GUITAR FOR TWO

Kirk Hanser played guitar in the Jackson High School Jazz Band in the early 1980s and fooled around with rock 'n' roll while an exchange student in Finland. But he stuck with classical music.

"I get something out of just about every style of music, but (playing classical guitar) was the one thing I actually had to work at," he said.

Now half of the Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo, Hanser says the guitar has the ability to make classical music accessible to all kinds of people because they like the sound of the instrument.

The Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday at Shivelbine's in Cape Girardeau and at 2 p.m. Sunday at Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Jackson.

Hanser's father, Carl, was the minister at the church for 13 years. The duo also will perform briefly Saturday at the retirement party of Jackson band director Nick Leist.

While still in high school, Hanser began taking jazz and classical guitar lessons from Dr. Jerry Richardson at Southeast Missouri State University.

He continued his studies with Richardson and with Manley Mallard when he enrolled at Southeast, then went on to Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., and the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va.

Hanser taught in the University of Wisconsin system before moving to St. Louis with his wife and two children in 1996. He runs the Childbloom Guitar Program there.

Childbloom is a specialized program for teaching guitar to children ages 5-12.

Hanser and McClellan met about 10 years ago. "He had gotten back from doing doctoral work at Yale," Hanser said. "He was an amazing player and I was a little punk.

"He was one of those guitarists that really inspired me."

McClellan, a Sikeston High School graduate, is the professor of guitar at Webster University in St. Louis.

He was playing heavy concert pieces by the time he was 17 but was heavily influenced by country picker Chet Atkins, Hanser says.

"He (Atkins) never stuck with playing it safe," Hanser said. "He loved classical music and has recorded quite a bit."

The duo will perform in late July at the annual show sponsored by the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society.

Both Hanser and McClellan have toured abroad as solo acts, but Hanser is enjoying being part of a duo.

"I like the interaction," he says. "Maybe that comes from playing jazz or rock. I like to have someone I'm working with."

During the free performance at Shivelbine's, billed as an "in-formance," the two will talk about the history of the music they're playing, the composer and the techniques they are using.

The guitar has struggled to be taken seriously as an instrument, Hanser says. Though he also played saxophone, stand-up bass and piano and sang while at Jackson High School, he wanted to compete in music contests by playing classical guitar. Band directors Nick Leist and Pat Schwent went to bat for him.

"The answer given to them was that the guitar is not a legitimate stringed instrument," he recalls.

Classical guitarists still cannot compete in district and state music competitions.