"Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow." -- wikipedia.org

In the present, I live a varied, eclectic, and diverse life as a musician, teacher, scholar, producer, and conductor. This website is an active/dynamic document/scrapbook of my professional life-in-progress as I experience the world through these five lenses. Most of the items found herein are posted for reference and help me to remember where I've gone and what I've done since my memory seems to fade as time moves on. As I near three decades of existence on this Earth, I am most grateful for this opportunity to reflect and share my work.

I remember entertaining visitors of the Trinidad household at the age of eight with my melismatic vocal meanderings set to the backdrop of Eighties slowjams and power ballads. After obligatory classical piano lessons, I got involved in my school band program playing various instruments including the bass guitar, guitar, piano, and drum set. My desire to become a musician was fuelled by copious but equal amounts of progressive rock, alternative pop, and jazz fusion listening. Ever the music geek, I was also composing eight-bit electronic music using old screamtracker software and I released these tunes [if you can call them that ;)] with the Sonic Equinox 604 demoscene group. Following high school graduation, I enrolled in the Jazz Studies program at Capilano College. Capilano College was the only school locally that allowed bass guitar as a major instrument. At my audition, I clearly remember the adjudicator saying that I had about a sixty five percent chance of getting into the program based on my abilities. You can probably imagine that I felt pretty heart broken for a couple of months but that all changed the day I received my letter of acceptance. While at Capilano College, studying bass guitar with André Lachance and Chris Tarry, drum set with Ken Moore, Graham Boyle and Dylan VanderSchyff, voice with Steve Maddock, ensemble with Brad Turner, and improvisation with Ihor Kukurudza were among my more memorable learning experiences. I graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree and a Diploma in Jazz Studies. A side sojourn into the world of web design also saw me complete a Certificate in Online Publishing at the same time, but that is another story for another time.

During my stay at Capilano College, I formed a series of groups with like-minded friends. Dramatic Adrift, Painted Blank, Beyond Inertia, and Fluent Arugula were among the more colourful of the names of some of my bands. I also worked as a session musician, a co-producer, and I helped to form bands for Mark Berube and Amalia Townsend. The summer of 1999 saw me playing every Monday night with the Aaron Hardie Quartet at a little known dive on Homer Street in Vancouver called the Marine Club [now defunct]. This experience helped to solidify my concept of playing straightahead jazz on a bass guitar. For a time, I was also involved in promoting live music for another downtown Vancouver nightclub called the Purple Onion. While my experience in promotions was relatively short, the outcome of my entrepreneurial spirit resulted in the formation of Elemental MusicWorks, a record production company, Iridium Records, a net distribution arm, and Iridium Publishing, a division devoted to publishing my original songs, tunes cowritten with other songwriters, instrumental jazz compositions, and later, my choral arrangements.

I forged out into the world of freelance music-making as a multi-instrumentalist, primarily performing as a bass guitarist, a drum set player, a singer, and sometimes as a keyboardist or lead guitarist. British Columbia is a centre of cultural diversity and I feel fortunate to have shared the stage with Afro-Brasilian capoeira and batucada group Ache Brasil, Brasilian forro and pagode specialists Zazueira, Chinese folk musicians The Orchid Ensemble, and Filipino folk dance and rondalla group Kababayang Pilipino. I have also enjoyed playing Salsa, Latin Jazz, and Afro-Caribbean music with the Dave Phyall Trio, Orquesta La Clave, Orquesta Tropicana, Orquesta BC Salsa, Malcolm Aiken's Tanga!, the Marlin Ramazzini Orquesta, Ivette Thorp's [D'Talle] Havana Band, Susana Abreu and Latin Roots, Raphael Geronimo's Juno-nominated Rumba Calzada, Jack Duncan's Shango Ashe, Edgar Romero's Salsa Pa'Ti, Ramon Flores's Xarabanda, and the Benavides Band/Candelaria. With these groups, I was lucky to perform on the CBC Radio One/Sounds Like Summer series, on Shaw's Urban Rush, and old VTV Morning Breakfast show, the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and Festival Vancouver. From January 2007 to July 2008, I played at the Libra Room with Johnny Montuno: the John Korsrud Latin Jazz Extravagant Experience Ensemble (tm) where, as alter ego Chris Tumbao, I spent time developing a personal concept of latin jazz bass playing, exploring the C# demented chord, and playing excessively in the saddest of all keys, D minor. ;)

After living a life at sea working as a bandleader, musician, and entertainer aboard the Grandeur of the Seas, the Explorer of the Seas, and the Voyager of the Seas, cruise ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet, I decided to enroll in the Teacher Education program at the University of British Columbia. With the magic of technology, I registered for my courses online after leaving the port city of Cozumel, Mexico cruising the cerulean sea at eighteen knots. Following a year of intensive coursework, and after a successful practicum working with Greg Quan, Dave Fromager, and many fine student-musicians at RC Palmer Secondary School in Richmond, BC, I earned a Bachelor of Education degree, the 2003 Don Wright Scholarship in Instrumental Music Education, and certification from the BC College of Teachers.

Being called to teach is an extremely rewarding vocation and I am proud to be a practitioner in this field. I was hired to establish a music department at St Thomas More Collegiate in 2003 and my responsibilities included coordinating music education, directing choral studies, and conducting the Collegiate Chorale, Twelfth Avenue Vocal Jazz, and the Voices Utopia Chamber Choir. The latter group earned the David Ouchterlony Award, the Charles and Helen Young Scholarship, and the Jean Beaty Memorial Scholarship from the Vancouver Kiwanis Festival. In 2007, Performing Arts British Columbia awarded the group a first place ranking as top choir in the province in their division. This award included a nomination to the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals National Music Festival where they earned a second place national result. Both the Collegiate Chorale and the Voices Utopia Chamber Choir have earned no less than gold rankings at the Anaheim and Seattle Heritage Music Festivals, the Fraser Valley Kiwanis Festival, and MusicFest Canada, the largest music festival in North America. While our success in the competitive arena garnered much positive attention toward the group, and by extension, the school, we were always reminded by the origins of the word competition: to strive and to seek, together. The culmination of five years of choral music making at St Thomas More Collegiate are documented on three recordings.

I remember in my first year of teaching that several guys asked me to help them start a badminton team. I consented to aid them in their quest if they agreed to convince four other guys to join the choir. A deal was made: I learned how to coach and play the game, and the choirs have enjoyed singing with a balanced group ever since. My student-musicians and I have had the privilege of working with many fine student-teachers from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, several of whom are currently enjoying careers as music educators in nearby public and independent school districts. The music department now boasts involvement of a good portion of the regular student body which necessitated the hiring of an additional music specialist. I was blessed to work alongside a gifted teaching partner who led our instrumental ensembles and who also played rocking guitar and mean tympani!

Along the way, I was called on to teach junior and senior level Concert Band and Jazz Band, junior level English and French, junior level Theology, senior level Creative and Critical Writing, and a distance-delivered course called Planning. A veteran teacher and I assembled the student schedules and teacher timetables before the start of every school year. I also volunteered my time as a member of the pastoral team with specific duties in liturgical preparation and I engaged in staff leadership activities as a member of the Associates of Edmund Rice. I was selected to join the Edmund Rice Contemplative Active Committee to form community with a number of like-minded laity working in schools all over North America inspired by the charism and philosophies of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers. My scholarly interest in Edmund Rice began in earnest while I was a high school student at Vancouver College. I am in the process of conducting informal research in order to develop a personal philosophy of education based on Edmundian principles. My intention is also to better understand Edmundian spirituality through my investigations.

Thanks to a professional development grant from the school, I took part in MusicaSacra Colloquium XVII sponsored by the Church Music Association of America and held at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC in the summer of 2007. At this gathering, I learned about the rich history and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church's sacred liturgical music: Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony. I was also exposed to the unique Catholic-American approach of music instruction developed by Mrs Justine Ward and have since incorporated some of her ideas and concepts into my pedagogy. At this event, I also studied chironomy with Professor Scott Turkington, who, as Dr Theodore Marier's [founder of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School] assistant, inherited the Solesmes method of instruction as documented, analysed, and restored by the Benedictine monks at the Abbey Saint-Pierre de Solesmes in France. I continued my investigation of chant and chironomy with the St Jude Schola Cantorum and Fr Lawrence Donnelly.

Community music making and singing baritone with the Jubilate! Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr J Scott Goble, and the Corpus Christi College Chamber Choir under the direction of Tony Araujo, was an intensely satistfying endeavour as these experiences enriched my conducting and rehearsal techniques. I was encouraged to form a community chamber choir called the Kaisahan Voice Ensemble following a strong desire to learn more about my roots and to share these explorations with other young people. The Kaisahan Voice Ensemble is dedicated to exploring choral music written or arranged by Filipino composers, and compositions inspired by Philippine history, culture, and society. We were featured as part of the CBC Radio One/Early Edition Asian Heritage Month 2008 special entitled Under the Radar: From Manila to Metro Vancouver.

A desire to grow further intellectually and searching for different ways to effect change in music education practice led me into the wonderful world of scholarship and graduate work at the University of British Columbia with Dr J Scott Goble as my mentor. I have completed my coursework and am currently writing my thesis with hopes of graduating with a Master of Arts degree in Music Education. My thesis deals with a historical overview of the evolution of the MayDay Group, a unique international community of scholars and practitioners whose purpose is to apply critical theory and critical thinking to the purposes and practices of music education, and to affirm the central importance of musical participation in human life, and, thus the value of music in the general education of all people. Currently, I am the webmaster for the group site and am also a member of the production team for its associated eJournal called Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. I have also served as coeditor of the British Columbia Music Educators's Journal with Dr Karen V Lee which allowed me the opportunity to write wisecrack editorials. This position granted me a seat on the executive of the BCMEA as a member-at-large. Some of my written work has also been published in the Canadian Music Educators's Journal. Blessings abound, I received the 2006 Dean of Education Scholarship my scholarly activities and service to the profession.

I've led a fairly intense life over the last five years and now, I'm taking my version of a break. As of September 2008, I'm officially on leave from both the school and the university. I received a Tuition Scholarship to attend the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California to pursue Theological Studies. My primary intention is to hang out and ask questions at the intersection of faith, religion, culture, and society and to seek understanding of the complex intricacies involved therein. My secondary goal is to increase my knowledge of liturgical practices across a diversity cultural traditions and to devote more time to learning about Edmund Rice. And, finally, I'll look forward to experiencing a different environment. Hopefully, a Bay Area choir or two will have me. I'll probably dive right in to the vibrant music scene both as a music fan and as a music maker, mostly because I'll need to fill every inch of my time with something useful. I hear that Berkeley has some excellent hiking trails! And, you can bet that I won't miss the Vancouver cloud and rain. ;)

I love listening to peoples's stories, writing prose poetry, and reading biographies of musicians, teachers, and hockey coaches. I'm an experimental fusion cook, and I enjoy running and a good workout. I'm into analyzing mixed martial arts combat tactics, watching foreign and indie flicks, and cheering for the Vancouver Canucks when they're winning. I enjoy hanging out with family and friends, coding simple websites, and plotting devious ways to combine older with newer ways of thinking. As a result, if you catch me on a good day, you'll get a chance to hear about my latest wacky project! But, as a bumper sticker once read, 'Don't start vast projects with half-vast ideas!' ;)