While lacking a formal music education, Mark has been involved with music his whole life. Starting with piano lessons at age five, his musical journey, mostly on clarinet and saxophone, has taken him through international folk dance music to musical theater and big band. Along the way, he learned about chord theory while taking clarinet lessons from, of all things, a Hawaiian guitar player. He discovered barbershop in 2010 after receiving a tip about a men’s chorus directed by Darin Drown, whom he had met previously at a vocal jazz festival. Walking cold into a Sound Of The Rockies rehearsal and hearing some of the most exquisite singing he’d ever heard, he was instantly hooked and hasn’t turned back since. And he also knew that this was an opportunity to hone his arranging skills. Adam Reimnitz took him under his wing to teach him the basics, and he’s since had the good fortune to learn from icons such as Brian Beck, Kevin Keller, Aaron Dale, Dan Wessler, Adam Bock. He’s had moderate success arranging for his own as well as other choruses and quartets, although he’s yet to achieve his ultimate goal: having one his charts performed on the international stage.