Lectures

A candid, practical look at what it takes to build a sustainable, meaningful career in music today. I share lessons from running a teaching studio, founding a guitar festival, and developing collaborative community programs, as well as how students can start doing the same with the resources they already have.

Key takeaways include:

• Turning creative ideas into real-world projects
• Using university resources (funding, staff, space) to get started
• Balancing performance, teaching, and admin without burning out
• What I wish someone had told me when I was 21

Many students assume they’ll need years of experience or outside funding to start something meaningful. In this lecture, I show them why that isn’t true. Through the story of how I launched a university-supported guitar festival as a graduate student, I walk them through the process of identifying opportunities, finding allies, and using institutional support to bring creative projects to life.
Students leave this session energized and equipped with concrete strategies for getting started with projects of their own — no waiting required.

When I co-founded a community guitar organization, we weren’t a 501(c)(3), but we acted like one. We had a mission, a board, a community, and events that needed funding. This talk focuses on the aspects of nonprofit work that involve its structure, strategy, and values.
Whether students go on to create their own organizations or partner with existing ones, they’ll leave this session with a deeper understanding of how nonprofits operate and how musicians can use them as a force for good.

In this session, I introduce students to the world of Suzuki Guitar, explaining what it is, how it works, and why it’s such an effective method for teaching young players. I share insights from over a decade of teaching and from my own experience as a Suzuki student, alongside highlights from the broader Suzuki guitar community.
The goal isn’t just to inform, it’s to inspire newer teachers and students to explore this path and consider taking Suzuki training themselves.

The idea behind this talk is simple: What if being a musician was less about getting support and more about giving it? I explore how service and citizenship can be at the core of an artistic life, and how that mindset can lead to stronger connections, better funding, and a more profound sense of purpose.
Through real-world examples, I show how musicians can design programs that meet people where they are and build careers rooted in generosity.

This lecture explores several of Roland Dyens’ arrangements of popular jazz pieces from his collections Mes Arrangements a l’Amiable and Night and Day. This examination includes information on the harmonic and structural aspects of the pieces; historical and biographical details about relevant styles and artists, as well as Dyens’ allusions to them in his arrangements; and discussion of solutions to difficult passages and extended techniques within the arrangements, all with an eye towards producing more accurate interpretations of the pieces.