I grew up playing the trumpet. Alas, adulthood doesn't afford me enough time or opportunity to keep my embouchure in good shape, but piano, guitar and singing are keeping me in the musical game.

My kids are both really into music, too. My daughter is a pianist and vocal music educator (erdawson.com, YouTube). My son plays saxophone, clarinet, flute, and myriad other woodwinds, along with piano and voice, and attends Boston Conservatory at Berklee (xkdawson.com, YouTube).

Singing

I sometimes sing with the Trumansburg Community Chorus. They meet for two sessions each year, with a series of concerts at the end of each one. I also have sung on stage as part of shows or musicals, though lately I've been getting non-musical parts, too. Here, you can see me get roughed up a little bit in Encore Players' Glory of Love: A Cabaret and hear me sing Love and Marriage and Mister Cellophane.

Playing Guitar

I started taking guitar lessons many years ago with Bill Gregg, using a rent-to-own dreadnought-style Yamaha guitar from Hickey's music. I rented to own, but then it collected dust. I've picked it up again, though, having purchased a newer (nicer) Fender. It's a Tim Armstrong Hellcat, a concert body style acoustic-electric. I love the sound, and I love that I can plug it into our amp here at home and use it along with our mic setup. I also own a black Fender Bullet® Stratocaster® HT HSS and Positive Grid Spark amplifier. I recorded a series of my favorite songs and put them on my YouTube channel.