Imagine an annoying little kid, begging his parents every day for a drum set. That was me! After 2.5 years of relentless nagging, they finally caved and bought me a drum set from the classifieds section of the Spectator. Unfortunately, all the bands in my high school already had drummers, so after a year, I traded my drumsticks for a guitar and jumped headfirst into a punk band with my friends.

Weekends were a blur of shows in Hamilton and Toronto, guided by MapQuest printouts to navigate the cities. When it was time to apply for post-secondary education, I made the last-minute decision to study jazz at Mohawk College. That's when my teaching practice began. I started teaching at local music studios while still in school. I also did a brief stint in science at McMaster University, where I was one of the founding members of the Music Cognition Lab & spent most of my time practicing for my elective: playing with the McMaster Jazz Big Band.

Later, I took my talents to cruise ships, where I played drums with incredible musicians from around the world. This experience allowed me to tick off over 17 countries from my travel list while sight-reading shows seven days a week. In 2014, I returned to Hamilton, initially planning to move to New York City or LA. But after seeing the world, I realized how much Hamilton had to offer and decided to stay. Since then, I've been firmly rooted here, dedicating my time to creating resources for my students, learning new music for performances, and creating my original works.