 HOMETOWN: Decorah, IA
UNI DEGREE: Bachelor of Music in Education, 1996
ADDITIONAL DEGREES: Master of Arts - Trumpet Performance. University of Iowa, 2000
EMAIL:
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Ooltewah, TN
OCCUPATION: Project Manager and Team Lead at BlueCross BlueShield of TN
GREATEST LIFE EXPERIENCE: Hard to pick just one, and my life isn't over yet. Raising children while being married to a wonderful woman has been my greatest life experience. But other great experiences include riding motorcycle across the Cherohala Skyway, flying an airplane on the "Cape Tour" (a close flyby of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, which is no longer allowed after 9/11), and waterskiing on Lake Martin in Alabama
STRANGEST LIFE EXPERIENCE: Trying to catch an airplane in the airport at Montego Bay, Jamaica. This was strange because the place was packed and had no sense of order at all. I finally just pushed through until I got to the ticket counter, got my ticket, passed through security, and got to the gate minutes before the flight was supposed to leave!
GREATEST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Performing live with the Canadian Brass at Interlochen, MI
STRANGEST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Teaching middle school band for 3 weeks in Beaufort, SC. (yes, I quit that job after only 3 weeks!)
UNI TRUMPET STUDIO MEMORIES: The trumpets at UNI always took seriously their role in all the premier ensembles there are at UNI. I can remember having regular sectionals in the Wind Symphony so that we could continue to define our sound and technique as a section. I was always proud of the sound of the section and the rigor and attention to detail devoted to sectional playing. There was such passion in playing even the simplest of passages. Nothing was left untouched or unpracticed. Yet through it all, everyone was completely supportive and non-competitive. We each had a job to do and we did it. It was an honor to be there
On a lighter note, I still flinch at the pain inflicted from every Tuesday's 8am trumpet class! This posed challenges on so many levels for all of us. For me, after having stayed up late the night before cramming for tests, upcoming papers, etc, it was so extremely difficult to muster up the ambition to get out of bed early enough to "thaw" your face out from the previous day's abuse (usually a trifecta of Wind Symphony, followed by Jazz Band, followed by Marching Band!). Trying to get a unanimous pitch on long-tones was a lost cause at that time of day, let alone running scale studies in unison (from memory!)...especially those awkward minor studies! If anyone were to listen outside the door to all the 'fracked' attacks and missed notes, they'd swear it was the beginner's class. But through it all, I learned a valuable lesson: no matter how you feel or what chops you have that day, you still need to focus on making music and doing the best you can with what you have!
ANYTHING ELSE?: Valet parking cars for the annual scholarship benefit concert. I was last up on the rotation and wouldn't you know it, a guy pulls up late for the concert in a brand new Jag! It felt like a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off! "Oh yeah, sure, we'll take GREAT care of your car sir!" Wink-wink! I still can't believe they ever let college kids park cars!!! | 
