I grew up hearing my mother play famous piano classics by the greats such as Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Her influence instilled a strong love of great music within me. She also taught me basic reading skills as a child. And this began my lifelong journey into the world of music.

Growing up I took traditional piano lessons. I practiced my assigned classical pieces for a couple hours every day. My course of study left me wanting more. I wanted to be one of those guys that could play anything! I wanted to be able to improvise and compose, not just play massive memorized pieces. After completing my college degree in piano performance, I felt no closer to my desired goals.

After graduation, I began teaching as a career. I saw things in the traditional approach that didn’t seem to yield good results. I prayed about this and asked God, “How should it be?”