I am a musician and educator based in Greenville, SC. My primary musical activities are on the classical guitar as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. I have taught over 10,000 guitar lessons to students of all ages and abilities, and starting in the fall of 2022 I direct the guitar program at Bob Jones University where I also teach courses in music theory and music technology.

Background

I began music lessons at the age of eight on the clarinet and started playing guitar at age thirteen. After several years of lessons with my oldest brother, I was accepted into the studio of Dr. Matthew Slotkin, the teacher at the local university. After highschool I attended Bob Jones University as a Church Music major while continuing classical guitar studies with Christopher Berg at the University of South Carolina. After graduating from BJU I moved to Baltimore where I earned an MM and DMA in Guitar Performance at the Peabody Conservatory. I taught and performed around Baltimore in various ways, eventually becoming the manager of the Baltimore School of Music. My primary performance outlet was with the Baltimore Guitar Duo and as a soloist. 

Performing

Performing is an important part of my life. It’s primary contribution to my life is artistic (not financial) so I approach it with considerable freedom. My musical interests have always been varied. Like many others, there is a chronological polarity in the music I enjoy. That is to say, my repertoire is primarily drawn from music that is quite old or quite new. My recent programs have explored this polarity and the relationships between them. In particular, I have enjoyed finding pieces across centuries with similarities or resonance and try to program them together to give historical and stylistic context for more experimental contemporary works.

Teaching

Teaching in various forms has always been how I have made a living, but it is also an integral part of my practice as an artist. For much of my career I have maintained 40-50 private students at a time. Now that I have entered academia in a full-time position that number will go down significantly which I hope will give more time to focus on writing, thinking, and practicing.