In 1972, I entered the "Universidade de Brasilia"(UnB) to study Composition and Conducting. During my studies there, I learned how to play the piano, violin, oboe, flute and double bass. In 1977, one year before my graduation, I had my first contact with percussion instruments. I became so excited about the possibilities of these instruments, that I decided to start concentrating all my efforts in learning them. At that time I was 24 years old, and learning a new instrument was a very difficult experience that called for many sacrifices in my life. For the next two years, I took once a month a 22-hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro in order to take lessons with Luiz Anunciação from the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira. With Luiz I not only learned basic percussion technique, but also how to treat percussion instruments in a very fine and sensitive way.

In 1980, I received a scholarship from the German government, and moved to Wurzburg to study percussion with Professor Siegfried Fink. A complete new percussion world opened-up to me in Germany, and in the next three years I learned all that I should have been taught in the previous 10 years of my studies. At that time, I began writing my first percussion pieces as a way to develop my marimba technique (Suite Popular Brasileira and Sonata for Vibes and Marimba). After I finished my second undergraduate degree in Percussion and Pedagogy from Wurzburg, I returned to Brasilia where I started playing in the Orquestra Sinfonica do Teatro Nacional. In 1985, I returned to Wurzburg to finish my Masters Degree. In 1986 I wrote the Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra as a part of my Masters project and I performed it at my final recital with piano accompaniment.

In 1986, I returned to Brasilia to my old positions as percussion instructor at the Escola de Musica de Brasilia, and as timpanist in the Teatro Nacional. Because no pedagogical material for percussion was available in Brazil at that time, I decided to start writing my snare drum method book, and later the studies for mallets and multiple-percussion that became my main tools for teaching. Because no percussion degree was offered at Universidade de Brasilia, in 1988 I moved to Santa Maria, RS to start teaching at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). UFSM is one of the few institutions in Brazil that has percussion instruments available. Santa Maria became one of the two most important centers for classical percussion in Brazil, and students from all over the country moved there to study with me.

In 1992, I received my Doctoral Degree from the University of Miami in Coral Gables. Because I had studied a great deal of classical percussion and avant-garde repertory in Germany, I decided to extend my musical knowledge by concentrating more on the studies of jazz, computer and composition in Miami.

Upon returning to Santa Maria, I taught at UFSM until 2000, when I moved to Miami to become the Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Miami.