My formal education in music started in the fall of 1984, when I first picked up the alto saxophone. My teacher was Chet Hedgecoth, a drummer. I still play sax.

My next music teacher was John F Abel, a trombonist, who directed the jazz emsemble I played baritone saxophone in, along with Scott Pederson, a trumpeter and music arranger whose father, Don, a bari player and music professor, gave me tips and encouragement.