A BIT ABOUT ME
I grew up singing 4- and 8-part a cappella music in church. At home I drove my mother to distraction by playing the same chord over and over to the symphony in my head until I began lessons at the age of 8. Then she had to get me up early in the morning to practice because getting me to concentrate in the afternoon was a hopeless endeavor.
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I have a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with a Choral/General emphasis from the University of Florida, where I also studied composition and wrote Toccata, a one-movement concerto for piano and wind Ensemble for my Highest Honors project. While at the University of Florida, I studied piano with Patricia Dinkins-Matthews, DMA, and Hully Hughes, DMA., and performed in master classes with Mischa Dichter and Nelson Harper. Selections from my two full piano recitals include Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 by Sergei Prokofiev; Transcendental Etude, Op. 11, No. 10 ("Lezginka") by Sergey Liapunov; selections from Douze Études by Claude Debussy; and Sonata Op.31, No. 3 in E-flat Major by Ludwig van Beethoven.
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I received my Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the Eastman School of Music and conducted a full recital of choral music and portions of two other recitals. Selections from my recitals were my new edition of Psalm 100, by Heinrich Schütz, with double choir and full instrumentation; selections from Solennes de Confessore by Wolfgang A. Mozart; and works by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. I also studied voice and performed a voice recital of German lieder primarily composed by Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf.
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Since my time at Eastman I have served for 20 years as Director of Worship Ministry or Music Pastor in several churches, conducting orchestra and choir, composing and arranging music for classical and pop instrumentation, leading contemporary and classic worship, singing, and playing piano and keyboards throughout. I have enjoyed working with both amateur and professional musicians and training beginning and seasoned leaders.
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I spend my free (and most important) time with my beautiful wife, Beth, and our boys Isaac and Timothy, who are in college and high school, respectively. Jasmine Isabella, our little Chihuahua-Minpin puppy, rounds out our family. We love laughing, playing games, and being generally silly.
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Music is a gift to develop and to share, a language for the mournful and the joyful, and a dim, yet glorious reflection of the heart of the Creator.