About Me:
I got my start with music at the age of 8 when I joined the school band, playing percussion. For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a drummer. A few years later, I started taking drum set lessons with an incredible teacher and was quickly hooked for life. Growing up, I took every opportunity available to play music; I played in every school band and jazz band, working hard to better my skills on snare drum and drum set. I would frequently look for the area's best musicians with the hopes of learning more about playing live music. I quickly realized that to become a better drummer I needed to play at least another instrument. I soon started taking guitar lessons at the local music store, learning theory, harmony, and the power of a melodic instrument. This also gave me the tools to start writing my own music, which was always a goal of mine. Throughout high school, I gave music lessons to local students because music teachers were hard to find in rural Vermont. It gave me an opportunity to make some money doing something I loved. My local music teacher asked If I would consider helping her music program during my senior year. I quickly agreed and started learning more instruments...​
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After high school, I attended the University of Vermont, majoring in music education. While at UVM I had the pleasure of learning drum set from Jeff Salisbury, and percussion from Dr. Thomas Toner. I also continued my guitar studies with Joe Capps. While at UVM, I was a member of the University Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble, Orchestra, Jazz Combo, Concert Choir, and was a member of the Vermont Wind Ensemble for 8 concert seasons under the direction of Alan Parshley. While at UVM, I played a great deal of piano, and this quickly became a primary instrument for me when writing/composing and teaching music theory. While living in Burlington, Vermont, I got to play with some of the area's best musicians playing drums and percussion with many local bands in the jazz, blues, and rock music scenes. For the better part of a decade, I have supported myself by traveling around Northern Vermont teaching private and group music lessons, working at music camps and clinics, and playing gigs in bars, restaurants, ski lodges, theaters, music festivals and wedding venues around the state. Most notably with the soul/funk group "The Juliana Reed Band", and the Van Morrison cover band "Into The Mystic".
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Performing with Into the Mystic at the Friendly Gathering Music Festival
In the fall of 2015 after graduating from UVM, I began teaching band and music full-time at St. Albans Town Educational Center (SATEC) in St. Albans, Vermont. During my time at SATEC, the band and jazz programs more than doubled in size, growing from 60 members in grades 5-8 to 120+ members in just 4 years. While at SATEC, I continued to learn new instruments, increasing my skills on secondary instruments such as flute, clarinet, various saxophones, trumpet, and trombone. I also frequently arranged and composed music for my groups, learned how to fix various instruments, and honed my conducting skills. In 2017, I joined the Burlington Music Dojo as an instructor on drum set/percussion, as well as piano.
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Then 2020 and the COVID pandemic hit...
My life went through many changes during this year. My fiancée and I had to postpone our wedding, and moved from Burlington, Vermont, our home for the last 10 years, to Plainfield Vermont where we currently live. I left the amazing school (SATEC) I was working at with hopes to teach music in our new location. At first, I couldn't imagine teaching students remotely, but my students' desire to learn motivated me to find ways to make it work. I invested in better technology, upgrading each aspect of my setup, while working to provide each student with a customized lesson experience, which became the cornerstone to my services as a remote lesson teacher.
Since relocating to Plainfield, I have started working as an artist in residence teacher for various schools and school districts in central Vermont. In the fall of 2021 I started working for the Stowe school district, and in the fall of 2023 I started working at Harwood Union High School, Crossett Brook Middle School, and U32 Middle and High School teaching drums/percussion.
With all my various teaching roles, what still continues to be one of the busiest and most fun parts of my weekly schedule is my virtual studio. Thank you for taking the time to read my bio and I hope that you might consider booking a lesson with me!
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