I’m Darrin I am a DC area native (and avid DC sports fan!), born and raised in Alexandria, VA. I’ve been teaching for about 17 years as of this writing, and what is there to know about me other than I love music, music history, and music theory! I graduated from Greensboro College in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance and International Studies. My approach to teaching has always been that regardless of what my students ultimately end up doing with their music studies, my hope is that come away with a greater understanding of, respect for, and and appreciation of music that they can share with others for the rest of their lives! I love spreading my own passion for music with others, and I hope my students can develop their passion for music through our lessons, as well! As far as my personal musical passions, I have very diverse musical tastes with my favorite bands being Chicago and Earth, Wind, and Fire. I love most genres of music from jazz to rock, from hip hop to K-Pop. I also love learning about new bands and music from my students that I may not have discovered on my own. I look forward to getting to know all of the Highland Music students better in the future! Fun Fact: I used to live in Hong Kong, where I studied Comparative Literature, Music Psychology, Popular music throughout the decades, and Chinese Music history. I am also studying Korean and Japanese on Duolingo!