Piano Performance with Jazz Emphasis, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Hometown: Morgantown, WV
Why did you choose to attend WVU?
While deciding on a university to attend always will be an incredibly difficult decision for many students and certainly was for me, I chose WVU because it gave me the capacity to achieve several aims I had as a student. I wanted to push my development into the art of piano performance but I also wanted to study engineering. WVU has incredible programs for both of these areas, but also has a great diversity of musical studies that I found to be inspiring and influential in my development as a musician.
What is your profession now?
I currently work as a Product Engineer at Howmet Aerospace in Whitehall, Michigan, and continue furthering my development in piano performance by practicing each day and getting to know the places and people performing live jazz around the Michigan area.
What is your most interesting current/upcoming project?
While I strive to establish myself as a live performing musician in my new area,
learning has never stopped after graduation. I am currently listening and transcribing
Herbie Hancock's entire work from "Maiden Voyage", both because it so incredibly
defined the shape of jazz to come but also because I am very engaged with the
styles and language Herbie used throughout the album. It is very common for me
to spend months at a time listening to one or two records, but I am always searching
for more music and artists that can help shape my sound and style.
How do you feel WVU and the College of Creative Arts prepared you for your career?
WVU gave me a lot of independence in cultivating my musical development. This freedom to pursue my interests was augmented by incredible mentors that helped light the path ahead of me, and cemented in action every day through engagement with other aspiring artists who were just as passionate about the music as I was.
If you could give one piece of advice to incoming or current students in WVU's
College of Creative Arts, what would it be?
I believe it is very common to be laser focused on one specific passion, and to focus on this one passion completely while ignoring all other potential influences. While I do not believe this is inherently a flaw, I think it is incredibly beneficial to new students to try a lot of new things that WVU's diverse musical programs offer, as there is always the possibility you find a vast new area of passion that can help drive your musical development forward. Perhaps the most important aspect of any education is to find other students who are just as passionate and to grow relationships through and outside of that passion. I did and increasingly find that it is these relationships that push me to be the best musician and person I can be.