My Hobbies

I have been a musician since 5th grade, and I have been an oboist since 7th grade. Music has been a major part of my life, and I have been involved in music performance throughout my education.

I have been heavily involved in music performance at Eastern Washington university. I have performed in the EWU Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and Jazz Band. I have also performed in small ensembles, such as Eastern's Woodwind Quartet, and on other students' recitals as an accompanist, and on gigs which I recieved through my connections with students and faculty.

During my time at Eastern, I have recieved personal instruction to prepare for professional auditions. The music department at Eastern Washington University has a commitment to prepare students for professional careers in music. Pursuant to this end, Eastern's ensembles frequently perform music from a standard repertoire.

With Eastern's Symphony Orchestra, I have performed Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Dvořák's New World Symphony, and Brahms's Variations. Recordings of these performances are available on Eastern's General Collection of Music Performances

Before I decided to pursue a degree in computer science, I was on track to earn a bachelor's degree in music composition.

View the full playlist on Youtube: 6 Little Fugues, or see my Music Portfolio for more compositions.

I have been making my own oboe reeds since high school. This is a common practice among oboists; since the reed is the most important part of the instrument with respect to the production of tone and timbre, many oboists prefer to make their own reeds. It also allows the performer to contorol several qualities of the reed, such as hardness, or the air pressure required to produce a response.

Pictured is my current case of reeds. There are six sometimes-playable reeds, and fourteen blanks. The blanks are reeds that have been shaped and tied, but not scraped. After the reed is tied, it is scraped to the desired thickness.

Some of my reedmaking tools:

A useful infographic about reedmaking: