Well, hello there.
I have a passion for music. My love for it started when I was a small child. My grandparents had an upright piano in their living room. I would head to the piano to bang on the keys, trying my best to make out something of a tune.
My mother enrolled me for piano lessons from a teacher who lived just a few streets over from my grandparent’s house. For years, I would go each Wednesday afternoon after elementary school. My teacher would always have a yellow number-two pencil in hand, marking up the sheet music. She had one of those old wind up metronomes and an older upright piano. My love for the piano was now officially set and since then, the piano has been my passion.
Throughout high school, I also picked up the cello, but the piano was, and continues to be, my main instrument.
I taught piano to a handful of students when I was in my teens. I loved teaching others, and loved sharing my knowledge of music. The public recitals that once terrified me as a young student, I was now encouraging my students to embrace.
In high school, I began writing my own music. A wire bound manuscript pad with pencil in hand, I would scribble out works which at the time I thought were masterpieces. I chuckle when weeding through some of those pieces - but hey, we have to start somewhere, right?
Throughout college and afterward, I enjoyed performing, writing works for piano, chorus, and orchestra, and eventually embracing the technological gadgets like synthesizers and sequencers.
My first synthesizers were Korgs. My favorite was a Korg Triton ProX keyboard that my grandfather bought me. "Papa" would spare no expense for anything that had to do with music. Incredibly, the Triton is still a sought after keyboard today. My grandfather also encouraged me to get into computers. I remember him saying that computers are where everything will be. (This was the late 80s - so he was spot on.) He is the reason I not only got into computers for making music, but also for the career that I have now in coding, design, and development.
My wife is incredibly supportive of my music. In fact, I wrote several of the pieces played at our wedding, and several just for her. She is a bit of a budding musician herself, recently taking up learning the mandolin.
I started a website and graphic design business called 18 Street Design in 2003 and have been in business as a sole proprietor helping companies and organizations with digital media ever since. At times, I even get to use some of my musical compositions in video production for some of my clients. Website and graphic design is another passion that allows me to use creative expression very similar to music. As a bonus, I get to work with some fantastic people and businesses to help them with their digital marketing endeavors.
Today, I continue to enjoy writing and performing classical and sacred works. Unlike technology, music will never become outdated.