MY STORY

Blake is the oldest brother of five siblings, all with very strong personalities. He has always been a little wild, a little fun, and little distant from the others. He always felt it was his job to protect them, even if they didn’t always know it.

He loved music from a very early age. His first instrument was piano, which he didn’t enjoy much (if he knew then how much he would end up playing piano maybe lessons might have been more interesting!). But playing drums – that was much more fun. He played drums in jazz band through high school while also getting interested in tuned percussion and enjoying hanging out in the back of the band with the other percussion geeks. He started performing in community theater in high school. Theater also brought him to NYC for an amazing summer in the CAP-21 program.

At Whitman College Blake spent a lot of time doing theater, performing in both plays and the one musical a year the school produced (the college was weirdly convinced that there wasn’t much of a relationship between the theater and music disciplines). It is no surprise that his music training was primarily classical, and he ended up with a vocal performance degree. His favorite college experience was a choir trip to Europe where they sang in cathedrals and roamed the ancient streets in Estonia. He went on to graduate school to study teaching. 

Blake loves to read, devouring mostly fantasy and science fiction. Kindle Unlimited has become his favorite product ever.

He began teaching in Seattle’s Central District in 2014, and in 2019 moved from Washington Middle School to Garfield High School. He loves the work, particularly in a diverse community. The kids are so full of life and passion and even when they are rascally, they are rarely cynical. He teaches both choir and percussion, including drum line for brand new drummers. A few years ago, Blake formed a partnership with the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses who have brought both professional-level clinicians and open LGBTQ discussions into the public schools. This partnership has also given his choir students the chance to perform each year at McCaw Hall, Seattle’s opera house. Blake strives to decolonize the music classroom while building a culture of inclusivity and self-directed learning.

Blake also adores his other job, which combines his passion for drums and his football fan spirit. He plays bass drum with the Blue Thunder, the official drumline of the Seattle Seahawks.