As the new school year brings back many familiar faces, new staff at Edina High School often goes unnoticed by some. That’s why Zephyrus has chosen to highlight new staff member Nicholas Gaudette, EHS’s new orchestra instructor who is filling Ms. Duffy’s former position.

Bass player Mr. Gaudette lives in Minneapolis with his wife, two year old son, and his family dog named Sgt. Pepper. He began playing the bass when he was five years old. Coming from a family of string players, it is no surprise he started at such a young age. Gaudette was inspired to play by bass player Jordan Anderson of the Seattle Symphony, who, similarly to our new orchestra teacher, attended high school in Wayzata. (Though Gaudette is originally from Plymouth.) He learned to play in the Wayzata string program lead by Dr. Lamb, the head of the department. He also took lessons from Jim Clute in second grade, a bass player in the Minnesota Orchestra. Mr. Gaudette played the bass throughout high school and then went on to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Max Dimoff, who is the principal bassist in the Cleveland Orchestra. In addition to studying music in school, he also claimed to have learned to play by ear and interaction.

Gaudette has played as a substitute in many professional orchestras, including the South Dakota Symphony. He’s taken part in a lot of pit work, especially in the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and the Children’s Theatre. He often gets called in to do studio work and play on artists’ albums; genres ranging from classical, rock, and folk. He also spent eight years of his career playing in a festival based in Guadalajara, Mexico.

In addition to the bass, Mr. Gaudette taught himself to play other stringed instruments. “Once you have the mechanics and you know how to play one, you kind of get an idea of how to play the others,” said Gaudette. He especially loves the cello, and is also very interested in the electric violin.

Since he always wanted to be a performer, he didn’t originally plan on becoming a teacher. After a couple years of gigging, he was asked to be the eurhythmics teacher at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts. Gaudette went on to become a full time teacher, to department chair, and then going back to school and getting his license so he could stay in that position longer. As you can see, our new orchestra teacher loves what he does. “I am super fulfilled being a teacher. I go home every single day and I can say that I love what I do, I can say that I’ve added to and am hopefully inspiring the new generations to come.”