About Me

I grew up a pastor's kid in small towns around Missouri. I started singing when I was very young, and was in my first choir in elementary school. Ever since then, I have had a never-ending love affair with music. I love classical music of any kind--Palestrina, J.S. Bach, Charles Ives, and John Duke are among my favorite composers--but I love to do classic rock, Jazz, contemporary Christian, and even (a little) bluegrass. Through all of this, though, performing is the ultimate goal.

My Family

I am the oldest of three brothers. My parents are both SBU alumni and former Chorale members. My mom's parents are in the same boat. I followed in a long history of a musical family. To us, music is the most essential of the "humanities." All cultures across time have had music. My family strives to keep this alive. I was married to my beautiful wife, Natalie in 2013. Our son, Elijah, was born in 2014. I worked as a associate pastor of music and youth at Walnut Grove First Baptist Church for nearly three years, taught K-12 music at Marion C. Early schools for two years, and just began a job working for Blair Oaks Schools teaching 5-12 Vocal Music.

What I Love

I love my God, my wife, my family, and all of my friends. If you ask the people who know me, they will tell you that I work on two things: philosophy and music. I sing every day. I am constantly trying to become a better musician. As far as philosophy is concerned, it is how I view the world. Every person, place, thing, and idea is connected by their fundamental structure. Somewhere and at some time, order came out of chaos. We live every day trying to put things into order. Even music has to do with how sounds are organized. While science is about asking "how?", philosophy is the study of the order and organization around us and always asks "why?"

My Dreams and Goals

I am a musician more than I am just about anything else. My life goals are tied into this. I desire to teach at a Christian college one day to share music and its divine inspiration with the entire world (look out SBU). I want nothing more than to know as much as I possibly can about music and its performance. I know one cannot learn everything, but I can sure try. Finally, I want to die knowing that I have done my part while here on Earth. I want to change at least one life for the good, listen to God at every possible juncture, and never loose sight of who I am and where I come from.

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