Mike Shellans

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Effective 05/16/2026, Mike Shellans has retired from Arizona State University as an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus.  

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Mike Shellans was a professional performer and music educator in the Phoenix area, joining the School of Music in 1985. Shellans received his Bachelor's Degree in Jazz and Contemporary Media from the University of Arizona in 1979, and his Master's Degree in Trombone Performance from Arizona State University in 1990. Currently an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University, Shellans also taught at Phoenix College, Glendale Community College, Paradise Valley Community College and Grand Canyon University.

Shellans played both piano and trombone since the age of nine, and started working professionally while in high school. Shellans has performed on piano or trombone with a wide variety of entertainers, including Bob Hope, The Moody Blues, Henry Mancini, Sammy Davis Jr., George Burns, The Temptations, Wayne Newton, Liberace, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Micky Dolenz, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole and The O’Jays. He has also played in pit orchestras for musicals such as Annie, 42nd Street, The Sound of Music, Chorus Line, Zorba the Greek, Camelot, Jesus Christ, Superstar, Damn Yankees, Oklahoma and West Side Story.

While an Associate Teaching Professor at ASU, Shellans taught 15 different courses to more than 100,000 students, including Jazz in America, Popular Music/Rock, Concert Jazz Band, Jazz/Rock Ensemble, Jazz Fundamentals, Jazz Combo, Modern Arranging, Jazz Improvisation, Contemporary Music and Society, Jazz Piano and Jazz Styles and Analysis.  Shellans also created, helped design and taught Beatles, The Beatles After the Beatles, Blues to Heavy Metal, Elvis and Women Who Rock, fully online courses with an annual enrollment of more than 3,000 students.  

For more than twenty years, Shellans was involved as a clinician and adjudicator with the Arizona Music Educators Association and the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association, serving as head judge for the All-State High School Jazz Band Festivals and as a visiting clinician at local high schools. In 1997, Shellans co-authored the book "Here To Stay: Rock and Roll Through the ’70s", and a second text in 2007, "Who is the Greatest: Elvis or the Beatles?".   Both books are available at various online book sellers and in eBook format through the ASU Bookstore.