Daryl Lowery

"I grew up in a musical family. My father was a woodwind player and my mother taught piano—she started teaching me when I was five. I started playing saxophone in third or fourth grade, and started bass guitar in junior high school because I wanted to play in a rock band. In high school my best friend was a bass player and we started a band together, so since then I've played mostly sax and flute."

"My playing is rooted in African American styles: jazz, R&B, and funk. But for fun I listen to classical music and rock, including stuff I grew up on, like Led Zeppelin and the Who. I also have a graduate degree in software engineering, but in my computer applications class I teach that technology is not an end in itself—it's a tool to make our life easier when we make music."

"I'm a very active performer and still practice my instrument several hours every day, just like I did when I was younger. The things that I learn when I'm practicing I share with my students. I also have a fairly structured practice routine that I teach my students; I want to make sure they know the most efficient and powerful way to benefit from the time they spend."

"Music, in my mind, is the best expression of what it means to be a human being; I would like my students to go away appreciating how important it is to understand that. And, because music is so important, out of respect for it we should work and develop ourselves as much as we can, so we can contribute as much as we are capable of."