About Me
I began my journey in music at the age of 5. While noodling on the piano in my family’s living room, my mother asked if I’d like to learn how to play and take lessons. Not knowing what I was in for, I naively said yes. From the first moment of my first lesson I was hooked. I loved learning about music, practicing the songs I knew, but I disliked sight reading. After my first recital I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life…play music.
By the age of ten I became restless with piano and took a short break from it. I was leaning toward picking up drums. After a conversation with my dad he made a compelling case for guitar. I decided I’d give it a shot. I spent a couple of years learning what I could on my own and hit a ceiling. I quickly became hooked on the idea of breaking through this ceiling and sought out a teacher who could teach me what I wanted to learn.
I found my mentor through a friend. My guitar teacher was a student at DU’s music school and taught me music theory, ear training, and music analysis. I learned far more than guitar, I learned music, composition, and how various instruments work together to create a work of art.
At my first high school I became involved in the drama department and co-wrote and performed most of the music for our production of Alice in Wonderland. Moving to my next high school I bacame involved in Jazz Band and fell in love with it. Prior to this I was a metalhead, but the prowess and skill needed to perform jazz called to my meticulous nature. My skill level grew quickly, not just because of the genre, but because the jazz conductor/instructor didn’t know much about guitar so we had to speak music theory to communicate. His knowledge about music propelled mine to new levels.
At this same time I got involved with sound engineering through a special program offered at the Career Education Center (CEC). Here I learned recording, production, and further developed my composition skills.
It was also at this time I worked to create a band. I found two people I felt were kindred spirits in music. The 3 of us liked all the same genre’s of music which included hard rock/metal, funk, and jazz. We wrote some of the most bizarre music I’ve ever heard.
This group didn’t last and the drummer/singer from this group and I formed a band called Rift and we wrote some amazing music that fused all of our favorite genre’s, often within individual songs. We were exceptionally prolific and wrote over 60 original songs across a 3 year period.
It was at this time that I also got involved with producing, recording, and mastering other bands projects. I became known as a protools wiz and elevated the skills I learned in high school. I worked in this industry for 10 years…then the great recession hit.
Once the recession was in full swing I went from a full calendar to nothing nearly overnight. I sold my gear and looked for a job. With zero luck and becoming sick of no call backs, I bode my time by going back to school. I graduated with a B.S. in Business and a 3.96 GPA and then went on to earn my MBA with a 3.97 GPA and earned the 2014 SBCA Outstanding Student Leadership Award.
During this time I took a break from the music industry, but never gave up music. For several years I’ve wanted to get back in the industry, but was unsure of a clear vision. Then I came across several musicians with YouTube channels and a vision emerged. Since writing music comes almost as easily to me as breathing, I decided I’d write original music and get on a path to post one song per month.