My Story.
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The Early Years
My formal musical journey began in sixth grade when I decided to join the band and play the trombone. I had always excelled in art (as much as you can in elementary school), and it was time to see about this "band" thing. Also, my brother was in band... so gotta follow the family trend. When I got to ninth grade, I decided it was time for more music making, specifically music creating. I acquired a Casio keyboard from my aunt and began teaching myself music theory and figuring out how harmony worked. Mainly, I just wrote simple trombone duets to play with my friends. Then came Noteworthy Composer. Look it up; it’s still around. I had the free version and could only save ten times on each piece! This allowed me to tinker more than at the keyboard. I could also write out more complex pieces to play with my friends. Composing pretty much completely replaced video games. I would always be disappointed when finishing/beating a video game. It felt like I had wasted soooo much time just to see the ending. Composing at least left me with a piece of music. Even if the music wasn't that good (it really wasn't in the early days). |
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The College Years
While studying music education at Furman University, I spent a lot of time in the composing/arranging realm. My classes and professors exposed me to a wide range of literature.. I would spend hours listening to recordings (and studying scores) in the music library. My composing and arranging for friends picked up a good bit and I started to really develop my craft, though only briefly studying composition in a formal setting.
Band Directing Years
I spent fourteen years teaching in Spartanburg School District #7, teaching middle school band for seven years and teaching high school band for seven years. I have so many fond memories of the many students I taught and colleagues I worked with. I learned how to be a teacher and refined my skills as a composer and arranger.
These Days
I am spending most of my time composing, creating content, and making music wherever possible. I help out with several organizations in my town (i.e. local schools, youth philharmonic, community band, etc). I also perform with the Foothills Brass Band.
In Short
I love music. I love teaching it. I love writing it. I often have no idea what's happening in the plot of a movie because I was lost in the music....
While studying music education at Furman University, I spent a lot of time in the composing/arranging realm. My classes and professors exposed me to a wide range of literature.. I would spend hours listening to recordings (and studying scores) in the music library. My composing and arranging for friends picked up a good bit and I started to really develop my craft, though only briefly studying composition in a formal setting.
Band Directing Years
I spent fourteen years teaching in Spartanburg School District #7, teaching middle school band for seven years and teaching high school band for seven years. I have so many fond memories of the many students I taught and colleagues I worked with. I learned how to be a teacher and refined my skills as a composer and arranger.
These Days
I am spending most of my time composing, creating content, and making music wherever possible. I help out with several organizations in my town (i.e. local schools, youth philharmonic, community band, etc). I also perform with the Foothills Brass Band.
In Short
I love music. I love teaching it. I love writing it. I often have no idea what's happening in the plot of a movie because I was lost in the music....
The "Cinematic" Side of Things
Much of my composing time is split between the classical/band world and writing for various forms of media. I've scored several video games, films, and have an online catalogue of royalty-free sync-licensing music. I use Logic Pro and I honestly have a blast writing music for the screen. Below is a link to one of my absolute FAVORITE placements. The video should start right before my cue (the Vader Scene) comes in:
Second favorite placement is here, but mainly because the video has over 40 million views... I mean, woah...
Films and Games
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You never know what friendships will take you in various directions. One of my band friends from high school ended up getting in to film making/media creation/directing. I got to score two video games for him in the early 2010s. One, Platinumath, was an educational game in the Steampunk genre. I scored the cut scenes and all the music that happened during gameplay. (Scoring the sea monster battle was especially fun) It actually won an EdTech award for best educational game-see picture. Me, I was just having the time of my life scoring a video game :)
We actually worked on another project with a grant from the department of defense. Outrageously fun, but the game didn't come to fruition in the end. |
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The educator in me says never discount your friends and connections (a lesson I always pass on to students). You never know where your contacts might take you. If it weren't for these collaborations, I don't know that I would have ever gotten into writing for sync-licencsing platforms, which led to even more connections.
Heroes of Old Hickory
One summer I was at school prepping for all the "summer things" that need to get done in a band program. And I got a call from a filmmaker in Texas, asking if I was the gentleman that wrote the beautiful music. Hmm. The age of the internet, I guess it's not that hard to track people down. He had found some of my music on Pond5.com and used Google for the rest. This call ended up in a gig that allowed me to score significant portions of his film, Heroes of Old Hickory. To say being a part of this project was an honor is an understatement.
I'll not go into the details of the film. If you're interested, you can watch the video to the below. Willie Geist and Tom Brokow are much better at telling the story anyway (one of my cues plays at 3:02). My wife and I did get to see the premier and it was one of the most moving experiences I've had. Not because of the music or the film, but because we were sitting between the good people of Mortain, France and many of the soldiers that fought off Hitler (specifically the SS) to save their town.
I'll not go into the details of the film. If you're interested, you can watch the video to the below. Willie Geist and Tom Brokow are much better at telling the story anyway (one of my cues plays at 3:02). My wife and I did get to see the premier and it was one of the most moving experiences I've had. Not because of the music or the film, but because we were sitting between the good people of Mortain, France and many of the soldiers that fought off Hitler (specifically the SS) to save their town.
A Golden Cross to Bear
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So apparently sometime years ago, a filmmaker named Kane Farabaugh reached out and asked if I had any similar items to a tune I had on Audiojungle. I did not remember this encounter, but my response was "no, but I can write you some!" This led to me writing a couple of cues for his documentary film The Greatest Honor. We then kept in touch an I was forutnate enough to score all of his next film, A Golden Cross to Bear. Both films won multiple Emmys and I got to go along on the ride for the second one (see picture to the side... I"m the bald one to the right).
I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had thus far and I'm excited to see where music making (in the concert hall and on the screen) takes me. |
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To students interested in this side of things, I encourage to write as much as possible. Work hard, learn, develop your craft. Make sure you have a plan to actually have a paying job (like teaching!!!). And be okay with where the journey takes you. My "high school self" wanted to be John Williams or Howard Shore or something, but reality as set me on this path and I'm okay with that. In the end it really is all about making music.
