A native of Michigan, Tim graduated from Kalamazoo College with a major in Music and minor in Theater in 1979. After graduation he traveled around the Midwest for a few years paying his dues with a variety of Top-40 and show bands. During this time he saved up the money for a year at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood (www.MI.edu). That year turned into 10 when Tim was hired onto the MI staff after his graduation from the school. While in LA from 1982-1992, Tim continued teaching at MI, doing recording sessions, and playing in original bands, cover bands, casual bands and Vegas bands.
As the owner of Music Prep, a music preparation service in LA providing computer-generated music scores to individual musicians and corporate clients, Tim was around at the dawn of desktop music publishing. It was this high-tech connection that enabled his escape from the rat race of the music biz in LA to a straight job in the friendlier environs of the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992, when he joined the staff of the start-up electronic music distributors, MusicWriter, (makers of the NoteStation computer kiosk) as a full-time engraver.
Over the next 6 years, Tim worked his way up through MusicWriter, first as an engraver, then as a Regional Sales Manager, and finally to the role of Managing Editor, in which he supervised an internal staff of 6 and an online network of music engravers across the US and in Europe. He also negotiated publisher contracts and served as MusicWriter’s representative to the MIDI Manufacturers Association.
At the invitation of his former Musicians Institute colleague, Vic Trigger, Tim joined the teaching staff at Guitar Activity Center in 1993 on a "spare time" basis. Over the years Tim assumed added responsibilities at the school until, due to Vic’s battle with cancer, he was given the opportunity to keep the school going in Vic’s absence by buying it out. Tim kept GAC going as a sideline to his publishing day-job.
In the wake of the "dot-com bust" in Silicon Valley in the late 90s, Tim returned to the familiar occupation of "musician" once again. He enrolled in graduate school and earned his Masters in Jazz and World Music from San Jose State University. Tim is now a tenured, full-time faculty member of the Commercial Music department of Ohlone College in Fremont, CA (www.ohlone.edu) , teaching Music Theory, Musicianship, Combo Classes, Music History, and Electronic Music. In the world of digital audio, Tim holds Pro Tools 210-level certification, and recently helped design the school's new Pro Tools HD recording studio. Tim also sings with the Ohlone Chamber Singers (www.chambersingers.org), a classical ensemble that has performed throughout Eastern and Western Europe.
Tim has released CDs featuring numerous styles including solo rock fingerstyle, guitar ensemble and full band instrumentation. In 2007 he wrote a multi-movement "Mass" for double-choir and rhythm section, and released a new live album, "Still Kickin', on I-Tunes and Rhapsody. He also created a series of 1-hour ear training albums for educational applications (available at I-Tunes-U.). In summer 2008 Tim travels to Hangzhao, China, as part of a Arts Education cultural exchange program with the Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art. Here Tim will be giving both concerts and lectures on American popular music.
Doubling on banjo, mandolin, and nylon-string, Tim remains active as an orchestra player in many Bay Area theaters including AMT, ACT, TheatreWorks and Foothill Music Theatre.