As a teenager, Mike was formally trained on drum kit at the South Bay School of Music in Milpitas, and is self-taught on bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion and flute. His ongoing pursuit of music knowledge over the years covers several world genres (particularly flamenco) and his intuitive approach carries into his instructional skills in music as well as other fields (Mike is an adjunct faculty in physics and astronomy at Evergreen Valley Community College in San Jose). During his academic years at SJSU in which he received an BS and MS in Physics, Mike was trained in electronic music programming and studio recording techniques. He also spent time doing research in psychoacoustics, binaural recording and the physiological/psychological effects of music.

Mike performs regularly with various local flamenco troupes and classic rock groups. Mike is asked to handle vocals, percussion, drum kit, fretted/fretless bass, backup flamenco guitar and flute with several other local talents such as:  Koko de la Isla’s flamenco troupe, The Flamenco Society of San Jose, Arte Flamenco, Hassa! Flamenco, Garnada, Hootenanny!, Trikker, Alberto Marquez and Friends, and Dustonious Maximus.

Mike also composes and records eclectic original music and has released albums with Silk Road (Silk Road, 2000) and with Thornapple (Two Days, 2004; Drawbridge, 2006).