As a guitarist, Troy is both formally trained and self-taught. Formal music education includes 2 1/2 years of classical guitar study at Southwest Missiouri State University. During that time Troy also took classes in Music Fundamentals, Music Theory, and Piano. He has performed and served as worship director in churches throughout the Bay Area, Sacramento, and his home town of Springfield, Missouri. He toured with the rock band “The Edge” (Now called “Kings X”) in the early 1980s, as a lighting and stage technician, during which time he got to “jam” with a variety of musicians and developed many playing skills.

Troy has a wide range in his musical tastes which he encourages his students to develop. His teaching curriculum encompasses music from Bach to the Sex Pistols. Classes are structured but there is always an emphasis on having fun during the lesson. Troy’s basic music philosophy is that music should, “enhance not encumber” one’s life. In this way students are given latitiude to develop improvisational skills within the framework of the “formal” lesson.

Troy’s primary guitar influences include Andres Segovia, the Beatles, John Denver, Eric Clapton, Pete Huttlinger, and as he says, “too many to remember.” For the past year he has renewed his studies in classical guitar.  He had the profound honor of being asked to perform a solo "mini-concerto" at his daughter's wedding.