I, uh... have a lot of interests. I'm a musician, composer, and music teacher, but I'm also an occasional computer programmer, poet, game designer, fictional language creator, short story writer, sound designer, film editor, and... well, really anything interesting that crosses my path.

Music has been my one constant interest since I begged my parents for piano lessons as a child. (They were both doctors, neither of them particularly artistic in any way, so they were sort of baffled.) They rented a piano and put it in my room, and I practiced and composed almost compulsively, frequently going late into the night. A longtime avid reader, I also loved to write from a very early age and dreamed of being a novelist. (I still secretly fantasize about that sometimes.)

After a three-year pre-med program in high school (don't even ask), I was accepted to the School of Film & Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and spent the next two years in their Recording Arts program, bouncing from film set to film set, wrapped in cables and operating equipment more expensive than my car. Though it wasn't part of my program, I also worked on several sets as a gaffer (guy who does the lighting) because I had a good eye for it and hey, it was something else interesting to do. I still sort of miss the chaos of film sets (though not the hours.) Even after I decided the Recording Arts program wasn't going to be for me, I still kept up with the film world a little. For years, I studied acting at the Storyteller's Conservatory, and still keep in touch with that wonderful community even though I no longer live in L.A.

I ended up majoring in Music at LMU, with dual concentrations in Classical Piano Performance and Music Theory & Composition. I was up to my nose in work—classes, ensembles, performances, juries, at least two hours of practice a day—and I loved every minute of it.

Always one to take on way too much at once, I took advantage of every extra opportunity music school offered—multiple choirs, percussion ensemble, gamelan ensemble, jazz ensemble, voice lessons, cello lessons (I was never not terrible at the cello, but it was fun!), a bit part in the opera, you name it. I also had the opportunity to take breathtaking leaps in my own performance practice and composition, and got the rare joy of hearing talented musicians perform my compositions.

I also ended up getting a two-year degree in computer programming, so I can also build a data-driven web application or explain how a linked list works, for all the good that does me. Like I said, a lot of interests.

These days I'm a music teacher, which allows me to engage intellectually with music while also connecting to other people, which is so much more meaningful to me than being alone all day in a tiny soundproof box with a piano. I'm also a sometimes-composer and I still have eyes bigger than my stomach when it comes to picking up new things.