Bio

From a very early age I was inspired by others to play music.  It started with cousins who owned guitars and played songs from the current Top 40 radio list.  In high school many of us formed bands to imitate and emotionally channel the music of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, to name a mere few.  Along the way we all drifted in and out of various idioms like Country, Bluegrass, and Folk.  At the core of all this early musical activity was a tremendous love of music that bound us all as kindred souls.  We deeply desired this type of emotional and spiritual activity in our lives, daily!

In time I trotted off to college, enrolling at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  It was there I was introduced to the marvelously wonderful, complex, and exciting world of jazz.  Over the four years of completing a Bachelor's degree in Music (Composition) I was part of a student body that honored all musical expressions of the heart, soul, and mind.  All music was honored and reverenced as valid and true!  I was taught as much by students from literally all over the world, as much as it's world renowned faculty such as Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, and Herb Pomeroy.

After six years as a music educator in public and private school settings, my life took a slight detour for the next 30 years as an ordained minister in the Navy as a chaplain, as well as parish and academic settings.  During these years I shared my modest musical abilities with countless individuals, institutions, and productions literally around the world!  These settings included the very young, elderly, and all ages in between.  In time, I branched out from my principal instruments of percussion and woodwinds, to embrace more fully my childhood love of guitar, banjo, mandolin, and in the last 15 years the humble, but indomitable, ukulele!

Today, the musician formally known as Dana Reed is Captain Uke!  My purpose is to share the life-enriching gift of music with as many people as possible.  (This website is in large part testimony to that goal!)   I want you to know how an active involvement with music may just be a life-saving gift!  Together, playing and singing could be a life-changing experience with world-changing effects.  Do YOU believe that?