Hey everyone! 👋 Andy here. I’d love to take a moment to tell you a bit about my story as a musician. I studied Suzuki piano growing up for 14 years, and picked up percussion mid-stream as I joined my elementary school’s band program. On this day, my Dad was never happier, as he was a cover band drummer through college and made it a point to encourage music making for me whenever he could. I’ll never forget attending a Billy Joel concert with him and hearing him say to me “not a bad day at the office, eh!?”

After a very intense period playing in drumline and participating in drum and bugle corps, my work in college became very focused on chamber music and technology. I had a quartet of studio colleagues that came together, rehearsing 10 hours per week on our own, and ultimately having a website (in 2001!), an album, many concerts, and a showcase performance at our national convention that paired live chamber music with interactive video.

It was through this quartet, that my passion for collaboration and project-building codified. Not long after, I co-founded Nief-Norf, a performance collective that could shape-shift to take on all sorts of interesting projects. The ensemble, later became a full-fledged contemporary music institution, and is now a non-profit that, for ten+ summers, has hosted an international summer festival, mentoring musicians through contemporary music making in the areas of performance, composition, improvisation, and research. During this time, I also inherited the percussion professorship at the University of Tennessee, where I have re-built the UT Percussion Studies program from the ground up.

Looking back on my journey thus far, I’ve seen how multi-dimensional this work has been. After all, percussionists really have no solid footing to begin with, as our instruments and genres change daily. Embedded in my instrumental practice is a required curiosity that has served me well in my portfolio career. Decipher which grains sound best when sprinkled onto a cymbal—sure! Install a microphone under water—Tuesday’s to-do list. What is the best way to suspend 200 paper bags for next week’s show—let me do some research…I could go on :)

In addition to a musicianship that has been bolstered by this interdisciplinary work, this project-based learning has taught me a lot about budgeting and fundraising, focus and intentionality, community building, automation and productivity best practices, and preparedness. Each of these areas are part of a real artist’s life, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned, if it can help others.

So, I’m at the beginning of another exciting segment in my work…where I’ve built a new program where creative music makers can come together to celebrate the multi-dimensional, hybrid nature of our careers. Where we can embrace that we are not only performer or composer, scholar or improviser. Where we can break out of our current identity and share something new that more holistically captures our artistic vision.

I’m so thrilled to hear about the road you’re looking to forge. After nearly twenty years of coaching and mentoring others, and being at the helm of these various institutions, I’m very excited to run alongside you and see what we can make together to help you live your best creative life. 🆎