Bio
John was born in 1980 in a suburb outside of Chicago, IL. After
starting the trombone at the age of 11, he quickly became interested in
music and picked up several different instruments including guitar,
bass and piano by the time he reached high school.
 Always
interested in trying to arrange and compose music, John was constantly
at the piano playing around with existing arrangements. Also interested
in computers, he quickly found that computers could aid in the creation
and realization of music.
Throughout his teen years he sang and played in many
different ensembles in and out of school. During this last year, he
served as the music director of a student-directed musical: Godspell.
After graduating he attended the University of Illinois at
Champaign-Urbana. He began his studies as a double major in Music
Education and Music Composition, but soon dropped the composition in
favor of studying more instrumentation and conducting. Even though he
was officially not "studying" composition, he still took classes in
counterpoint and arranging for winds among others to hone his skills.
During his junior year he was awarded a School of Music scholarship for
"Excellence and Innovation in Music Teaching".
He also continue to invest in music equipment to keep up
the with latest technology. This knowledge helped to score the short
animated film For you I Scream at Me (available for viewing on the "Credits" page.)
During his last year as an undergrad, John formed the Serenade String Ensemble which consisted of largely non-music major string players. He also directed his second musical, Pippin
for the Illini Union Board. Oh, and he also met his future wife. To say
that it was a miraculous year would surely be an understatement!
 To
diversify and to keep himself in cash while working on his music
career, John decided to stick around the U of I campus one more year
and earn a Masters Degree in Information and Library Science (MLS).
This proved to be exceptionally fortunate.
In early 2004, John married Sarah and he joined her in
Rolla, MO where she had begun graduate work in Electrical Engineering
at the University of Missouri-Rolla. With no immediate music work
available John was fortunate to land a faculty reference librarian job
at the University.
However, as fate would have it, there was a position for vocal director for the University's upcoming production of The Christmas Schooner.
John lept at this opportunity and enjoyed working in theatre once
again. Soon after, he was asked to direct an 8 piece a capella group
called "Oak Savannah" who have been active in the Rolla area for the
last 10 years.
In 2008, John moved to Lawrence, Kansas just outside
Kansas City to establish a multi-room studio within his home including
state-of-the-art recording and mixing facilities.
John is currently sought after to serve as director, clinician, private
teacher and lecturer for a wide variety of topics related to modern
music production.
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