After spending years learning under Director Dr. Shane Lynch at Washington & Lee University, I’ve been able to apply my conducting and directing skills to many ensembles at HUC and pulpits, like CBE’s monthly quintet of instrumentalists or Project Harmony.

After my rabbi suggested (strongly) that I try it out, I picked up a guitar for the first time at 13. I’ve barely put it down ever since. With 14 years of guitar playing and accompanying in services and song sessions, my guitar is an extension of myself when leading prayer. At HUC, I’ve grown my skills to accompany not only expected communal melodies, but also traditional chazzanut and nusach — and even my classmates’ performances.

Much of my early Jewish professional life has been in the setting of religious school, so Jewish education holds a place near and dear to my heart. From Kindergarten to post-b’nai mitzvah teens, I’ve taught nearly every age group (and to the shock of many, middle schoolers are my favorite). I also love teaching adults, whether I’m filling in for CBE’s senior rabbi in our weekly Torah study class or engaging with those building their Jewish journeys in our Basic Judaism class. Some examples of my work can be found here.

One of the incredible things I’ve learned at HUC and Congregation Beth Elohim is how to weave the traditional modes of chanting our liturgy (nusach) with contemporary melodies and music. Both in school and in the field, I have actively woven Shabbat, High Holy Day, weekday, and Festival nusach into the services I’ve led, without alienating modern, Reform community.

Throughout my academic career, I have written original music and arranged others’ music to work within the context of different musical opportunities. I have arranged and written for choirs, instrumental ensembles, voice and piano, and many more combinations. While more formal musical composition is always a pleasure, the ability to embrace a single voice and a guitar in a folk or singer-songwriter style will always be my natural inclination.