My History

Grade School

Growing up, I surrounded myself with music as much as I could. On top of being a part of school choirs every year since the third grade, in elementary school, I would stay past school hours to attend an extracurricular after-school choir club, while in middle school, my choir teacher would often convince me and a few others to sacrifice some of our lunch time to learn extra songs. By the time I attended Westview High School in Portland, Oregon, I discovered an even bigger interest: my love for a cappella music. By my senior year, I was actively participating in three of Westview’s choirs- an advanced vocal ensemble, a competitive choir, and a non-audition men’s choir, all while attending after-school musical rehearsals or a cappella group rehearsals for one of the two a cappella groups I was in- Fretless and Y-Chromotones. It was in these latter two groups where I had the opportunity to arrange for both and even took Westview’s AP Music Theory course to assist me. After graduating, I continued to create multiple arrangements for the Y-Chromotones.

College

At the University of Oregon, I joined the gender-inclusive a cappella group on campus, Mind the Gap, and had some of the best years of my life singing with them, competing with them, and getting to know them. I spent four years with this group, the last of which was as their music director. Mind the Gap aside, I was also a part of Eugene, Oregon’s local a cappella group, Verdant, for about 6 months, and got to learn and appreciate the differences between collegiate and professional a cappella. As far as my classes in college went, I continued learning about music theory and gained many skills I use in my arrangements to this day. On the “hobby” side of things, I spent a lot of my free time teaching myself how to create solo, a cappella pieces for my YouTube channel and have been improving these skills ever since.

The Present

After leaving Mind the Gap and moving back to my hometown, I set my sights on approaching the world of a cappella professionally. I have since arranged a song for Mind the Gap that they used at the 2023 ICCA Quarterfinals, as well as the entire 2022 and 2023 ICCA Quarterfinals sets for Power Chord, Oregon State University’s all-inclusive a cappella group, the former of which they placed third in! Furthermore, I am taking classes at the Atlanta Institute for Music and Media with the ambition of gaining a Certificate in Music Production to be able to professionally produce music for a cappella groups and all kinds of music beyond.

The Future

Having been involved with music, and especially a cappella for many years, I know the struggle of trying to get one’s music out there. After months of work and going through 4-5 different people to arrange and produce each step of a song, not only are miscommunications a likely possibility, but it’s a process that can often cost upwards of $1,500 per song.

My ultimate goal is to one day be able to ease this process and offer my services as a package deal: a one-stop shop that includes arranging, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering, and is provided in the quickest, most cost-effective way possible, all while ensuring the best quality product and being a valuable contribution to the greater a cappella community and musicians at large.