Jesse Blair is a composer, guitarist, teacher, and mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in music composition from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  His musical journey began with piano and guitar lessons from his parents, but he was mostly self-taught until recent years, focusing primarily on rock and electronic music.  While obtaining his BS in Mechanical Engineering at NC State, he was the guitarist and primary songwriter for the rock band Stopping on Green.  

 

After graduating he worked in the aircraft hydraulics industry as an engineer for two and a half years.  While working, his musical aspirations became stronger and stronger and he decided to enroll as a composition student at UNCSA.  

 

The four years he spent at UNCSA gave him a solid foundation in music composition, and provided him with work experience as a teacher and a recording assistant.  His primary teacher was Michael Rothkopf, but he has also studied composition with Kenneth Frazelle and TV commercial scoring with Liz Myers.