energy into my strengths. This was a huge wake-up call as my whole life I was taught to try your best in everything and to get the A in every class I took. I started working on accepting my weakness and began really growing in my areas of strength. I redefined a strength as an activity that makes me strong. Three areas of strength come to mind under that definition: Music, Swimming, and Teaching.
When I got deeper into the computer science degree, I started to realize I didn’t enjoy what I was studying. I actually ended up throwing a laptop on the ground over a very frustrating programming assignment. Thinking back to the Trombone Player Wanted video, I remember I love band and I love teaching so I decided to pursue a degree in music education. I transferred and began studying music there.
The last 6 months, I have taken a break from my studies at UVU and completed two treatments to defeat depression for good. The first was an EEG to reconnect wires in my brain tha have been bypassed keeping me in fight or flight mode. The second is TMS therapy designed to reactivate the neurons that depression has shut down. On my last screening, both depression and anxiety were not detected and the negative stream of thoughts in my head have disappeared and have not returned. I still have my bad days, but I bounce back faster and no longer get stuck in depressed moods. With depression out of my way, I am ready to explode in growth. I can do so much more and I am excited to see where my adventure takes me next.
During my studies at Utah Valley University (UVU), my professors made me realize that I do not have to wait to finish the degree to start my career. I am practicing teaching before my degree in Music Education is complete.
I took a studio building class and I have started my own clarinet studio. Currently, I have students all over Utah and Salt Lake County. It is amazing to see my students barely able to make a sound to become a leader in their band. They enjoy playing a lot more and take on opportunities they would not have without my help.
I have also been working at American Preparatory Academy as the After-school Sistema Band Teacher. Here I sharpen my teaching skills in both classroom management and music. I look forward to teaching these kids every day and it has been an amazing experience guiding them through the challenges of school and COVID on top of that. It was unexpected how much I have to teach my students about managing their emotions, but the best part of my job is seeing my students succeed. I have watched my shyest students go way out of their comfort zone and write and perform their own song as the others also overcome the challenges required to play an instrument. I have also witnessed an entire elementary music program spend one week on creating 2 songs and perform them on the last day of their workshop. The two songs were completely improvised and lasted a total of 30 minutes. They collaborated and built off each other and performed ideas I would never have thought they would come up with. So many of my students gained so much confidence. (I also have to credit the Creative Conservatory for coming out and inspiring our students to make their own ideas and Sistema Utah for providing these opportunities for the students). The students have also risen to the challenge of being able to learn and perform a song with other artists such as Gentri and Alex Boye at their final concert. The kids I work with have become resilient and reached a level of creativity that I wish I had experienced in my youth.
During the summer, I get involved at the pool. I am currently coaching a swim team at the Orem Scera pool where I get to watch these beginner swimmers go from barely being able to swim across the pool, to being able to swim all 4 competitive strokes. It’s fun to see the younger swimmers trying not to grab the wall, to being able to swim across the pool with no problem. Their technique has improved significantly and I enjoy working with them in the hot sun every morning.
The other thing I do is teach survival lessons at the Aquatics Academy in South Jordan. There I teach all ages to be completely safe in the water. I have gotten kids, even babies, to be able to jump in the pool, flip on their back and kick back to the wall. What is so cool about this place is every kid I work with; I can guarantee that they will be safe in the water once they reach a certain point in their progression. I am really saving lives there, a feeling I have not fully felt in my 10 years of teaching swimming since I started working here. I can become confident that they will always be safe in the water.
My favorite thing to teach my students is when they are scared to try something new or to get better at a skill, I tell them there is nothing wrong with making mistakes. It is going to happen. It is unavoidable and that I make mistakes all the time myself. I teach them to try to stop judging themselves and instead become aware and observe what is wrong. I also try to point out and encourage them on what they do well to build a solid foundation. The most important thing I teach my kids is I like to show them what they are capable of doing. It is challenging at first, but the students I get to start thinking in a different way start to realize they can do challenging things and that their dreams are not out of reach. They can be accomplished with hard work. My students can feel how much I believe and care about them so they are able to overcome any challenge I throw at them.
My goal is to make a difference in the kids around me and give them the tools to be able to create and go after their own dream. My superpower is I am able to pull out their best and show them their potential and what they can do because I believe in them. They can feel that, and all of them know that I care. I want to be a teacher that they look back on, and remember that I still believe in them and they can accomplish anything they put their mind to.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
1. Death of youngest brother. My youngest brother committed suicide on my birthday in 2015. 2. I have overcome depression and anxiety. Through cognitive therapy, TMS therapy, mindfulness, and an EEG.
2. I have discovered that I need to invest in my strengths and not as much in my weakness. Perfection is not achievable and I will never reach it.
3. I have completed many challenges in the music education program. I was advised to not go into the degree because it was the hardest one, but I do not regret it.
4. Finding the right people to work with, I have had people try to take advantage of me and I have learned to identify when this happens and I look for people who are like me and want to build other people up even if it’s not financially sound.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have 4 jobs.
The first Is I am the After School Sistema Band Teacher at American Preparatory Academy. I teach 3 band classes after school. My job is to teach 4th-6th graders brass and woodwind instruments. At the same time, I teach them to be builders and we talk about how to build others up and not be wreckers who tear others down for their own gain. I love seeing my students pick up these pieces of wood or metal and play music that I thought was not possible at their age. I also love remembering how they first sounded to being able to start having a balanced band sound. What I love about Sistema is that it’s also inclusive. Every concert we have a piece that all the students in the program regardless of instrument (voice, string, piano, band) come together and perform a song. It is also amazing to see the kids start to grow in their creativity. One of my students this last year wrote her own song and has written her own lyrics. When I first met her, she hardly said a word. My beginner band was also awesome to watch as they struggle to hold their instruments right to being able to perform a hard piece for them. My intermediate band was fun because they really got into band this year and the growth, they showed was much more than I ever expected.
The second job I have is I teach Survival Swim Lessons at the Aquatics Academy. The lessons here are at first specifically designed to keep kids safe in the water. We teach them to float and how to get back to the wall. But what I really like about this program is that my boss has successfully designed a curriculum that works at the kids’ pace to get them to be safe and then teach the competitive strokes. I feel like I save lives here. I specialize mostly in the stroke lessons, but I have gotten many littles, even babies, to be safe in the water. I know how to set high expectations and be a fun teacher at the same time.
The third job I have is my private clarinet studio. I teach a handful of students in both Utah and Salt Lake County. I work with beginners who barely learned how to put the instrument together and many secondary students looking to become better in their band. I teach my students how to practice and give them the tools they need to be successful outside of my lessons, not just the pieces they play.
The fourth job I have is I usually work with a Swim Team in the summer. This year I am working with the summer league at the Orem Scera Pool. I usually work with the younger students who just barely can get across the pool. By the end of the season, they will have full control over their strokes, have the fundamentals of the strokes down. and be able to swim multiple lengths of the pool with no problem.
What do you think about happiness?
Helping other people makes me happy. I specifically love helping my students and guiding them. I love giving them tools that I learned much later in life, that will take them further in their own path than I could ever dream. I also just love being around kids. They say the funniest things and seeing them care about people unconditionally is amazing to me. I also love that they can do so much more than what people give them credit for and I love pulling that out of them. I love being playful with them at appropriate times and also being there to guide them through their own challenges.
I also absolutely love how the brain works. It always amazes me how we cannot just do something once and then know how to do it. Like playing an instrument for example. I cannot just be able to have the fundamentals down right away. It requires a lot of work and repetitions no matter what you read or what teacher you have. My favorite thing to do in learning is being able to bypass breaking bad habits by tricking the brain to thinking its learning something new. Hopefully, that makes sense, but I really enjoy picking up more teaching tools and trying to understand why they work.
Also, Ice cream and Cookies! I absolutely love eating them.
My family also makes me happy. I consider my family to be much more than just my immediate members. It also includes the many friends and families I have met in my journey; I love having the support of my own family as well as the many students and their families that are cheering me on!
Contact Info:
- Website: jakesmusiclessons.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakesmusiclessons/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jakemusiclessons
