bio

teaching

I’ve been a music teacher since 1981. I’ve taught guitar, banjo, bass, piano, and ukulele. I’ve taught at music stores and music schools, for community education programs in St. Paul, Lakeville, South St. Paul, and North St. Paul. From 2002 until 2021 I taught (up to 4 nights a week) for the City of Woodbury’s Parks and Recreation Department. I’ve taught people from the age of 7 to 70-something, beginners to professional players, in just about every style.

Currently, I teach piano, guitar, and mandolin at Cadenza Music in St Paul. I'm at Cadenza every week from Monday through Saturday (except when the store is closed for holidays, and two weeks off at the end of the calendar year). Visit the Cadenza website to learn more.

A lesson with me starts with questions: What’s new? What did you practice? The student plays what was practiced. I point out what the student does well (because every student always does something well in every lesson). Making music is an empowering experience. Learning how to make music means learning how to practice. Learning how to practice means learning how to learn—a useful skill that can also be fun. My teaching style has been characterized as friendly, encouraging, attentive, and engaging.

performing

I’ve been a professional musician since 1975. I’ve performed as a solo singer-songwriter, as a member of a folk trio, as a member of a mime troupe, as the leader of a variety band, and, since 1990, as a solo guitarist at coffeehouses, restaurants, bars, concerts, and private events. In 1997, I began performing jazz on the 7-string guitar. I still love, and play, and teach the 6-string version of the instrument. In the past. most sole performances featured jazz tunes, original compositions, and ragtime, and several guitars. These days, I'm mostly just jazz and only bring one axe to any one gig.

From 1996 till 2005 I played in the jazz duo Duotonic with drummer Carole Selin (that was the main reason I took up the 7-string guitar). We resumed playing, with Carole on guitar and voice, in 2019. The pandemic and its aftermath ended our run as a duo. Carole has found a new voice through amazing photography and I've gone back to solo performing.

education

As a teacher, I've learned things from many people in many ways but my formal education was at Carroll College, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and Hamline University (M.A. in Liberal Studies).

A few years after I got my B.A in English from Carroll College (Waukesha, WI), I went back to school at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. I attended full-time for three years as a Jazz Performance major in both piano and guitar. I took courses in music theory and ear training, and performed in many student ensembles.

In 1994, I received an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Hamline University (St. Paul, MN). My thesis, The Mind Is A Blue Guitar, was a cross-genre exploration of jazz guitar from personal experience and semiotic analysis and received the Best Synthesis Award. While in the MALS program, I presented a paper at a conference of the Western Literature Association, and published papers in a journal devoted to author Frank Waters and a book devoted to author John Steinbeck. And I atoned for my wretched GPA as an undergraduate at Carroll College by acing all my courses.