I grew up in Goshen, Indiana, a land of cornfields and maple trees. I also grew up Mennonite, which, because instruments were not historically allowed in church services (too prideful), when it comes to making music this meant a cappella, four-part hymn singing –you can’t beat it!

My parents forced me to take piano lessons for a time, and eventually started me on this incredible squawking beast called the oboe; they said some day I'd thank them. Thanks, Mom and Dad. At some point in late middle school, my frazzled band director looked at all four of us oboe players (can you imagine the hair-raising sound four junior high oboists make playing in “unison”?!) and begged one of us to try a completely bizarre-looking instrument called the bassoon. I thought it seemed pretty cool, definitely much more masculine, sure to be a big hit with the girls, so I decided to give it a try. I spent a week in the practice room with a fingering chart and joined the band on a piece—and I remember this clearly—called “Greasy Kid’s Stuff.”

Fast-forward to the present: after finally making my way through school at Goshen College, Cincinnati, and Eastman, I’m now based in Columbia, SC, at the University of South Carolina, where I teach bassoon, coach chamber music, and help direct the Southern Exposure New Music Series on a shoestring budget (we Mennonites are very thrifty). Along the way I’ve accumulated some amazing life experiences—tops among them traveling and playing music on five continents— and am so lucky to have an amazing wife, flutist Jennifer Parker-Harley, two beautiful girls, and cat and dog who don’t get along at all. I don’t have any spare time, but if I did, you’d probably find me hiking or reading or running or doing just about anything outdoors, ideally in northwest Michigan. And, thanks to Alarm Will Sound, which is essentially extended family, I still play music that might aptly be called “Greasy Grownup Stuff.”