Write what's true.
Four hours a day, and a flashlight.
Paul grew up in Lenox, Massachusetts, home of the Tanglewood Music Festival and summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His mother was a piano teacher who ran practice with an iron fist: four hours a day before he could go outside.
When the festival was in season, young Paul would slip onto the empty stage at night with a little flashlight to play the orchestra's nine-foot concert grand. He was caught only once, by Rudolf Serkin, one of the most revered pianists of the century. Serkin thought it was funny, and gave him a few lessons.
An audition with Dan Hartman.
Through his older brother's records, Paul moved from Beethoven to rock and roll. As a teenager he auditioned for Dan Hartman of the Edgar Winter Group and was offered the road. His mother, a college teacher, said no: finish high school first.
A full scholarship, and the call of the road.
Paul arrived at Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full scholarship for classical piano. But he wanted to be a rock musician. He left to tour, and spent years wondering, "What if I stayed?"
Opening for Bonnie Raitt.
Through his twenties Paul toured with Blind Date and the Zarvis-Allen Band, opening for Tower of Power, Orleans, Bonnie Raitt and many more. From Bonnie he took the lesson that still guides every song: write from the heart.
An album written in his head.
The rock scene of the '70s and '80s came with a cost, and addiction took over Paul's life before he found his way out. He has now been sober for many years.
Through the hardest stretch, with nothing but a Casio keyboard he could reach on Sundays, Paul wrote an entire album in his head: chords over lyrics, tempo and time signature, sung over and over until he knew every note. When he finally recorded it, he felt like he'd been playing those songs for years. His song "Fly Away" tells that story honestly.
"I'm going back to Berklee."
When the world locked down, Paul finally answered his old question and enrolled in Berklee Online's Music Production degree. There he found a mentor in Grammy-winning producer and professor Prince Charles Alexander, who kept telling him three words: "sing, sing, sing."
He expanded into film scoring, foley and cinematography, and wrote REDEMPTION, his cinematic score. His story was featured twice in Berklee's Take Note magazine, and in 2026 he graduated from Berklee with his bachelor's degree.
TanZar Music, and what comes next.
Paul lives in Albany, New York with his wife Tanya and runs TanZar Music from his home studio: songwriting, keyboard sessions, production, mixing and vocals. He is a Nord Keyboards endorsed artist, and his song "Gray Inside" spent five months at #1 on the ISINA Rock Chart.
Now he's bringing fifty years of music to film, television, trailers and games.
