Long before I was a Rate My Professor punching bag, I taught music composition/theory/technology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and The Florida State University. I also directed several steel bands and composed a lot of music for them. I'm honored to have been acknowledged for excellence in teaching by both my previous employers: with the Benward Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching (2004) and consecutive 2nd place finishes for Professor of the Year: Humanities (2008, 2009). My private percussion and composition students have been accepted into NEC, Michigan, NYU, and Eastman (to name a few) and I'm still quite proud of their successes.
In my early 20s I toured with several groups that were on tour with amazing acts like BB King, Chicago, Tom Petty and--most notably--even got to play gong with The Moody Blues once. After that I took up the steel pan and started to play that almost exclusively (until it was stolen in a burglary). While I wait for a new pan to be built by the man himself--Alan Coyle--I've been playing a mean bass ukulele.
As a concert-music composer, I have been in residence with the Montevideo Camerarte and a Fellow at the Cortona Sessions of New Music in Tuscany. I take an interest in music installations, specifically in using predictive algorithms to affect real-time performance as well as capturing natural musical gestures and returning them to a piece as separate musical constructs. I've also have worked as a music consultant in television and film. Without question, though, my best skill is surrounding myself with people that are smarter and more talented than I am.
Here is some of my music.