My story

Two lives at once

My life has held the wildly chaotic compulsivity of an addict side by side, often at the same time, with highly ordered academic, entrepreneurial, athletic and musical pursuits. For 14 years, addiction ran underneath everything else.

I made it to state for tennis in high school and was accepted into the Claremont Colleges. At Pitzer, I managed all the live events on campus, became President of the Music Coalition, played in two to four bands at once for all four years, and earned a BA in Psychology in four years. And all the while, the addiction grew.

Many of my friends from that era are still addicts, homeless or imprisoned. Some have died. Which raises the questions: Why am I not still an addict? Why was I born to a mother who nursed me back to health rather than let me become homeless? I didn’t deserve her love. How on earth am I not dead?

Grace

The only honest answer I have is grace: a gift I didn’t earn and couldn’t have manufactured on my own. My journey to sobriety integrated faith, intensive personal work, and the transformative power of music. I don’t claim to fully understand why I was given a second chance when so many others weren’t, but I’ve come to see it as a calling to steward this opportunity well.

I’m a father now, to a daughter who lit up my life.

Reflecting on my lived experience with people from all walks of life, one truth has become clear. Even those who suffer believe the actions they take will lead to beauty. They’re just misguided, chasing momentary beauty rather than laying the foundation for sustainable beauty. That is why I became an educator: not just to share information, but to serve others by helping them discover truth through their own experience.

What I rebuilt, and how

Music practice was the discipline that rebuilt what addiction had damaged. Not therapy alone. Not faith alone. Not willpower alone. The specific, daily, structured practice of making music rebuilt what addiction had worn down.

I had studied neuroscience as part of my psychology degree at Pitzer, years before I got sober. The academic knowledge alone didn’t save me. But when music practice began to rebuild what addiction had damaged, the neuroscience I’d already learned helped me understand why it was working, and that understanding reshaped my entire professional life.

There’s a reason attorneys practice law, doctors practice medicine, and therapists run a clinical practice. The word means something. Disciplined, repeated engagement with the real thing produces a kind of knowledge that no amount of reading about it can replicate. I practice music, and it was that practice, not theory about music, that rebuilt my life.

That insight became the foundation for everything I’ve built since. I designed a curriculum for 20 instruments and personally beta-tested it in 5 schools every week for an entire year. I taught in a homeschool co-op. I designed the private lesson and mentorship models. I lectured Ph.D. candidates and Master’s students across the United States. Today the method is used in 90+ countries, and 150+ music educators volunteered their own time to build within it.

I hold a BA in Psychology from Pitzer College, completed the Executive Development Program at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, earned a Financial Accounting Certificate from Harvard Business School Online, and hold a 200-hour yoga teaching certification. The full record is on my CV.

My approach to education is rooted in servant leadership: meeting people where they are, honoring their inherent dignity and worth, and walking alongside them as they discover their own path to wholeness.

Faith

My foundation is Christian faith. I believe all truth is God’s truth, and grace is the only honest explanation I have for my second chance. While I approach this work from a Christian perspective, I respect that each person’s journey is unique, and I meet people where they are.

We spend time and pay attention. These aren’t metaphors. They’re our two primary currencies, and I’ve come to believe that how we steward them shapes who we become.

What I do now

Today I serve as Founder and Executive Chairman of Practicing Musician, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of ClimbHigh.AI, and Founding Board Member of the Classical Transcription Project. I speak at conferences and to schools and districts, and I coach a small number of private students, one-on-one, through my Private Studio.

If you’re rebuilding something yourself, I hope this helps you believe it’s possible. If you need help today, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357, or in a crisis call or text 988 (US). Both are free and confidential, and Recovery Resources lists more help.