Many people are curious how my musical journey began and developed, so I wanted to talk a little about my history and how I got to such an odd and eclectic musical background.
With a father who was a professional musician and a mother who’s been choir director and/or church organist at a number of churches, you could certainly say that I was born into music. Thankfully, my parents were patient enough to let me find my own way into music. While they were happy to show me some things on the piano and give me some drums to hit, they didn’t force me into early music lessons. This gamble worked out as I came to music by simply being surrounded by it and eventually feeling my own calling to it.
I started out with trumpet in the 5th grade band. I was quickly obsessed and would frequently practice 1-2 hours almost every day.
Around the same time that I started trumpet, my dad picked up the steel drum. A friend of his that he worked with to build marimbas was starting a steel band, and my dad decided to join. I didn’t think much of it as he was always playing odd instruments and I was pretty used to it. That all changed when he came to my school to do an assembly to talk about the history, mechanics, and demonstrate the sound of the steel drum. Everyone. Lost. Their. Minds. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. I immediately thought, “I need to learn to do that…”
So… I did! Since my dad was still learning, all the notes were still written on his pan. So I grabbed the sticks, and started to learn the songs he was playing with the steel band. Later that summer, I was finally able to attend a gig, sat in for sound check, and even played a couple tunes with the band during the concert. I was hooked!
I continued to work my butt off and became a full band member of the Pangaia Steel Band. We’d play all summer around the greater Rochester area at festivals, colleges, and even opened for Santana once at CMAC.
As I played more and more percussion, my love for the trumpet eventually began to wane. Shifting to snare drum in marching band, and drum set in pit orchestra, I eventually made a full transition to percussion. Music began to almost completely consume my extra curriculars.
I eventually got to play percussion for a winter guard competition team, the Rochester Performance Ensemble. I immediately thought that spinning rifle was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. (squirrel)
I started teaching myself to spin, and started taking dance classes on the side to improve my physical abilities. Dance and color guard began to take the forefront of my time, and almost on a whim senior year, I auditioned for the dance program at the University at Buffalo. I didn’t think I had any shot, but I got on, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Ater 4 years at UB and a short term at the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC, I went on to dance professionally for over a decade, most notably making it to the top 12 of America’s Got Talent with Catapult Entertainment. That got us touring all over the world. My music would fall aside from time to time, but I would always miss it and find my way back.
My latest rediscovery was after coming back to Rochester pre-covid. I hadn’t played my steel drum in a while since I was traveling so dove back in full force. I quickly went viral with my skit from The Office and cover of the theme song. This video was shared by Rain Wilson and then featured in the credits of the first episode of Some Good News, the quarantine feel-good YouTube series by John Krasinski.
After finally gaining some traction and visibility, I decided to completely abandon that and go in a new direction. (face-palm. I’m my own worst enemy sometimes).
I have tended to pendulum back and forth into feelings over confidently knowing that I have knowledge and skill and can make a career happen as a performer, to deeply doubting myself and wanting to abandon everything. This is especially true in the times that I’ve tried to go solo. I have greatly struggled to maintain my drive without the support of a group or organization behind me.
Thankfully, I have been recently been gifted a different kind of support system. Rather than a dance company or a musical to support me in my artistic endeavors, I now have a partner who supports me to be all that I can be as solo artist.
I met Tierney while assisting with acro yoga classes at the Central Rock Gym. We started to work together outside of class; I would teach her acro yoga, and she showed me the ins and outs to rock climbing. This skill-share quickly turned into friendship, and then love. She has been a huge driving force in helping me finding my way back to confidence in my self, my skills, and my music.
I am very excited to see what the future holds for us. Stay tuned here for more adventures!