About Me

All About Me

I have been teaching at RCSD Since 2013 and have taught a variety of music classes over the years including band, piano, percussion, and general music. I really enjoy incorporating music technology into all of my classes. I spend a lot of my free time composing music on Sibelius and doing project recordings on Garage Band and Audacity. I am also a drummer in a band of music teachers from all over the district. We play at a variety of events including fundraisers! It's a lot of fun to get together with others to play music for fun and for a good cause.

My musical interests started at a young age; my earliest recollections come from my grandparents house around Thanksgiving and Christmas. They had an old electric organ in the dining room and I used to sit at it for hours playing. Thought it all sounded random at the time, it helped launch me into musical activities in school, including my first year on violin in 3rd grade, and then switching to trumpet from 4th grade on. I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island in a very arts-rich community, and I was encouraged to continue throughout the years because a lot of my friends were also involved with music. My parents had been so impressed with my progress that I eventually took up piano lessons in middle school, and took a variety of band and music classes throughout high school to prepare me for college as a music education major.

I went to school at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY and graduated with a BS in Music Education in 2011. There I learned a lot about teaching, learning how to play instruments, and honed in on my skills as a percussionist and trumpet player. I had many opportunities to perform throughout college in jazz bands, wind ensembles, and even solo recitals, and even took part in a new ensemble that combined rock instruments with classical instruments to form a "Rock Orchestra." We played all sorts of music from Rush to Tina Turner, and it was one of the wildest experiences I ever had on stage. I also had many opportunities to experiment with music technology, which helped me through my master's degree at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY. I completed my masters in 2014 in Jazz and Commercial Music Composing and Arranging, and had a lot of opportunities to use Sibelius and how to operate equipment in a recording studio and live venues. The hands on experience I gained at both institutions really boosted my interest and eventually lead to over 5 consecutive summers as a stage manager at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and then the New York Summer Music Festival. I also volunteer at the Fairport Canal Days festival in the spring to help stage manage at the junction stage that hosts all sorts of jazz bands and groups from the Rochester area. In previous years I had the opportunity to help work the stage for Loui Prima Jr. and the Witnesses, Chet Catello and the Cats, and The Tommy Brunett Band!

Since 2014 I have also been a co-director for the Pride of Rochester Marching Band that meets at East on Saturdays. It has been a blast being part of this district initiative and getting to work with students from all over the city. I was fortunate to have been selected as one of the co-conductors for the Foundation Band for All City 2015. Conducting at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre was a breathtaking, terrifying, yet incredibly thrilling experience for me, and I can't wait for the next opportunity.