Hans believes that music is a cultural flower with each blossom celebrating the diverse roots of its community-ecosystem and the horticulture of its peoples' histories. Hans' garden has been tended by a formal education featuring fertilization from world-famous classical and jazz instrumentalists (including Darrel Grant and Jerry Hahn at Portland State University), landscaped by international musical cooperation from NE Brazil to Mexico's gulf coast (including work with Miguel Bernal, Son de Madera, Laura Rebolloso, and Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Jorge Alabé, and others), and amended by experience with special needs populations (including work with Creative Goal Solutions in Portland) and participation in centuries-deep afro-latin dance and martial art forms (like capoeira that he studies with Pedro Cruz and Capoeira São Salvador). Whether he's teaching one-on-one lessons on a host of string (guitar/requinto jarocho/cavaquinho…) and afro-latin percussion (congas, pandeiro…) instruments, or he's leading innovative group workshops (including work with Ethos, Joy Now Arts Project, Latino Network and others), Hans' top priority is to sow the seeds which sprout lives lived in love with music.