Bio
Growing up in Lewisburg West Virginia, I started studying music when I was five years old. It started out as simple piano lessons but grew from there. After moving to Roanoke, Virginia I studied the classics (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven) and performed in many competitions and recitals around the area.
When my parents and I moved back to Lewisburg, my Uncle and I sat down one day, and he played me Jazz. Having never heard Jazz before I immediately fell in love. He played me Return to Forever’s Romantic Warrior, some Bobby Hutcherson, some Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner’s Fly with the Wind. I had never heard music like this before. I knew I had to learn how to play like the masters!
It took a couple of years to settle with a teacher in the area that was willing to teach anything related to Jazz or Rock and Pop, but when I found John Yurick things changed. He knew his theory and how to improvise and knew the records I had heard, and he became my friend, not just my teacher.
We studied Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Michel Camilo, Dave Grusin and Keith Jarrett together. It was wonderful. It prepared me to go to Berklee’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program in Boston.
While there I met some great musicians. I found myself hanging out in the Piano Department at Boylston a lot. There I would sit and stare at Ray Santisi’s door wondering if he was in there, the man who taught my favorite musician, Keith Jarrett. The same man who played with Bird and knew everybody I listened to, so I knew I had to study with him. So my first semester at Berklee I did.
Ray had a very peculiar way how he taught music. We played but, I never came in and sat down and played what I had worked on that week waiting for him to critique it. We always talked about new ideas. We would teach one another. It was very smooth and in a way like improvisation.
I studied with Ray until he passed away in 2014. I also had private instruction with Josh Rosen, Kevin Harris, and Bruce Thomas. I played in many different ensembles while at school in Boston as well. Rock, Pop, Country and Jazz ensembles in particular. While studying songwriting, I worked with many great musicians and composers.
After I graduated from Berklee, I applied for Berklee’s Masters of Music in Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games in Valencia, Spain and was accepted. Through a rigorous admittance process, out of thousands of applicants, thirty students, including myself, were admitted into their Master's program in Valencia. General preparations for the application process included choosing three scenes from a film, television or a video game and scoring it to picture. The faculty also requested scores, a CV and statement of purpose letter. From there I was granted an interview where I met with the program director Lucio Godoy. A couple of weeks passed after the meeting; I had been accepted into their program.
While studying at Berklee, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge and experience with film music. I have had many opportunities to network, compose, perform, work in studios and conduct my recording sessions. Most recently, I scored a piece to picture and recorded it at Air Studios in London, England. I've also composed multiple pieces of orchestral music for the Budapest Art Orchestra and via remote, recorded those sessions. I've had members of the Palau de la Musica in Valencia perform my music as well, with some of the worlds greatest musicians, several of which on a scoring stage at a recording session where I conducted.
2018 holds a new adventure. I continue to compose, improvise and record my music but really, I want to start teaching lessons and give back to the community. I want to instill in my students the same work ethic that was passed to me through my instructors.