My love of music was instilled in me very young.  My Father and Uncle were musicians and live music was a favorite past time for all.   I became interested in learning to play music at the age of twelve. The drum set was my first instrument.  My Father was my first instructor and started teaching me the fundamentals of different grooves and good timing.  My Father was adamant that formalized training would maximize my playing so we traveled to Tulsa to a drum instructor.  This drum instructor, Craig Stevens, taught me about alternate time signatures, a variety of drumming styles and proper hand technique.  I spent several months with Craig and later transitioned lessons to a local Instructor, Zach Quam. Zach continued on many of the same paths with me, but chose to focus heavily on strengthening my hand technique and my understanding of rudiments and the application to the drum set.

 

Another early musical influence was my High School Music Teacher, John Heavner.  Mr. Heavner worked with me to understand basic piano skills and music theory. I was introduced to the world of performance when I played with a local country band named CWB (Covered Wagon Band). This gave me real world experience. Performing live is like no other form of practice.  You learn exponentially in a short period of time!  While in the band, I developed my steadiness as a player, learned to groove with other musicians and navigate the world of music venues. Some of these venues include Bars, Festivals, Benefits, Casinos and Private Parties. As I came up in high school, my Family, Friends and Teachers encouraged me to pursue higher education in music.

 

I decided to pursue this path and had my sights on The Berklee College of Music.  I was accepted to the Berklee College in February of 2018. I really feel that this was one of my most exciting and overwhelming moments of my musical journey. After graduating High School, I attended a five week intensive summer camp at Berklee. This camp was designed to prepare incoming Freshmen. Again this formalized training really jump started and prepared me for the rigors of musical training at the collegiate level.  While at Berklee, I worked with great teachers covering a variety of different musical aspects including music theory, ear training, music technology and ensembles. I had several drum instructors that worked with me on hand technique, timing and syncopated polyrhythm understanding. I draw much of my drum inspiration from my private drum instructor Marco Djordjevic. I have been around a lot of really great drummers but none like Marco. Whether you want to talk about polyrhythms, steady timing, speed, technique or anything else, Marco would make you question the limits of the human body. He is amazing. Marco helped me to develop many of the playing styles and habits that I have today. As I continued learning about music theory, I took up the guitar to further explore more melodic musicality. I took several electives in guitar and I have the equivalent of a minor in guitar performance. I graduated From Berklee in 2022 and have settled back in Northwest Arkansas.  I have been playing out in NW Arkansas primarily doing acoustic guitar gigs.  I really enjoy both the band and single performer live events.  They bring different dimension to live performance.  During this time I also taught as a full-time instructor on the drum set and guitar. I opened Beau’s Academy of Rhythm in Fayetteville with the focus of giving back to the community by helping new and local musicians reach their musical goals. 

Beau’s Academy of Rhythm wants you to know that,  No matter what age you are, What skill level you are at, What style of music you like or How inexperienced you might be, you deserve to play and enjoy music like any other musician.  You are welcome here at Beau’s Academy of Rhythm!