Today is Pokémon Day! Two new games were announced today: Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch. I've been playing Pearl on my DS Lite and Moon on my 3DS lately, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about the impact these games have had on my life and my music.

My first adventure in the world of Pokémon was Pokémon Pearl on the Nintendo DS. I came pretty late into the series. Many of my friends had started on Ruby or Leafgreen. I fell in love with the series and now have 20 of the 28 released…

Deciding that you want to pursue music as a career can be both a terrifying and satisfying journey. But it doesn’t have to be a sudden one. For me it happened so gradually, I don’t really remember when I decided it. 

Signs that I was going to be a musician were all over the place when I was a kid. My first time watching the original Star Wars trilogy was through VHS rentals from the library. My dad didn’t have the movies yet, but he had the soundtracks. And I remember saying that I didn’t need the movies…

Now that the new year has arrived, I thought I’d take a look back at one of my favorite things I had the fortune of experiencing in 2018. Although it came out in 2017, I was not aware of Doki Doki Literature Club until only a few months ago. 

Before I continue writing this, I’m going to put a few disclaimers here. First of all, there are going to be heavy spoilers for the game. If you don’t know anything about it I highly recommend you play it before reading this. It’s free to play and available on Steam…

As far back as I can remember, music has been influencing the way I grew up and the things I liked. Even from a young age, I'd go see a movie at the theater and stay to watch the credits just to see who the composer was. And here I am today doing what I always dreamed about doing. Naturally, there were many inspirations for me to follow this path. These are in no particular order, as I believe that each inspired me in a different way, and affected a certain part of my life and my career.

Last week, I finally managed to sell one of my trumpets. No, don't worry. I'm not giving up playing the trumpet. I just decided it was time to let go of the past and move toward the future.

The trumpet I sold wasn't my current trumpet, and the playing style I've adapted to no longer fit the trumpet I once loved. I like to compare it to the square peg in a round hole analogy, except in this case it was a perfect fit until the round peg started to become a square one. It needed to find a way out, and that's…

Deciding to become a musician is a huge step in your career. But deciding it is only the first step. There's so much that goes into it, and you're not going to start right away. There's a lot of preparation involved. But that shouldn't scare you away from wanting to pursue your dreams.

A great place to start is your gear. You don't need everything all at once, but a little bit goes a long way. You want to be a trumpet player? You don't need a Bach Strad. You want to be a composer? You don't need an iMac…