As an active musician, Ron has participated in a variety of bands and ensembles. During his time at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Ron participated in several University ensembles, including the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble, the University of Illinois Jazz ensemble, the UIC Pentareeds woodwind quartet, the UIC Red Ash Saxophone Quartet, the UIC funk band, and the UIC Pep Band. Additionally, while pursuing his masters degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ron participated in the University of Illinois Saxophone Choir. Outside of the school setting, Ron has participated in several church bands and solo RnB performances on the UIC campus. Most notably, after participating in a the 2018 Young Blues artists concert, Ron and his peers were able to perform their original song at the Chicago Blues Fest in 2018. Currently, Ron still conducts solo performances for weddings, vow renewals and more.
As an engineer, Ron has gained a multitude of experiences working with live and recorded sound. At the University of Illinois at Chicago, Ron participated in the Audio Engineering Society and recorded many of the performances for the UIC bands. He often arrived early to performances to set up the equipment for the orchestra, wind ensemble, jazz bands and more. Using a modern mixing board, Ron recorded the concerts and spent great effort perfecting the post concert mixes. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ron has had the opportunity to work with the recording engineers on staff to record the University of Illinois Jazz band as well as the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony. Working with their state of the art equipment, Ron was able to add another level of understanding to his knowledge of working with sound. Differing from live sound, Ron currently is working with 2 artists to record, mix, and engineer their projects. Taking his experience and joining that to his experiential knowledge of pop music, Rnb and Hip-Hop, he is able to produce their albums with great precision.
As an educator, Ron has put his time and effort in. Ron worked as the University of Illinois Pep Band apprentice and director for 3 years. During this time he was tasked with rehearsing the band, and directing them for sports events as well as recruitment purposes. On numerous occasions, Ron led his peers without another faculty director present. With his peers under his instruction, Ron ensured that they performed with fire, attention to detail, and the goal of having fun. He even had the opportunity to direct them on a solo trip to Detroit for the Horizon league basketball tournament. His superiors trusted him with maintaining the ensemble and ensuring that they would be the best band around. Additionally, Ron has taken on several saxophone students and assisted them in learning how to become better musicians. This entailed preparing lesson plans, lesson extension materials, and more.