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Meet Me

Overcoming, Building, Creating

   My life has been filled with challenges, and sometimes opposition. But, through my optimistic “Let’s-See-What-We-Can-Do” outlook on life, the challenges have always resulted in a positive outcome. I was born almost 3 months premature at 2 ½ pounds. My early birth resulted in the development of retinopathy of prematurity, where I lost vision in one eye and became severely limited in what I can see with the other. Besides the vision loss I also developed a small bleed on the brain resulting in spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

 

     When I was two years old, I was evaluated at a well-respected medical institution that specializes in assisting children with disabilities. At the evaluation, my parents expressed my love for the piano. This statement was met with great opposition by the doctor, who told my parents that I would never be able to play the piano due to my physical limitations, that I should never be allowed to even touch a piano as it would only frustrate me. My parents knew immediately that she was wrong, and instead of heeding her advice, they said, “Let’s see what he can do.”

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     My parents say I was born with music in my head, I hear music in everything. Almost since I could sit up to the piano I have played and composed. I now hold a Bachelor of Musical Arts in composition and piano from Brigham Young University-Idaho and my Masters in Computer Music at the Peabody Institute at The John’s Hopkins University. Each piece of music presents its own set of challenges to me. As one with Cerebral Palsy in addition to visual impairments, the technical aspects of a piece can be difficult to master. Learning a difficult piece of music may take me longer than others who don’t have these limitations, but the musical rewards for my hard work are always worth the long hours of rehearsal and patience.

Resume

You can download this résumé or a brief biography:

Skills

  • Detail oriented

  • Excellent threat and error management, error trapping skills

  • Personable, empathetic.

  • Asks good questions 

  • Good listener

  • Problem-solver (esp. with technology

  • Analytical, goal-driven

  • Self-starter

  • Very perseverant and persistent

  • Fluent in Mandarin Chinese (spoken & listening)

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 

  • Able to work with customers with disabilities (understand the relationship between technology and human interface.

Education

  • Brigham Young University-Idaho (Bachelor of Musical Arts, Composition & Piano

  • Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University (Master of Music, Computer Music Composition)

Experience

  • Graduate Assistant, Johns Hopkins University (12/18 - 5/20): Worked as a member of the Computer Music Staff at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University to help maintain and improve the user experience of five professional studios by testing equipment, reconfiguring the layout of the studios, and developing software as a replacement for hardware interfaces to aid those with visual impairments; evaluating user interface, and teaching the use of the equipment.

  • Freelance Composer, LumaCraft, LLC (12/19 - 6/20): Composed, mixed, and mastered music for two product videos, each requiring a different style of music (one electronic and the other, orchestral)

  • Freelance Composer, ICON Health and Fitness (1/18 - 3/18): Composed, mixed, and mastered music for two product videos, each requiring a different style of music (one electronic and the other, orchestral)

  • Instructor of Music Theory, Composition, & Scoring, Maryland Conservatory of Music (9/18 - Present): I provide weekly private instruction to youth in music theory, conventions in music notation, and the principles of composition preparatory to the study of music at the collegiate level. 

Awards

  • The Judy Van Ostrom Award, Lighthouse International (Spring 2011)

  • Winner of the 2014 Creative Works Competition in composition (2014)

  • Alumnus Award, The Maryland Conservatory of Music (Spring 2014)

  • Eliza R. Snow Exemplary Students Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing and Visual Arts, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017)

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