Jess V  
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Bass Guitar, Synthesizer, Music, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Electronic, Spirituals, Soul, Avant-garde

My life has always been about music, not only in performance, but in teaching, and collaboration. I believe everyone has music in them, no matter what age. One afternoon when I was watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood I saw in the episode a classical pianist. I was so enamored by the sound of the piano and the classical piece that was being performed I immediately ran to my room, turned my little keyboard on and did my very best to imitate what I saw and heard. Displeased with how my playing sounded I started crying. My mother came to me and asked me what was wrong. I told her that I wanted to play piano like Mr. Rogers' friend on the show. I was four years old and from that day forward my musical journey began. I continued piano lessons and often got in trouble with my teachers, I played by ear, and while my piano playing was superb, my sight reading lacked immensely. I took guitar lessons at age thirteen to expand my musical experience, and while I loved playing classical piano I wanted to be in bands and play rock n' roll. Guitar came very naturally to me and in a matter of months I was writing my own songs and fronting bands. From middle-school to high-school I continued to study guitar and classical piano and began my own teaching business and teaching music is where I finally began to understand sight reading and theory. When I graduated I went to Goshen College to study Piano pedagogy, I quickly switched my major to teaching and shortly into the semester I was offered a job as a head music director for a youth program at a local church in Mishawaka, IN where I worked on staff for eight years, training hundreds of young people to play music and sing, many of which are now professional musicians. While teaching and directing in Northwest Indiana I began to write and compose music for my own projects which led me to traveling overseas and touring across America, playing thousands of venues, sharing the stage with well known artists all while sharing my music. I've also recorded dozens of records from coast to coast. I lived in Nashville, TN for a few years composing, recording and performing, and recently moved to Atlanta over the last two years. Since living in Atlanta I have been part of a musical collective called the Cabbagetown Chronicles and co-founded a production company Wigglesworth Productions where I compose and produce music for short films.