Professor Benjamin Vasko conduces tuba and euphonium for their first fall presentation on Oct. 22. Vasko came to UCF in the fall and reintroduced the Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble after one year. Gabriela da Cunha

AOne UCF professor is using his passion for music to make a difference in his students' lives.

“To me there's no greater feeling than watching a student realize what they're capable of when they have this moment of like, oh, I can do that, you know, and then watching them really take ownership of it is, is really unparalleled," said Benjamin Vasko, tuba and euphonium professor in the school of performing arts at UCF.

Vasko said he started working at UCF this fall and is a professional tuba player with a Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University.

Vasko said he lived in El Paso, Texas when he was in sixth grade. He said his father recommended he and his twin sister, Lindsay Vasko, participate in their school's band and play the euphonium as he did. Benjamin Vasko said he ended up following in his father's footsteps and played the euphonium, while his sister played the trumpet. 

"From an early age my brother and I were involved in the local youth symphony, jazz ensembles and community bands," Lindsay Vasko said. "Our music teachers in middle school were a huge influence on us and from the time we were sixth graders we knew we wanted to be professional musicians."

Benjamin Vasko said that his grandfather moved from Hungary to Ohio with his 12 siblings in the 1930s, where they learned English in the Salvation Army.

“The Salvation Army has a very rich tradition of the British brass band, like all brass instruments in the band,” Benjamin Vasko said. “And so when they were learning English, they were also in, in a brass class, basically like a music class. So they all, all my grandpa and all his siblings, all 13 of them learned brass instruments.”

Benjamin Vasko said that although they all played, it was a very amateur tradition in his family until he and his sister decided to pursue music. He said it was not a difficult decision to choose to pursue music because his passion started when he was still in middle school.

Benjamin Vasko said that he is not particularly good at anything else besides playing tuba. He said his middle school band director, Jorge Avendano, was very passionate with his students and gave him lessons every single day.

“As long as I had something I wanted to do, he would let me into his office to teach me always free of charge and was just very interested in developing me as a player," Vasko said.

Benjamin Vasko said Avendano was also one of his inspirations to start teaching. He said he started teaching when he was in high school, giving lessons to middle school students.

Lindsay Vasko said that as an educator, her brother is passionate about giving students the experience that they deserve and refuses to settle for how things have always been.

"He strives to help all of his students reach whatever their personal goals are. He meets students where they are at, encourages them, and helps each and every student grow into whatever kind of musician they desire to be. Ben's performance skills are matched by his exceptional teaching qualities," Lindsay Vasko said.

Benjamin Vasko said that he has been lucky to play in some of the world’s greatest concert halls and some of the world’s best orchestras, but none of that is the same feeling as watching a student do something that they didn’t think they could do.

Professor Benjamin Vasko teaches his tuba and euphonium students on Oct. 25 in the music building. Gabriela da Cunha

Benjamin Vasko said that bringing back the Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble was one of his priorities coming to UCF because it is an important pedagogical tool. He said his dissertation was about collaborative learning, a style of learning where students and teachers work together, using the information they have to create new knowledge and learn from each other.

“So the idea is that knowledge and information aren't the same, you're given information and then the community based on their past experiences creates knowledge together,” Benjamin Vasko said. “And that brings the group together. And so we run the tuba ensemble in that way.”

Kaitlin Oresky, arts in music second-year graduate student, said that she likes the ensemble because it brings a lot of opportunities for students to conduct because Benjamin Vasko wants to make the ensemble more interactive.

“I think I've always had a hard time believing that I'm really good," Oresky said. "I'm a really good player. Like you hear from some people and some people, they kind of make you second guess it, but he from day one has always been like you're gonna do really great things."

Vasko said that he wants to present the opportunities to create music. The students will help him pick the music for next semester to make the class a community where they work together as a team and not him just telling them what to do.

Oresky said that the ensemble and Benjamin Vasko taught her so much and helped her believe in herself. One of the things she said she most admires about him is how supportive he is.

The new Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble rehearse every Monday and Wednesday in the music department and the class counts as one credit. Gabriela da Cunha

Benjamin Vasko said that conducting the ensemble has been incredible and fun and he wants to show people that anything is possible. He said he wants to start a program with high school kids.

“I want to bring kids from the community all here to learn about it and feel like UCF is a place where they're welcome and that they can study here and learn from my students, and all of us work together to create more music,” Benjamin Vasko said.

Oresky said that she greatly appreciates having Vasko as professor and she also learned to be a better musician and to accept the challenges that are needed to be always better.

“I learned that nothing is too difficult. Like there's nothing that I can't do. I just have to have the right tools and the right approach. So that's been the most invaluable thing.” Oresky said.