For the past 30 years or so, the Nelsons have quietly become one of the most important musical families in the Boulder-Denver area. Their involvement ranges from offering steadfast support of the College of Music and Golden Buffalo Marching Band, to helping create the CU Campus Orchestra, to providing performance opportunities to amateur musicians, to teaching music to Jefferson County youngsters, to bringing a musical eye and ear to the design of some of the region鈥檚 most well-known fine arts venues.
CU Boulder alumni Ben (BS鈥�84, MS'88) and Pattie (BME鈥�84, MME鈥�08) Nelson have turned their mutual love of music into a decades-long passion project that has rippled throughout the community. But all that may never have happened if a teenage Pattie hadn鈥檛 asked her parents for a trombone for her birthday.
鈥淪ince my dad was a band director, we did everything with the band,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ven though I was a violinist,听I asked for a trombone so I could be in marching band.鈥�
The fortuitous gift led Pattie to join the marching band at Arvada West High School, where she and Ben met. Now鈥�42 years later鈥擝en, a member of the College of Music Advisory Board, and Pattie, a recently retired music teacher, are part of the generous group of supporters who helped the college in its fundraising efforts by making a naming gift as part of the Imig Music Building renovation.听
Rooted in music
Both Ben and Pattie Nelson come from musical families. Pattie鈥檚 grandmother was a music major at Ball State University in Indiana鈥攁 rare vocational path for women in the early 20th century. Her father, Robert Hurrell, taught music at Jefferson County Schools for 34 years and is a member of the Colorado Music Educators鈥� Hall of Fame. Everyone in Pattie鈥檚 family plays an instrument: Her grandmother played piano, her grandfather played trumpet, her uncle plays baritone, her mother plays violin, her听sister plays sax, her听brother plays trombone,听and Pattie herself plays violin. And her father, who recently turned 90, still plays trombone every day.
Ben can trace his musical lineage back to his grandmother in Sweden, who was the drummer in the family polka band. His mother played piano and while his father never played an instrument, he was always an avid fan and supporter. The Nelsons both credit their families with instilling a deep love of music, which they passed along to their daughters Emily and Andra, string bass and cello, respectively.
鈥淢y family has been in music for a long time,鈥� Pattie says. 鈥淲e still get together and play every year.鈥�
After high school, Ben and Pattie both traveled up the road to attend CU Boulder for college. While Ben鈥檚 studies led him to the College of Engineering, he marched all four years in the trombone section of the Golden Buffalo Marching Band along with music education major Pattie. When they graduated in 1984, Pattie picked up the torch from her father鈥攚ho was just retiring from teaching鈥攁nd began teaching orchestras.
鈥淚 started out in Adams County District-12, then went to Jefferson County Schools for 26 years,鈥� she explains. 鈥淎t first I was teaching high school, but I started to see that the foundation wasn鈥檛 there for children who wanted to play music. So I switched and taught in elementary school so I could be there from the beginning.鈥�
In 2007, while earning her master鈥檚 degree in music education from the College of Music, Pattie was named Colorado String Teacher of the Year.听
Ben brought his love of music to engineering and design, where he鈥檚 now structural engineer and principal at Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers. He鈥檚 been part of the teams that designed the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Buell Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex,听Parker Arts Center and the Black Box at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. He also worked on Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
鈥淢usic has helped me as a structural听engineer,鈥� Ben says. 鈥淚 had that knowledge of performance venues and what鈥檚 needed in terms of acoustics. It makes me more valuable to my clients who hire me for my music background.鈥�
Music for all
In what little spare time they鈥檝e had, the Nelsons have helped lead the Jeffco Community Band, which Pattie鈥檚 father founded in 1984. Pattie took over direction of the band in 2001 and founded the Jeffco Community Orchestra in 2012. Ben plays trombone in the band and created the Jeffco Brass ensemble in 1999. It鈥檚 been just one more way Ben and Pattie have brought a love of music to the people around them.
鈥淭here are doctors, lawyers, pilots, many different kinds of backgrounds represented in the band,鈥� Ben explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 become a tradition and a way to connect. We鈥檝e had three generations of families all play side-by-side in the same group. We鈥檝e had people as young as 18 and as old as 92 all together.鈥�
Following in their parents鈥� footsteps are Ben and Pattie鈥檚 daughters Emily and Andra. Emily, their eldest, helped create the Campus Orchestra when she was an education student at CU Boulder.
鈥淪he wanted to play but there was no place for her because there wasn鈥檛 an orchestra for non-majors. They created the Campus Orchestra her freshman year,鈥� Pattie says. 鈥淚t was a club at first, for no credit, but eventually it became a class. Emily was instrumental in forming the group and recruiting for it.鈥�
By the time Andra started school for biochemical engineering in 2010, the group had gotten so large that there was a waitlist. 鈥淲e鈥檙e proud that both girls continued playing music throughout school as a break and a sense of community outside teaching or the engineering rigors,鈥� Ben says.
Cementing a legacy
After decades of championing music in the community, Ben and Pattie Nelson鈥檚 story has come full circle with the expansion of Imig Music Building: Ben听is the structural engineer听for the addition, and now the couple will dedicate one of the nine new practice rooms for non-major students who need a spot to practice.
鈥淲e wanted students like me, or like our daughters, to have a place to use to practice,鈥� Ben says.
In addition to their naming gift, the Nelsons are also converting a marching band scholarship they founded in 1988 to an endowment geared toward supporting senior student leaders in the Golden Buffalo Marching Band and the Campus Orchestra.
鈥淭he scholarship recognizes and rewards returning seniors who are providing that leadership backbone to the ensembles鈥攎ajor or non-major, 鈥� Ben explains. 鈥淚t was important to us to see students want to continue playing throughout their school years.鈥�
Adds Pattie, 鈥淲e want to encourage students to be lifelong musicians, not just musicians for a moment.鈥�
