ORIGIN STORY: I was born in Ackley, Iowa in 1972. My fascination with music began when the needle touched the vinyl on a KISS record I got through the mail. It was pure magic. I was in awe of the sounds. I’d jam out to the music pretending a section from my racecar track was a guitar. It was just as fascinating at church when someone got up to a piece of furniture (piano) at the front of the church.  They’d start to move their hands and the music would pour out. I had to know how to do that! Those two experiences propelled me to take piano lessons, play trumpet in school band and eventually, to save up money from mowing lawns to buy my first electric guitar when I was 13. After that, I couldn’t put it down. I played rock and heavy metal in bands for school dances and parties in Wyoming where my family had moved to when I was 12. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Boston’s “More than a Feeling” led me to get an acoustic guitar. My uncle’s Christmas gift of cassettes by Leo Kottke and Andres Segovia sealed the deal…I’d play it all myself on acoustic guitar and then classical. I gave a full, solo recital in my junior year of high school before moving to Baltimore to study at the Peabody Institute of Music. A singer brought me out to Southern California, but it was here that I discovered my true passion. I love teaching music and guitar. It’s so great to see a twinkle in the eye of a student figuring out a little bit about their fascination with music…pure magic!

EDUCATION

• Masters of Music University of Southern California, 2001
• Bachelors of Music Johns Hopkins University Peabody Institute of Music, 1995
• Suzuki certified, book 1, 2, 3, 5, Every Child Can, Suzuki Principles in Action

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Private Studio, 1995-present
• Guitar instructor, Pasadena Conservatory of Music, 2002- 2022
• Director, Los Angeles Youth Guitar Orchestra (LAYGO) 2013-2020
• Tour of Germany 2014
• Tour of California 2017
• Tour of Europe 2018
• Guitar Department Chair, Pasadena Conservatory of Music, 2005-2015, 2018-2021
• Guitar group class instructor, Jefferson Elementary School, Pasadena, 2014-2017
• Guitar Coordinator, California School for the Arts, Duarte (CSArts)2017-18
• Guitar Instructor, Music & Arts Center, Baltimore, MD 1995-1996