Perry N-

I was born in 1981 in Dallas, TX as the fifth generation of a family of artists and musicians. I grew up in a household environment that had paintings and instruments everywhere; but it wasn’t until I turned 11 that I was inspired to pick up the electric guitar and learn the alternative rock riffs and sounds of the day. I started playing a nylon string guitar for a music class at school since I had no desire to play recorder, and met my first jamming buddy and we formed our first band.  All this time I was absorbing the sounds of the nylon string guitar through the music of Ottmar Liebert, Gypsy Kings, Segovia and Sabicas that my parents listened to, so I decided to undertake the task of teaching myself sight reading and classical guitar technique. I was accepted to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as a music cluster student. Once I was there I attended workshops w/ concert artists, played solo recitals, as well as with various ensembles, and even formed a jazz-fusion-rock band with my peers.  Following years of jazz studies and private classical lessons, I received a full scholarship to attend SMU as a classical guitar performance major with Robert Guthrie, the master student of the Romeros and Segovia. I completed my studies and earned my BFA at SMU in 2005. I began to pursue a professional career as an artist collaborating on several recording projects for soundtracks and albums, solo gigs, in addition to, performing locally as a member of several Swing, Jazz, and Rock bands.  I have performed at local festivals such as ArtFest, The Swiss Avenue Historic District Home Tour, and at many other local events  and venues. In 2008, I realized one of my greatest passions is to instruct the guitar and pass the knowledge of its sublime musical language, proper technique and posture to future generations. My students have competed in UIL competitions and have been accepted to the music cluster of Booker T. Washington, University of North Texas, and most recently the Master’s Program of Berklee School of Music in Valencia, Spain.