"I'm interested in making sure students 'get it' as opposed to just letting them survive on their own, so to speak. Sometimes students will do a project, and they don't get it right. They always have the opportunity to redo it, and I'll look at that new one and forget about the other one. In the music tech courses that I teach, it's very hands-on. So they dive into the software—they learn it however they like to learn—and I go over the technique. Then in Writing Skills, I drill them on the writing. It's just a lot of practice—it's kind of like ear training in that way. And the students invariably get it."
"I've been in the writing and production business for a long time, and I continue to take projects and challenges on. I still work and do the things I teach, so I can tell students firsthand what's it's like in the business. I think that gives me a lot of credibility. I'm always involved in something, and I always learn from it, so I'm able to pass that on."
"The thing I like to do the most now is writing, composing, and arranging. I put together a mostly student salsa band, and I'm very interested in Afro-Cuban and Caribbean music—that's the latest thing I'm pursuing. We just did a record with a Berklee Recording Grant, and we've got some good basic tracks. Through a lot of preparation and with some good musicians, we were able to accomplish a lot. Recently I also worked as a copyist on the 60th anniversary concert with Philippe Saisse, Victor Vanacore, and Rob Mounsey. The parts were copied in either New York or L.A., and they were emailed or shipped to us, so I had to take charge of the whole orchestral side of the project. That was fun, although hard, work."
