Richard has over 25 years of experience in the music industry as a professional musician, researcher, educator, and producer, with expertise in composing, playing bass, music directing, and producing. He holds a B.M. in Jazz Studies from USC, an M.A. in Educational Technology from CSU Northridge, and an M.A. in Applied Musicology from Utrecht University. He co-founded the band Present Tense, releasing two critically acclaimed albums, and later identified a gap in high school jazz education, where outdated teaching methods stifled student engagement. His work with PlayTheGroove.com addresses these issues by providing educators with innovative, diverse, and flexible pedagogical tools and content aiming to transform the way music is taught in secondary education through student-led approaches and emphasizing process over product.