As anyone can tell you, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! So having a great mix of themed holiday concerts in conjunction with my usual assortment of classical concerts is a fabulous balance for me. I ended up getting to play the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the Dallas Symphony this month, which is really fun as someone who adores movie soundtracks and is a huge Harry Potter series fan. I also performed in several other concerts with Dallas Symphony this month including some concerts with Ben Folds, a woodwin ..read more

It has been a fantastic start to the season! Our schedule at the Allen Philharmonic is busier than ever and I also had the opportunities to perform with The Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, and the San Angelo Symphony over the past month. I had so much fun playing on a beautiful Buffet Prestige basset horn for the movie Amadeus and I'll get to perform on that same instrument in the spring for the opera, Elektra. Having to sight read the opera Tosca was an unexpected surprise last week when I stepped in for a colleague at the last minute! One has to keep those reading skills sharp, right?&nb ..read more

  I have created videos of the TMEA etudes for both soprano and bass clarinet. Check out my YouTube channel for all six videos and a lot more content. I hope that they are helpful to you and your students as your prepare for these auditions. The selections are really enjoyable this year so I hope you have as much fun learning them as I am teaching and playing them.  In you find yourself in the East Texas area on September 16th, you should check out the masterclass that I'm giving at The University of Texas at Tyler! It is free for students to attend, you can sign up at this link ..read more

  The TMEA All-State etudes don't arrive until this afternoon but the ATSSB etudes are ready to go! I have both the soprano etudes and bass clarinet etudes up on my YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on new releases, I'll have the TMEA videos up after the materials are released. Happy practicing!  ..read more

 Wow! What a fabulous ClarinetFest last week in Denver, Colorado. It was a joy to see everyone and I feel so inspired by all of the performances and new ideas I gleaned from the conference. I also had a wonderful recital on Saturday and I want to thank everyone who attended, as well as Buffet-Crampon and Sigma Alpha Iota for sponsoring my performance. I played a piece for unaccompanied bass clarinet called "The Serpent" by Elise Winkler and "Three Pieces, Op. 40" arranged for bass clarinet and piano by David Cook. This was also the first time that I was able to see my Buffet artist pos ..read more

While I spend a lot of time performing, I also take great joy in giving masterclasses and lessons to aspiring clarinetists as well. I have uploaded videos of both of the bass clarinet ATSSB All-State etudes for this year to aid students in their preparation and you can check them out and many other videos on my YouTube channel. Don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss out on new videos as they come out, the soprano clarinet etudes will be uploaded soon. Happy practicing!  ..read more

  I am happy to announce that I will be leading two clinics at the Texas Bandmasters Association annual convention in San Antonio, Texas on July 21st at 10:00am and 2:15. This is part of their annual Student Day that gives around 1,800 students access to breakout sessions on leadership, practice strategies, and performance. Thank you to Buffet-Crampon for sponsoring me as part of this wonderful outreach program and I hope to see you there!  ..read more

        I am happy to announce that I will be performing at ClarinetFest 2023 in Denver, Colorado! ClarinetFest is the annual conference of the International Clarinet Association and it is a lot of fun to attend. Typically, I go ever few years to try out new equipment and to get ideas for new works to perform but I have been unable to attend a conference in quite a while. I will be playing two works for the conference, the first is an unaccompanied bass clarinet solo entitled The Serpent by Elise Winkler and the second is Amy Beach's Three Compositions that ..read more

I'm always looking for new compositions to perform (particularly for bass clarinet) and Woodland Reverie is a beautiful choice to start this year out. This short, unaccompanied solo is lush and lyrical with a range from low E to C3. I chose to incorporate the optional low D but it sounds great either way and is a great choice for the performer with or without the low C extension. I plan to work on this with some of my students and to also use it on an upcoming recital, I'll keep you all posted about upcoming dates! If you're interested in this piece for your own library, the music is availab ..read more

I have really had a stand full of music all fall long! This has been the most "normal" orchestral season I have had in a few years and am grateful for the diverse amount of concerts I have been invited to perform and that I have had a lot more travel in my life. The last few months have included concerts with the Dallas Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Monroe Symphony, Allen Philharmonic, Texarkana Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, and even a couple of Oktoberfest polka performances thrown into the mix. What can I say, variety is the spice of life!  It is hard to pick a favorite out of all ..read more