Mr. David M. DiFilippo has been professionally teaching music in the South Hills of Pittsburgh since 2002. He grew up in the Western Pennsylvania town of Spring Church where he graduated as valedictorian of Apollo-Ridge High School, class of 1997. He attended Carnegie Mellon University, studying both engineering and music for the first year. After choosing to focus solely on music, Mr. DiFilippo was able to continue studying trumpet with Anthony Pasquarelli and also study composition with Nancy Galbraith and conducting with Thomas Douglas. He graduated with University Honors from CMU in 2002, earning a BFA in Trumpet Performance, Minor in Conducting, and Music Education Certification. Mr. DiFilippo has also earned a professional certificate from Berklee Online for Electronic Music Production and Sound Design. At CMU, DiFilippo was assistant conductor for the CMU Drama department productions of Stephen Schwartz’s “The Baker’s Wife” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” During this time, he also worked as an arranger and copyist for the River City Brass Band. In 2001, Mr. DiFilippo was the musical director for Apollo-Ridge High School’s performance of the musical “Brave New World,” based on Aldous Huxley’s novel and featuring DiFilippo’s original musical score. He also performed keyboards, bass, and vocals for No Tune Left Behind, a nationally-recognized character-education rock band. He was the author, composer, and director of “Fall-O’ the Queen,” an original anti-bullying video musical produced with NTLB. Currently, Mr. DiFilippo lives in Bethel Park, PA where he maintains a digital recording studio, working with various local artists, and writing and recording original music. He has also recently finished authoring a digital, interactive music textbook, “Octave Park™ Elementary,” now available on iBooks®.