Vooo

William Henley-Dias

Lives & works in Oakland, CA

     I grew up in the LA area and began working in music during high school as a drummer, guitarist and bassist for several indie bands. Two of these bands received placements on TV shows such as "Parenthood" and "Shameless." At that point a self-taught musician with experience but no formal training I started a music degree in Santa Cruz, CA. 

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     I quickly became fascinated with music theory, and in my final year was hired as the sole tutor of the music department's year-long interdisciplinary theory course, primarily working with students on ear-training skills. I graduated with honors and studied classical guitar with Christopher Mallet and William Coulter but also performed in jazz ensembles directed by Stan Poplin and Karlton Hester.

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     In my second year I became interested in learning jazz piano and began studying outside of school where my primary instrument had to remain classical guitar. At the time I had a weekly residency playing bass with a jazz trio and when our piano player moved away, I decided to take the opportunity to throw myself in the deep end, reforming the group with new players and taking over the piano. Playing a live show every week for two years forced me to continue learning rapidly and since then, piano has become my primary instrument.

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     I began seriously composing and producing music in my third year, and since then I have written and released three albums. I scored and performed live music for a feature length play, created a film soundtrack, wrote and performed music for three contemporary dance shows, arranged pieces for full orchestra and composed the soundtrack for a museum exhibit (details on musical works page).

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     In addition to performing, composing and producing, I have been teaching music lessons for 5+ years, emphasizing musicianship and an accessible understanding of theory for both classically trained and self-taught musicians.