Since I did not receive an invitation from the Philadelphia Phillies to attend their spring training in 1975, instead I earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Temple University and began my career in K-12 public schools teaching music. After two years, I decided to pursue my passion in performance and earn a Master of Music from Yale University. Subsequently, I earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music. For twenty-five years, I held professorships and deanships at various institutions of higher education in the United States and Australia. Over the years, my entrepreneurial initiatives in higher education centered on creating student and faculty opportunities and furthering global and cultural awareness with the founding of the Pacific Alliance of Music Schools, the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music, the Allerton Music Barn Festival, and Estivo, a summer study abroad program in Verona, Italy, among others. In addition, I was a reviewer for the National Association of Schools of Music and an independent consultant in the evaluation and accreditation of music institutions of higher education in the United States.

As a tuba player, I advocated for the performance of modern brass chamber music and researched the symphonic brass music of Richard Strauss. For thirty years I was principal tubist with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Connecticut Grand Opera and also performed with Sinfonia da Camera, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Florida Philharmonic, and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Gerry Mulligan, the Moody Blues, 5th Dimension, Judy Collins, Tito Puente, and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

A founding member of Brass Ring, I toured for twenty years throughout the United States and Europe and performed on world premiere recordings for the Crystal label featuring works by Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and David Del Tredici. The quintet recorded soundtracks for the Public Broadcasting Service series The American Experience and is broadcast regularly on National Public Radio. Brass Ring also premiered works by composers, including John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Martin Bresnick, and Roger Kellaway and two compositions written specifically for me by Neely Bruce (“Songs of Zion Recycled”) and Eric Ewazen (“Sonata for Tuba and Piano”). The Kendor Music Company and Brass Ring Editions publish my arrangements for brass ensemble.

In 2015, my wife and I settled in Tucson, AZ, where a portion of our family resides. I decided to switch gears and explore returning to my public education roots, this time teaching in an area other than music. I enrolled at the University of Arizona where I took political/social science and economics courses and later entered the Teach Arizona program, leading to a Master of Education and state certification in 2017. 

I have always been interested in history, the law, and the workings of our government; and now I am eager to share my interests with high school students, integrating technology and finding intersections with music to make the learning fun.