Ryan is a composer, author, pianist, music producer, and teacher. Ryan is the author of a music theory and composition textbook entitled The Theory and Creation of Music. He has won awards for his ori... ginal music, such as his first place award for Best Original Film Score in the Montgomery County Film Festival in 2011. He also has performed in prestigious venues like the Takoma Park Jazz Festival and the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Ryan has written music in orchestral to electronic styles and performed as both a classical and jazz pianist. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production. He was accepted in 2013 with a scholarship and finished the four-year program only two and half years later. He has studied with great teachers such as the amazing composer and concert pianist Jeffrey Chappell. He has also studied guitar performance on the side and experiments with different instruments whenever he can.read more

My passion for music began when I was seven years old. It all started for me with composition and improvisation. I love to create my own original music, and I have since the very beginning of my music... al journey. To this day, composition and improvisation are some of my favorite things to do and teach. My love of creating original music inspired me to write an educational book on the topic and develop my own unique method for approaching these topics. My teaching philosophy includes an integrated method of intellectual and creative development. It is truly unfortunate that so often music theory is presented as a mere collection of naming systems and rules. To me, understanding music with the mind is a key ingredient to becoming an effective and inspired artist. In music lessons, I teach not just how to talk about music but the fascinating complexity of how music operates -- the fundamental principles that illuminate the translation of sound into thoughts and emotional expression!read more