Ah, the bio section. So I guess if you've clicked your way here you'd like to know a little bit about me. I'm flattered. Really! I tried to think of how I could make myself sound really awesome--you know, sing my own praises in third person, throw in some catchy superlatives, etc.--but nothing was coming to me. So here goes the very informal, off-the-cuff Brandon bio.

I think music is amazing. It has the power to guide our emotions. It picks us up when we need a lift, and just as quicky it induces sadness. Music gives us energy and it mellows us out. It arouses fear just as easily as it brings relief. Listening to music can be simple and virtually mindless, or it can be as challenging as a difficult math problem. I love all types of music. I love jazz because it shows us that music is boundless--there are no rules. I love pop because it makes music accessible to everyone. I love country because it speaks the truth and I love classical because it gives us a musical glimpse into the past, even though the music itself is timeless.

Have you ever heard of string theory? It's the idea that at the most fundamental level--more basic than atoms--everything is made up of incredibly small vibrating strings. These strings vibrate at different frequencies to form the building blocks of everything. I'm a music teacher, and one of the first lessons I teach my beginning musicians is that the sounds we make on our instruments and with our voices are caused by vibration. Music, like the incredibly small strings, is just controlled vibration. So in a way, music is the essence of everything. That's how I like to look at it, anyway.

I got my start in music when my family inherited an old upright piano from a relative. I was 7 when I started taking lessons and although I wasn't so keen on practicing, I stuck with it. In 8th grade, I started listening to jam bands like Phish, which opened my eyes to a whole world of music that wasn't written on the page like the pieces I was used to playing. The possibilities seemed endless. From there, I started playing in bands and I eventually got into songwriting when I got to college. These days, I'm teaching music at a school outside of Baltimore and I'm constantly involved in songwriting projects. I write for myself and I write for others, including commercial jingles for companies of all sizes, music for film, and plenty of other stuff. I love being creative and I love writing music. Wherever life takes me, I want to keep sharing my love of music with as many people as possible.

So thanks for stopping by the bio section. If you have any burning, unanswered questions, just head on over to the contact section and drop me a line!