While it is possible for me to teach and share the most advanced concepts of music theory to students without ever mentioning God as the origin of said concepts, it is not desirable. I do not like receiving credit for being a genius or for being an expert in music theory or improvisation. It is not only uncomfortable - it is not true.

I spent my entire life from 1968 until 1991 playing, writing, performing and studying music. At the classical college I attended the theory teacher thought I was a genius. At Berklee I tested out of all their levels. It was not until I gave my life to the Divine Child Jesus in 1991 that I actually began to see and understand music as a gift to humanity that we might come to understand the Heart of the God who created all of us.

I do not want to leave this life without having documented some of my thoughts on this matter which, in my opinion have been Divinely inspired. I have never read or seen any of the "connections" that I make between God and music in any books or treatises. If they do indeed exist somewhere then I am adding on to God's gifts manifested in a fellow human. There can be no harm in that.

If however they do not exist then it is truly my responsibility to document these thoughts for the specific purpose of glorifying, praising and thanking God.

I have written down every cool theory idea I discovered or was taught/shown since I fist began studying music seriously in 1977.

I still visit this notebook regularly to touch in on concepts and ideas that form my personal approach to composing and improvising. I have shared many of these concepts with students and fellow musicians over the years but that is a relatively small number of people compared to the possibilities if I make this information available to the public.

Some of these things will end up in my "Mark's Theory" video series. Some of them will end up in my "How to Play the Blues When You Don't Have Them" video series. Some of them will be posted in my series called "The Map" and I will place all of them here for you in FREE pdf's. Just click on the link below to email me.

Be specific as to which pdf's and for which series you are inquiring about.

One night (circa 1998) when I was playing with my jazz trio the drummer approached me on a break. “Mark,” he asked, “I have noticed that you never call a blues. Why is that?” I simply answered, “because I don’t have them.”

Later I thought about my answer. “That would be a great title for a method book! How to Play the Blues When you don’t Have Them.”

From 1995 until 2014, when I stopped doing clinics due to an increase in my performance obligations, this book provided countless students with easy entrance into the major music universities and colleges in America, often with partial or full scholarships.

My students regularly won first and second place at their state and local high school jazz band festivals, and a couple of them even received downbeat awards.

My last hard copy of this book sold a couple of years ago so I am just going to put the whole thing up here with videos for free.

Enjoy!

This series is called the Map because I am going to share all of the things I think of or all of the tangents I take when I am coming up with ideas for the other videos on this particular channel.

There will likely be no organized rhyme or reason to the posts but it can simply make for a more enjoyable channel when one has a variety of places to go to explore and learn.

Subscribe to my channel or don’t. I am here for you or anyone interested.

God bless you!