Sax, flute, clarinet

St. Louis

Like a lot of musicians, I started my musical journey in 5th grade. That's when a lot of schools offer students a chance to learn an instrument. My brother and sister played in band but I wasn't sure if I was going to join. My sister was taking clarinet lessons at Nottelman Music located at their old original store on Lemay Ferry Rd. back in 1981 (the one that use to be right be the little vacuum cleaner store) and it was at this time I heard one of the instructors there playing his saxophone. The guys name is Larry Johnson an he is still one hell of a player. Well, all it took was hearing the music he was creating and I was hooked. That was the instrument I wanted to play.

I did have some setbacks in school band. My band director in 5th grade had a heart attack and died at school only two months into the school year. We went the rest of the year with very little direction as the high school director tried to fill in. 6th through 8th was ok with a new director but then there was another setback in high school. The high school director, which I really liked, took another job after my 9th grade year. The next guy that came in just rubbed me the wrong way and after a few arguments, I actually quit band during my 10th grade year. I didn't play in band at all during 11th grade but still would practice at home. That director was eventually forced out when the school board didn't renew his contract. Turns out I wasn't the only one that had a problem with him. I rejoined band in 12th grade and still was able to play 1st chair in all the performance groups since I had kept practicing during my time off. To this day, I'm still not sure if quitting band was a good move. I may have come to dislike it had I stuck with the old director. Who knows.

I decided to get a degree in music education. I started of at Northeast Missouri State but decided I wanted to be back in St. Louis after the first year. While attending college locally, I worked at Nottlemans Music as a private instructor on saxophone and clarinet. During this time I also taught at a few private schools with small programs. Once I graduated I started teaching in the public school system. I am currently teaching for the Bunker Hill School District in Illinois where I am in charge of the 5th through 12th instrumental music program. I also teach 2nd grade general music. The little kids are fun.

Back in 1996 I was looking for a band to join. I didn't have many contacts and besides bulletin boards at music stores, there was really no way of connecting with other musicians. That's when I started "St. Louis Music Classified". It was through this service that I found my first band and also found my current band. That was back in 2002 when I joined "Pleasure Groove". We've had a few people come and go but the changes to the lineup always held together for a few years before we would lose someone. The replacements were always found through the classified site and they have always worked out well for us.

St. Louis Music Classified has always been about helping the musicians around the area. Even when I did initiate a payment system for the site, everyone could still post ads and read them for free. The small fee for the paid membership would help support the cost of running the site while giving the supporters of the site some extra features.

The classified site and the new network site were created for one main reasons. To help musicians like myself make contacts and find the perfect mix of people to help you follow your passion of music.