About Me

I began playing the trumpet when I was 7 years old (1988). Both my parents played trumpet and mellophone and that got me interested at a very young age. I started taking lessons from Dan Farrell (current Program Coordinator of the Phantom Regiment) in 1990. From then on I have studied under Tom Asher (Trumpet, Rockford Symphony Orchestra), Mark Ponzo (Professor of Trumpet, Northern Illinois University), Marcus Goddard (Grad student under Professor of Trumpet John Rommel, Indiana University), the late Larry Wiseman (former Professor of Trumpet, DePauw University and former Lead Trumpet, Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra in Washington, D.C.), Peter Bond (Trumpet, New York Metropolitan Opera), and Dr. Grant Peters (Professor of Trumpet, Missouri State University).

Both of my parents, aunt, and uncle marched in the Phantom Regiment during the 60's and 70's. My grandfather was the corps director in the late 70's. I was literally born into drum corps and the Phantom Regiment. I had wanted to march ever since I can remember. I finally decided to start marching in 1992 at the age of 11 in the Phantom Regiment Cadets (formerly the Phantom Legion). I marched there from 1992-1994. I then moved on to the Pioneer out of Milwaukee, WI from 1995-1997. I then took a season off of "drum corps" and performed with the elite Star of Indiana Brass Theater in Branson, MO at The Grand Palace Theater in 1998. I concluded my marching years with the Phantom Regiment in 1999 at age 18. I was the Assistant Tour Manager for the Phantom Regiment in 2003. I have been on the 2009, 2011 Brass Champion Carolina Crown Brass Staff since 2008.

I graduated from Bloomington High School North in 1999. I began attending DePauw University the Fall of 1999-Spring 2001 under a music performance scholarship seeking a degree in Music Education. After Spring 2001, I took some time off of school. Reasons being money and I definitely needed a break. I immediately auditioned for BLAST! (see Blast! II: Shockwave). I resumed school Spring 2003 at Indiana University for one semester. I quickly found that IU wasn't for me. After some heavy convincing from some peers in Springfield, MO I applied and auditioned for what was then Southwest Missouri State University and is now Missouri State University, where I attended from Fall 2003-Spring 2009 on a music performance scholarship. I graduated from MSU in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Music Education.

After leaving DePauw University in Fall 2001 I immediately auditioned for Blast!. Soon after I was notified that I was accepted. I remained On-Call for just about 1 year when I got a phone call from the Brass Manager. I was to move to Orlando, FL on May 15, 2002 to be part of the Disney Cast of the brand new production Blast! II: Shockwave! I performed at Disney's EPCOT in the American Garden's Theater until the end of August 2002. Those 4 months were the highlight of my musical career until I got hired in 2005 to tour Japan with Blast! After three weeks of learning and putting the show together, the Blast! cast toured 15 cities in Japan on a 12-week tour.

On July 18, 2009 I married my wife, Jean. See below for a clip of "Our Story."

One of Jean and Joe’s favorite activities is to go wine tasting. Their
favorite winery is the Oliver Winery that is conveniently located in
Bloomington, IN (Joe’s hometown). Throughout the past couple of years,
they visited Oliver every time they visited Joe’s family. It
was always the same procedure: go to the winery, do some tasting while
waiting for Joe’s family to arrive with Buffa Louie’s subs and wings,
and purchase a few bottles of wine while enjoying a picnic out by the pond
behind the winery with the family. What better place?? Joe began to
make the arrangements. Not an easy task with busy and conflicting
schedules, plus trying to keep it away from Jean. Joe finally found the
perfect weekend and played it off as a trip to visit his family on
Father’s Day and, of course, to visit the winery. Anyone who knows Joe
knows that he is a terrible liar. When Jean started putting things
together..."I know he has the ring...and he’s been awfully adamant
about this upcoming trip to Bloomington....is this it?", Joe started to worry.
Thankfully all of her friends and even her parents lied
about it. Somehow Joe pulled it off, and she no longer believed that this
was "it." So they took the trip to Bloomington in June as scheduled.

June 11, 2007
The day was perfectly sunny and beautiful. Okay...it was
a really hot day, but still beautiful. Jean and Joe went to the winery
and did some tasting, Joe’s family began to trickle in and found a
picnic table per usual. Joe took Jean on a walk around the pond and
began to revisit memories about their relationship. Once they got to
the backside of the pond he asked her to close her eyes. He faced her
toward the winery and dropped to one knee, held out the box and opened
it, she opened her eyes and he proposed. She said yes and he placed The
Ring on her finger. Oh and to her surprise, her family showed up as
well. It was a very special day, a perfect day. The rest is
history...