{"id":187,"date":"2013-05-16T10:22:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T00:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonshanks.com\/?page_id=187"},"modified":"2015-08-19T10:22:29","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T00:22:29","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonshanks.com\/music\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"music biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I could barely stand up to the piano at an early age, I was blessed that my loving and patient mother who was recital pianist numbered and taught me the notes as we sang through 70s pop songs, ballads and show tunes together. My dad was handy at the piano too and had been the bugler during his WWII days. I was eager to join the band in school but as it was not until 4th grade, I settled for the being the snare drummer in assemblies during my 3rd\u00a0year. The next year I wanted to be a trumpeter like my dad but they really wanted someone to fill the empty tenor sax spot they had. My mum was delighted it at least wasn’t as the drummer (boom boom crash!) Despite it\u00a0looming over\u00a0me\u00a0in height I fell in love with the instrument\u00a0well beyond the time I was actually tall enough to play it standing up.<\/p>\n

I’ve continued to expand my\u00a0musical experience as an acoustic\/electro multi-instrumentalist in a number of ensembles over the years and played in tours on the west coast of the US & Australia, as a digital music producer, and as a field recording engineer in locales as deep as the Amazon rainforest. Prior to and\u00a0while\u00a0acquiring a\u00a0 BFA<\/abbr>\/MFA<\/abbr> in Music from the California Institute of the Arts<\/a> in Los Angeles, CA I\u00a0had the opportunity to study with many a renowned artist.<\/p>\n

Mentors\/Teachers:<\/h3>\n