Teacher Profile: Benjamin Askren

About Benjamin Askren

To put it simply, for Ben Askren there is no greater more profound enriching transcendent joy than being within the creative Process. He received his Bachelor's of Music Composition at Oklahoma City University with Dr. Edward Knight. He has also had the privilege of working in masterclasses with Paul Unger, Brian Balmages, Victor Wooten, Landon Honolka, Pedro Martins, and Riley Robison.

Ben Askren is a well seasoned session bassist and guitarist with an adventurous pallet that seeks to find connections in wildly different styles of music. One night in the eighth grade his mother put on "Blue In Green" by Miles Davis to help him sleep. He was never the same. He won the Woody Herman Jazz award as a freshman in high school, recieved a superior one raiting at Missouri State solo and ensemble festival at Mizzou in Colombia, Mo, Performed at the Missouri Music Educators Association as 7th grader and on the presidents night as a senior with the Springfield Youth Symphony, and performed with Oklahoma City University Symphony Orchestra and Big Band. After he graduated from college he got back in touch with his love for wildly different kinds of rock n' roll and played bass for Oklahoma red dirt counrty artist Cam Allen and toured America with Dwight Yokam, Koe Wetzel, and Tanner Userey. He also released a highly acclaimed genre being psychedelic punk hip hop album with Original Flow and The Wavvez. Currently his main focuses are his progressive rock band SHIFT that has 2 albums out and plays regularly across the Kansas City metro and his ever evolving study of bebop and the upright bass.

Ben believes that the key to success is to help others and that there are no dumb questions. Bringing out the unique music stored inside every human being is an amazing never ending pursuit. Through his years of teaching Ben discovered that the most learning opportunities come from teaching all ages and skill levels and that you can learn something from everybody.

Ben is an avid outdoorsman. His favorite activities are running, hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking and fishing. He strives to find music and art in nonmusical stuations. He loves going to Hartman Rocks in Gunnison, Colorado, going fishing at Bull Shoals, and spicy Indian food and spicy Mexican food.

Aligning his heart, values, curiosity, intuition, and kindness is his life's work.