I was first introduced to playing music around the age of eight via piano lessons at
the insistence of my parents. After gaining some experience I then became a
student of a no nonsense classical teacher here in Portland, Silvia Killman. Oh
was she strict. One time upon arriving for my lesson the student before me was
crying as she left. Ms. Killman explained to me with purpose that a student didn’t
keep up with her homework and she let her go. Yikes! That could have easily been
me. I just wasn’t much into the classical but Ms. Killman was willing to let me
include some more popular pieces to play at the monthly recitals like Moon River,
Alley Cat. I stressed that I’d like to change to more contemporary style of playing
but she insisted I needed another year with her before this other instructor would
take me on.
Around this time I was also beginning to play drums. Wow, once I got a hold of a
very primitive drum set, that seemed to spoil my efforts with the piano. I was now
able to play the music I preferred.
I started private lessons with Don Worth here in town while playing with the the grade school and high school bands. Toward the end of grade school and all the way through high school I also played with a professional Dixieland Band. What an experience that was at such a young age. We played conventions and hotel events with some travel. My musical endeavors were not full time as I was also pursuing a professional career in photography. While not traveling I did play with numerous styled bands through the years from Jazz, Rock to Reggae.
My more recent musical ventures include being a director in a local samba band here in Portland called Bloco Alegria which comprises of up to 30 players, mostly Carnival style drums with singers and melodic instruments. We’ve played many corporate events and concerts some of which have included Portland Parks free summer concert series.
Achieving this position was no quick and easy task.
Years ago I was attending a Mentor Graphics event where I heard this samba marching band perform that peeked my interest. There was this intoxicating rhythm filling the arena and on the high end of timbre were these very cool syncopated beats from what I later learned to be tamborims. This I wanted to learn. The band was Lions of Batucada which was formed by a local percussionist Brian Davis who is also a founding member of Pink Martini. Ha, I learned that their leader and wildly accomplished pianist Thomas Lauderdale was also a student of my piano teacher and stuck with her through the years. A friend of mine was already playing with the Lions and urged me to join. Well, one could not just join but had to qualify to be a member.
I chose the tamborim which turned out to be one of the most difficult of the
percussive instruments to learn even with my musical experience. Ha, it took me a
year of mentoring before I was able to pass the test and begin performing. When
Brian became too consumed with the touring of Pink Martini he had to suspend
operating the Lions thus several members formed our current band Bloco Alegria.
A Brazilian member had urged us to include singers and melodic instruments to
our percussions which he conducted. He unfortunately returned to Brazil and
because no one else stepped forward to take his place, I then became the conductor which was an all new venture for me. Luckily today a few others have
also stepped forward to help.
As I had been immersed deeply into samba I had also been playing with a smaller
latin flavored jazz band which at one point Kevin was our bassist. This is where
years ago Kevin asked me if I would assist in his Jam Session classes at Mt.
Hood Community and Clark Collage. It has been a pleasure working with this
community through the years where we can help those people who wish to learn
to play among others enough so to preform live. I feel I’m also a student for the
learning process never stops.
