Alf Clausen - Early Life

Early Life

Clausen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. Clausen was interested in music from a young age. He counts composer Henry Mancini as one of his heroes; his book Sounds and Scores inspired him. He sang in his high school choir and began playing the French horn in the seventh grade and also learned piano. He continued playing and learned to play the bass guitar, stopping singing because the choir met at the same time as the band. He studied mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University although, after being inspired by his pianist cousin, switched his major to musical theory. Whilst there, Clausen took a correspondence course at Boston's Berklee College of Music in jazz and big band writing. He went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison to complete his master's degree, but quit as he disliked the place, especially what he felt was an "anti-jazz" attitude. He then worked for a period as a musician. He later attended Berklee and graduated with a diploma in arranging and composition in 1966. Clausen was the first French horn player to ever attend the college and took part in many ensembles; he is also featured on some Jazz in the Classroom albums. Clausen taught at Berklee for a year after graduation.