About

So who is the guy behind the scenes? That would be me, Dave Schmid. Since every Web site should have the infamous, “Who I Am” and “What I Do” section, this would be it…

Who I Am:

The first part was easy. I’m Dave. The rest will probably be a bunch of blah blah blah… But that’s what personal Web sites are all about! Since this last update, I’ve taken almost 33 years worth of time on this planet… The last 8 years in Saint Louis. A few years in Fort Wayne and the rest in Kansas City. (For those of you keeping score – I’m a Chiefs fan… Not a Rams fan!)

What I Do:

For my day time hours, I work for Citigroup as an Applications Engineer. I’ve actually had three or four titles since I’ve started but Engineer works for now (maybe I’ll get that resume dusted off!) I have an obsessions with maintaining graphs of seemingly useless information. I also keep a few other Web sites and write some basic applications as well (but please don’t call me a developer! You wouldn’t want to see my source code!)

When the day is over and I’m kicking back at home, I work on my other passion in life… Music. Of course, this Web site is a pretty good outlet for that as well. Since I’ve now updated this site for the fourth or fifth time, while at the same time not adding any new music – it’s safe to say that I’ve been goofing off or working more than I should be!

I also try to get out and travel as much as I can… Whether that include visiting my family in Kansas City, heading out of state to visit with friends, or even skipping out of the country and head over seas… (I’ve been to Spain and England a few times…)

My Music:

Now pertaining to my music… I’ll have to start out with some of my background. I too did the piano/organ thing as a kid. Mom made me sit and practice for 30 minutes everyday… I’m sure it did some good, except that I never wanted to play the Chopin, the Mozart or the finger exercises. I only wanted to play the music I heard on TV and the radio. What fun… I gave that up for a bit until I saw my first keyboard. I just had to have it… It was one of those all-in-one types but I had never seen anything like it. I soon enough hooked it up to my computer since it had MIDI on it (oh yeah… MIDI Tracks Pro on an Apple IIe and then later with a Roland MT-32…) That hooked me, at least until College. Then I had to have other cool keyboards… At the time it was a Ensoniq TS-12.

I graduated with a bachelors degree in Music Composition from the Conservatory of Music – University of Missouri – Kansas City… UMKC for short. That was a pretty good start for most of what I wanted to do with music. My primary instrument is Trombone, which I’ve been playing for the last 12 years or so. With that came playing in quite a few ensembles including the Kansas City Youth Symphony (including a 2-week tour through Spain during the World’s Fair) and the UMKC Jazz bands, Wind Ensembles, and Orchestras. I think there were a few musicals in there as well… I originally wanted to be a commercial composer, writing film & television scores, commercials, and corporate soundtracks. I think that there was a hiccup in there somewhere because after I started doing it for a bit, I didn’t really like it. I did spend some time as a staff arranger for the UMKC Roo’s Basketball Band. Now that I did enjoy… You’ll find some of those tunes up here as well…

All said and done, I’ve done pretty well picking up a few instruments along the way. You can check those out under my Equipment pages. I manage pretty well with keyboards, drums, and the trombone. I purchased my first guitar in an attempt to figure that out a few years ago… Looks and sounds great… Just wish I could play it! After that, perhaps the saxophone… who knows…

Final Words:

So now, in a nutshell, I pretty much write the music that I like to write. If I had to describe it, it’s somewhere between the “everybody hates to love” bubblegum pop music and a mixture of my favorite genres (that would be pop, dance, trance, techno, R & B, blues, funk, jazz, and fusion.) Hopefully you’ve had the chance to grab a few songs for your own collection. If not, quit reading this blah blah blah and get to it!

Usage Rights:

The music on this Web site is for personal use only and may not be used at this time in any commercial fashion. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard, links are appreciated.