I started playing the piano when I was 5 years old. I could play by ear and pick out melodies that I knew, such as children’s songs, Christmas carols, folk songs, and the like. My mother, who was a career schoolteacher, was my first piano teacher. She showed me how to play C, F, and G7 chords so that I could accompany my melodies and play with both hands. This led to me playing My Country ‘Tis of Thee after the flag salute in my first grade class while the rest of the classroom sang along.

I began formal piano lessons at age 7 with a woman my Mom knew from the San Jose State music department, a French horn major named Karen Iannocone. I took lessons from Mrs. Iannocone until I was 10 years old. I showed a lot of natural ability and I was encouraged and influenced by my Mom and my teacher, who worked with me almost daily. I was practicing an hour or more each day, even at 7 years of age. By the time I was 9, I was playing several of Chopin’s preludes from memory.

Then at age 11, a worldwide phenomenon happened: The Beatles. This, of course, changed everything. A new guitar was soon in the works, and I seemed to pick up playing the guitar as easily as the piano. Soon, I was singing and playing the entire Beatles repertoire, as well as the Beach Boys, Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan songs, all of the top 40 on the radio at the time, as well as some standards, country songs, and oldies. I started my first rock ‘n’ roll band at age 12, along with neighborhood friend and fellow guitarist Thad Riddle. Thad’s father, Ken Riddle, was a pro guitarist, and he’d been working with Thad since he was a young boy. The two played some amazing duets together, very high level, polished, and professional. Ken said that he would work with Thad and me if we got ourselves a drummer and started a band.

After answering an ad in the East San Jose Sun newspaper, Joe Santoro tried out on drums. He was everything we wanted. Well schooled in rudiments, knowing most musical styles, he was a perfect fit. Within 2 weeks THE ALUM ROCKERS, age 12, were playing their first gig at the Santa Clara county fair. We were together for a couple of years, playing junior high school dances, weddings, teen clubs, festivals, PTA functions, and parties. We were very good. It was a valuable learning experience.

I would be playing with Joe Santoro over the years in many different bands and projects. We still work together at the South Bay School of Music Arts in Milpitas where we teach our respective instruments.

In high school, I continued with the guitar, and even played bass guitar in the high school jazz band, as well as picking up the trumpet and eventually becoming a second chair trumpet player in the marching and concert bands.

In college, I became a music major where I went back to playing the piano. Although I played the guitar for many years, I never gave up the keyboard. As I got older I realized the importance of the piano to me, and I was determined to achieve a high level of ability on it. After hearing me play in my first recital, Dr. Clifford Hansen approached me and offered to work with me privately. I had a private lesson with him every Friday afternoon after choir class for 3 semesters. At San Jose City College I carried a 4.0 GPA through 2 years of school and made the Dean’s list. I played in the Honor’s Concert in 1981, playing the Mozart Sonata in A minor K.310. My many recitals there included pieces by Liszt, Chopin, Gershwin, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Mozart, and of course, my beloved Scott Joplin.

In the summer of 1980 I worked an entire season at Marriott’s Great America, playing ragtime piano all day in the Snowshoe Saloon, and in the evenings going over to the Grand Music Hall and playing piano and conducting the pit orchestra for the evening Broadway show. 12-hour days were normal; usually playing 30 or 45-minute shows. During this time I learned a very large ragtime repertoire, about 30 rags I could play from memory.

After Great America, I bought my Hammond B-3 organ and my first synthesizer, a Prophet-5, and I was ready to hit the circuit. The next 10 years would see me playing for a number of bands in the South Bay area: Evel Knary, The Tops, The Rhythm Dogs, Beau and the Arrows, Carol Doda and the Lucky Stiffs, Dammaj, The Grip, Terry Brown and the Electric Choir, Ruckus, and Huh? Yes, Huh? That was a band name….yeeeeshhh….

I resumed taking private piano lessons in 1988 from Julian White in Kensington. A graduate of Julliard, Mr.White helped me with Bartok and Chopin, helping me learn the Scherzo in B flat minor. He was great in helping me relax at the piano, and did a lot of work with my keyboard attack. I learned to play loud without distortion. My sound became much more refined.

In October 1989 I was fortunate to meet one of my major keyboard influences, Keith Emerson. I loaned him my Hammond organ to use on a recording session. He asked me if I could arrange a choir to sing on a demo that he was recording locally. I was able to contact many of my musician friends and put together a 30-person choir to do the session. It was a very good recording, but his record label never released it. Of course I was disappointed, but I was very proud anyway. It was an opportunity to work with one of the giants in the music industry, and it was a time I will never forget.

Meeting and working with Keith Emerson opened another door for me when I began working for a company called Eye and I Productions, playing and recording digital sequences that were used to demonstrate sounds that the company sold on RAM cards, and later, on computer sound cards. I was able to compose my own jingles and do my own arrangements, using most of the available sounds on the cards. These sequences were played and demonstrated at the Comdex show in Las Vegas.

I continue to learn new works as I go through life. During this past year I learned the Chopin Ballade in F minor because I always said to myself that I would play it some day. I also learned a Scriabin poem, a Chopin etude, and a couple of Scott Joplin rags. It never ends. I will continue playing the piano as long as I am able.