Benjamin B

I was born in Burlington, NJ in 1990 while my father was touring with the Air Force Jazz Band as a trumpet player and lead vocalist.  After moving around for many years while my father and mother pursued higher education and furhtering career opportunities, we finally settled down in Okinawa, Japan.   My parents begfan working for the Department of Defense Schools System in August of 2003 at the repective middle school and high school on Kadena Air Force Base.  I continued my music instruction from middle school choir through high school as a top tier singer and solist.  My father's rigorous musical instruction and lightheartedness modeled for me a prime example of how an educator should educate. I pursued my Music Composition Degree from Western Washington University and was awarded it in June of 2012.  During college and after I formed the habit of recruiting students, especially freshman, as voice students.  I was receiving my own voice training at the university and constantly read about healthy breathing techniques and balanced phonation, watched endless hours of opera singers to model their craft, and taught music theory to younger students as well.   Temporarily, I was a teacher's assistant for an upper division Orchestration class and second-year music theory at the univeristy.   After graduating from Western, I got plugged into a few private music schools in the area until I settled teaching part-time at Bellingham Academy of Music (formerly Bellingham Music Academy) in December of 2014.  Private instruction there has been challenging as the transient nature of students is also a struggle.  However, it has been immensely rewarding and my students are loyal and fiercely passionate about music and the effect it has on enriching their lives.