Daniel is a musician in Lapeer, Michigan. He is presently Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church, Port Huron, Michigan. On occasion he works as a music assistant for the Anglican Church of the Advent, Rochester, Michigan. He served as Director of Music and Organist at Immaculate Conception Church, Lapeer until October 2018. He occasionally assists with music at St. Augustine’s House Lutheran Monastery, Oxford, Michigan, and with the chant of the Dominican Sisters at Mt. Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan. As a private instructor in organ, piano, harpsichord, and music theory his students have gone on to study at such distinguished schools as the Berklee School of Music, Boston, and Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, but most live with music as a joyous part of their life not as a professional pursuit.
Daniel was a resident oblate at nearby St. Augustine’s House Lutheran Monastery, Oxford, for a few years and remains an associate of the community. He has worked at various churches and schools in Michigan, Arizona, Texas, and Arkansas. His wife Barbara was diagnosed with a serious cancer in 2003, and after many treatments and surgeries, she died, at peace in the Lord Jesus, in 2009.
Born in New York, raised in Kentucky and Arkansas, childhood music training began at the University of Louisville and in an accomplished church choir. Undergraduate work with Robert Ellis led to a degree in organ performance from Henderson State University. Graduate studies were with Lenora McCroskey and Dale Peters at the College of Music, University of North Texas, where he earned a Masters of Music in organ performance with an emphasis on early music. At the University of North Texas, he was appointed Teaching Fellow in Harpsichord and was selected by audition for further organ study with Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, noted performer, and widow of the composer Maurice Duruflé.
A church musician since 1978, he has developed skill as a dynamic service player, choir director, and practical composer, as well as a spirited instigator of faithful music with children. He is recognized as an outstanding communicator of both the joy and the discipline of music, sung, played, and heard, and is a workshop leader and speaker on church music with a particular focus on linking new expressions of ancient truths and ancient expressions of living faith into an eclectic and faithful song of the Church. In addition to Gregorian Chant, music from Taizé is a love of Daniel’s and he has planned and led many prayer services following the pattern of the French ecumenical religious community, and when appropriate, has integrated that music, and other Christian world music, into the liturgical life of the various communities where he has served.
Extensive jazz and rock & roll experience has fertilized and broadened his imagination while assisting communication with all ages. A talented composer, as well as trumpet and recorder player, he enjoys many different styles of music from all times and places.
