With a heart for music and an ear for the right note, professor Michael Pendowski is teaching Auburn students what music is all about.
Born and raised in Chicago, Pendowski attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he earned his bachelor's degree in music and his master's in wind and orchestral conducting.
In 2011 Pendowski received his doctorate of musical arts in jazz studies and contemporary media at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
He started out playing saxophone, but it wasn't his idea to learn to play it, Pendowski said.
"My father picked it out when I was in grade school," he said. "He liked the instrument. He was a big Tommy Dorsey fan.
"He said, 'Here is the instrument that you're going to play.'"
Pendowski said he also began playing the flute and clarinet in college.
Pendowski worked in various career fields before arriving at Auburn. He was a high school band director, wrote and produced more than 4,000 television commercials and composed and arranged music for 25 albums, films and other media.
Pendowski has performed with some of music's greats, such as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole and Johnny Mathis.
Even though Pendowski has performed with a number of famous musicians, there is one musician who he wishes he could've played with.
"I'm sorry I never got to play with Buddy Rich," Pendowski said. "I always wanted to play with him, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunately."
McDonald's, Budweiser, Disney, State Farm and the Madden football video game are just a few of Pendowski's clients.
He also composed the music for the major motion pictures "Othello," "Groundhog Day," "Dead Presidents" and "Our Father."
"(Othello) went on for three, four months and you had to be involved 12-14 hours a day on that project," Pendowski said. "When you got done you looked and said, 'I can't believe we did this.'"
Pendowski has been teaching at the college level since 2001, and he started at Auburn in August.
He currently teaches music appreciation, jazz ensemble, jazz combo, the saxophone quartet and music methods.
Thomas Harbin, senior in piano performance and Spanish, has Pendowski for jazz combo and explained his teacher is well liked among his students.
"He is really dynamic and direct, very encouraging," Harbin said. "If you miss something, he'll help you and go back."
Mark DeGoti, trumpet teacher at Auburn, said Pendowski is experienced, energetic and has an enormous amount of knowledge.
DeGoti said Pendowski's students seem to love him.
"They like what he is doing with the program and have an overall respect for him," DeGoti said.
Pendowski has worked in both the professional and academic world, but said he couldn't pick one over the other.
"Each has its own set of problems, but I think each is very rewarding in its own way," he said. "It's apples and oranges. You always miss the thing you aren't doing at the time."
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