With a father who played violin, viola, and piano, Samuel’s journey with music began at the age of three when his parents started him on the violin. He would go on to start teaching himself piano at five, join the Spokane Youth Symphony at the age of nine, and sing choral music all throughout attending his K-12 school. He owes his introduction to composition to his grandmother, who taught him basic chords on the piano, enabling him to write his first piano song at the age of 13, to play violin repertoire and film soundtracks on the piano, to join the worship team improvising on violin as a young teenager, and to begin writing music by hand as a senior in high school.

College gave Samuel a vast amount of compositional tools and instruction, including learning the viola and conducting, but one invaluable lesson he learned was the importance of collaboration. For his graduate recital, he would need an army of musicians. Not only did he have to co-perform fifty minutes of self-composed music, but he had to conduct half of it, meaning it necessarily involved collaboration. By the time the recital was ready to perform, twenty other musicians helped him bring his music to life on stage. After college he continued learning, teaching himself how to mix and master his own music and acquiring the equipment for a complete music recording/composing studio. He began to produce the music of singer-songwriter Jeff Crum, to compete in film scoring competitions, to perform in local orchestras and ensembles, and to be heavily involved in performing on violin/viola in music theater performances in the area.

While studying music over the course of pre-college and college years, Samuel became exposed to a wide range of genres, specifically a mix of Christian, classical, and film. He considers his main compositional influences to be a combination of Christian worship artists like Paul Wilbur and Michael W. Smith; film composers such as Bruce Rowland (“Man From Snowy River”), Mark Mancina (“Tarzan”), Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King”), and John Williams (“Hook”); and classical composers such as Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, and Beethoven. He eventually began improvising piano music in the mornings to biblical Psalms, experimenting with writing his own Bible-themed lyrics, and co-leading worship at his church on keyboard and voice. All these combined various experiences and influences led him to make a conclusive decision: his film scoring career would involve only writing music for films that are edifying and family-friendly.

Samuel is currently working on several projects, many of which involve collaborating with other musicians and composers. In addition to the violin, viola, piano, and keyboard, he is also learning guitar, electric guitar, ukulele, and harmonica. Some of his non-music interests involve spending time with family and friends, reading books, exploring the outdoors, and creating new recipes.