Orlando/Full Sail

I spent quite a bit of time in school. I'm actually still a student technically, until my doctoral research is completed. But for all intents and purposes, my college career (as a student anyway!) ended in Spring of 2012. 
My wife (Laura) came down with a serious case of the pregnancy the November prior to my finishing coursework at Miami, so my path was made quite clear. I needed to put my advanced degrees to work and get a roof for this baby. 
After a fairly trying application/interview process, I was finally contacted by my current employer, Full Sail University, with Laura's due date looming a matter of weeks away.
I was originally interviewed for a position as an ear training/aural theory instructor, but was ultimately selected for my current position as Associate Course Director of Musical Arrangement, partly due to having created an arrangement of a "Radiohead Medley" for a quasi-classical jazz ensemble. Big thanks to those who were a part of that!

So now I teach commercial arranging techniques, orchestration, and sequencing orchestral instruments (as well as music theory and aural theory topics) to eager students across the globe! Quite literally across the globe, because I'm working in Full Sail's online music production department. I would have never guessed I'd be teaching music online, but it's been a welcome challenge and an experience that has informed my pedagogical approach in many ways.

I'm actually quite honored to be part of such an impressive department.  My co-workers represent just about every facet of the professional music community. Collectively they've produced major recording artists, scored major TV series', and had their music played on major televised sporting events. They're professional sound engineers and certified specialists in most modern audio software. They're composers for film and games. They've had orchestral works played at Carnegie Hall, and created ground-breaking performance art pieces. They're music theorists on the forefront of pop/rock/commercial music theory. They're songwriters, instrumentalists, and vocalists in every major genre. I can honestly say that I'm not aware of another program in which the faculty work so tirelessly to insure that the material they're presenting is effective as possible.

Some neat things have happened in the past year since moving to Orlando. I'll be detailing the high points in upcoming posts.