Music remains big part of dean’s life

Whether he’s helping an OTC student find some library resource material or playing a challenging piece of classical guitar music, Mike Madden is at ease with either task.

Madden, who has been at OTC 20 years and now serves as its dean of learning resources, has gone back and forth from the library profession to that of an accomplished musician.

He grew up in a house constantly listening to music, either recorded or played on the piano by his mother.

“I heard my mother playing piano all of the time when I was little; Bach, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin,” he said.

The instilled love of music took Madden to the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. When he became the first to graduate from there with a degree in classical guitar, Madden played professionally while looking for a teaching job. But after a stint selling suits in St. Louis, Madden got a tip on a possible job in the University City public library.

“I didn’t care much for selling suits so I took the job with the library,” he said.

After earning his master’s in library science, Madden worked for the Springfield-Greene County library, and for 14 years as the guitar instructor at MSU, before eventually coming to work in the Learning Resources Center at OTC.

Madden continues to play occasionally in the area and he can be found performing at Scallions, the OTC student-operated restaurant that is open on Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters.

“I’ve always liked classical music. I tried some folk but I am one who reads sheet music. I can’t play jazz or the improvisational music,” he said. “Music is very important to me because it is the one constant that has flowed through my life.  Always there, always both a challenge and a comfort, always a connection to myself and to others.”

Steve Koehler is coordinator of media relations for Ozarks Technical Community College.