About.
I remember what it was like for me when I first started making music. I always loved to sing, and I would try to hash out themes from my favorite TV shows on my dad's keyboard. Around the age of 7, my parents set me up with a local piano teacher.
I hated it.
I couldn't stand being told what to practice, or how to place my fingers and arms, and I couldn't understand why things had to be so absolute.
So, I quit.
I didn't fall in love with music until high school, thanks to my choir teachers. They were the first musicians I had encountered who really worked to connect their students to the music. Through them, I became invested in the pieces we were working on, and in my own abilities as a singer.
By the time my senior year rolled around, I was convinced I wanted to go to college for music, so I went to the School for Music Vocations from Southwestern Community College.
At the SFMV, I learned a lot of lifelong lessons. I learned how to collaborate with my peers to create something bigger than I could accomplish on my own. I learned the value of versatility, and the importance of being able to educate yourself. I learned how technology and music intertwine to keep filling our ears with new, unique sounds, and how composers bend and break the established rules of structure to give us unique chord combinations and soundcapes. I also learned a whole heck of a lot about jazz.
Eager to learn more techniques, I took my journey up to Cedar Falls, where I began studying opera with Jeffrey Brich at the University of Northern Iowa. It was at UNI that my skills really started to take a more complete shape. I gained better control over my voice, trained my ear to analyze my surroundings, and acquired a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of melody, harmony, rhythm and form.
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After graduating in 2012, I moved back to Des Moines, where I focused on performance and education. I started doing 50-100 shows a year as a solo artist, as a DJ, and as part of a few different Des Moines bands, in addition to music directing and creating original sound design for productions at the Des Moines Playhouse, Des Moines Young Artists Theater, Roosevelt High School, and Hoover High School.
I solidified my passion for teaching lessons at the same time, working with 50 private voice and piano students, both independently and as a teaching artist for the non-profit organization City Voices. From 2015-2018, I also helped create and direct Rock and Hip-Hop summer camps for the Des Moines Music Coalition in partnership with Des Moines Public Schools and Des Moines Parks and Recreation.
After 6 incredible years in Des Moines, I set my sights on Chicago, IL, moving here in 2018 with my partner Jessie. I still teach as much as possible, currently working with two independent Chicago music schools, and I can be seen performing over 200 times per year in classrooms, restaurants, lounges, theaters, wedding venues and arenas all over Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin in a variety of capacities. Whenever I'm teaching and performing, you can be sure I'm loving life.​Thanks for getting to know me! If you'd like to know more, feel free to get in contact, I can't wait to share my talents with you!
-Chris
