Where are you from?
I’m originally from Bedford, Virginia about three and a half hours south of here, between Roanoke and Lynchburg. I went to James Madison University and then I moved to Northern Virginia to teach in Fairfax for about a decade.
Where did you go to college? What did you study?
I’ve completed degrees at James Madison and at Louisiana State University, a masters in Conducting at LSU and Music Education at JMU.
Did you always plan on directing and teaching?
No, it wasn’t until I was a senior in high school that I decided to do music education.I was planning on being a doctor. I applied to Ivy League schools and actually had gotten into a handful of them. Then, I went to a leadership event for this big organization called Bands of America and there, a light switch turned, I wanted to be a band director.
How long have you been teaching for?
This is my 17th year. I started in Buena Vista, Virginia and then I taught there for two years. I taught six years in Fairfax County then I went back to grad school for my masters and my doctoral coursework. I taught at a college for two years and then. I quit teaching completely for three years. I was not sure if I still wanted to do it. I was a little burned out after the pandemic. I went into finance and insurance and hated it, and realized that this is where I needed to be.
What is your favorite memory from teaching or bands?
From teaching, it had to have been when I was at Chantilly High School, and this was 2011, when we won the Winter Guard International Percussion Championship. There were a lot of things that went wrong the day of finals and the kids persevered. For me, it was truly understanding how resilient students could be and watching them just find a way to make things happen. In terms of my overall performance, I will forever go back to my sophomore year in high school. This was the first thing that started me thinking about doing this teaching thing. We had maybe the smallest band in my high school’s history, and I remember marching off the field at our last competition. We’re all in tears because we knew we had all given every single ounce we had for each other. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.
How many instruments do you play?
I play the french horn and trumpet well. In band, I can play probably 20 instruments, the ones that get around the band class mostly. If you account for all percussion instruments, we might be talking about 40, french horn is my favorite though.
What are you most looking forward to this year?
I’m most looking forward to getting to know the students here, the culture, and the program. Then, figuring out where we are and how I can help the program grow in a way that I think is sustainable and will be the most impactful for the students here and the community at large.
How do you plan to continue the legacy of Dominion band?
Part of it is figuring out what the program is and figuring out what things are in place, what kind of things need to stay, what kind of things might need to be pushed aside in order for us to make sure that we’re relevant for the future. I’m not one of those people who likes to do things just for the sake of doing things. I want to make sure that the things we’re all doing are important, impactful, and, as I mentioned before, relevant to the school, the community, the students, and then we build from there. I’ve thankfully had a lot of different and varied experiences over the course of my career. So, I have a lot of things to pull from a lot of friends to ask if I find myself in a situation that I don’t know how to maneuver or manage. This is kind of a fun puzzle for me to put together, and a big part of it for me is also working with the students to make sure they understand that this is not my program, it is their program. The students who participate in the program here are the only people that matter, and it’s their program forever. The legacy they leave behind is way more impactful and more important than anything I do.
When is the next competition?
Our first competition for the season is going to be September 28th at Herndon High School. We have a little bit of time between the first football game next week and then our first competition, but we got a lot of work to do. I’m really excited about what I think we can accomplish this season.
Is there anything else I should know about?
I’m just really excited to be here. This has been a fantastic school so far and everyone has been really awesome. I look forward to just bringing the best I possibly can to every student and hopefully helping everyone make this the best program we possibly can.
