Music has always been a part of my family. My mother was a classically trained pianist and organist.  My father was the complete opposite – a self-taught harmonica player who didn’t read music. My brother and all three sisters sing and play guitar.  My sister Amy also plays fiddle and banjo. 

     I started playing a hand-me-down metal clarinet in the sixth grade, and managed to talk my parents into buying me a brand-new Bundy clarinet. Three years later, I somehow talked them into letting me switch to a shiny Olds trombone I found in a local music store.  

  Trombone was a challenge. It takes years for the chops to firm up, and I started several years after my contemporaries.  Still, I was good enough to be selected for the Mid-East Music Conference in my senior year of high school.

    While in high school, I also played a bit of tuba, flute, tenor saxophone, and recorder.

     I majored in music for two years, first at Kent State University in Ohio, and then at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. College life was a bit too demanding for me, though. At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to drop out. I auditioned for the US Air Force Band career field, was accepted, and assigned to the band at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.  After two years at Scott, I spent another two years with the band at Pease Air Force Bae, and another four assigned to the band at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California. 

    After eight years, I decided to return to civilian life and pursue a new career in broadcasting. I spent fifteen years as an award-winning news producer and reporter. After that, I spent nineteen years with the California Department of Transportation as an award-winning Public Information Officer. During that time, I started taking piano lessons.  But I had to stop the lessons in 2010 due to severe forearm pain. 

     Still, music was never far from my thoughts, especially when I started writing novels about musicians. After I retired from state service, I decided to start playing music again. I pulled my old Bach bass trombone out of the closet, took it to the local music repair shop for a cleaning, and started playing again. I also bought not one, but two tubas.  

     Since then, I’ve played with the Alameda Community Band and a jazz big band known as “Class Act.”  I’ve also taken part in several Tuba Christmas performances. After “cleanup surgery” on my shoulders, I was able to resume piano practice.  If my health holds out, I’ll continue to play music for the rest of my life.