Our Team

I vividly remember sitting on the gym floor of my elementary school as the entire school assembled to listen to the Ronald MacDonald All-American Jazz Band. I was mesmerized by the sight and sound of the saxophone and in 5th grade I started learning the instrument. In 8th grade, I started playing the bassoon, and by high school was completely hooked on music. My love for playing and teaching music has been burning bright as the light of my life ever since.

After graduating from Illinois State University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree, I moved to the mountains of Colorado. For the past 25 years I have lived and worked in the Aspen Valley. This naturally beautiful environment also demands high personal and professional acumen. I worked a variety of jobs in my years after college and through it all consistently honed my skills as a music teacher and performer. I transitioned to teaching and playing music full-time in 2012 as the Music Specialty Teacher in a PK-8 private school, a saxophonist, bassist, and singer in a variety of bands, teaching private music lessons on most instruments, a bassoonist with the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, Jazz AspenSnowmass Music Faculty member, and working sound production for other area performers. 

Since 2017 I’ve been the Executive Director of Rock & Roll Academy Aspen which follows a Modern Band format and teaches music through an innovative music education model and curriculum. Rock & Roll Academy Aspen has provided hundreds of local youth space, instruments, and instruction while having fun and meaningful musical experiences with their peers in an inclusive social environment that fosters democracy and freedom within boundaries. This linked video says it all about my life’s work and its impact with area youth.