Andrew's Tale

The Man:

The Music:

My mother taught me how to read music in Elementary school and I then went to a magnet Junior High in Houston, Texas. I had to take two fine arts classes so I chose guitar and hand bells. I only took 1 year of hand bells but it taught me the complexities of music and how to sort through it to discover its pattern. I took three years of guitar lessons and in High School I played guitar in Jazz Band and Alto Saxophone in Concert Band. This also helped to read music as well as to sight-read. I gradually learned basic and advanced music theory through school and on my own. Towards the end of High School, I started playing the flute, banjo, and recorder in my spare time.

When I came to The University of Texas, my focus was science and computers. Music was just a way to relax. I was always afraid to take the music too seriously by taking classes on it. I thought that the classes would dictate what I could write and how I should play. Like many artists, I despise limits, restrictions, and deadlines on my creativity. I met Marc in the dorms and we became good friends. Then, about a couple of years ago, Marc was putting a CD together of some songs from his Autoharp. He wondered if I might put my recorder on a couple of the songs. They sounded great and we still play at least one of the songs at all our shows.

In February of 1999, Marc was playing at the South Mall at UT when someone came up and asked if he would like to try out for a new Renaissance Faire east of Austin. He was of course enthused and mentioned it to me. I begged and pleaded with him to let me in because I had grown up next to the Texas Renaissance festival and had always wanted to play there. Marc consented and we practiced five tunes that were well rounded and we felt we could play well. They liked us and we played at the Excalibur Fantasy Faire in Smithville. I started playing with him at UT during lunch for practice and for exposure. We have started playing at bars, clubs, restaurants, other faires, parties, funerals, and weddings. We finished our first CD in the fall of 99 and are still going strong. The music is still relaxing for me and I love it every time I can play. I have always enjoyed meeting people and It is wonderful to hear things like "your music made my day" or "sounds great guys."

Before this I always played my music for me because I thought no one else would truly appreciate it but now I will continue to share it as long as there are people who wish to listen.

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