 He studied composition at Kent State University with Harold Miles, John White and Fred Coulter, and at University of Wisconsin–Madison with Hilmar Luckhardt, Robert Crane and Burt Levy.He was a school music teacher 1962-65 in Ohio, and his early performance experience was as a trumpet player in US Navy bands (including the USS Iowa BB-61 ship's band) and in ensembles in Ohio and Wisconsin.In 1970 he joined the faculty of Dalhousie University, where until 1994 he was associate professor of composition and theory.