N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID CRAY HAS A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! JANUARY 1ST, 2024!
N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray’s Crayfish Creations Custom Music Packages are now available on Jan 1st, 2024!
Watch a great webinar I created. It is totally free! Find out more about how to make musical memories using a custom music package and other ways to use music.
In this webinar, we will discuss the science of how music helps with memory creation.
You will get to hear some fun samples of my music. Meanwhile, learn about how I used music to help create memories with my wife.
Plus, I will provide a neat PDF of
“10 Principles of How to Create a Precious Memory”,
based on my award-winning poem
“A Precious Memory”.
Here is the link to sign up for N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray’s Fun Making Musical Memories Webinar!
N.C CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S FUN “MAKING MUSICAL MEMORIES” WEBINAR www.mmmwebinarsignup.davidmichaelcray.com
Because I wanted to create something special for you, here is another
Crayfish Serving from N.C. Classical Guitarist
David Michael Cray!
My album “Dying to Live” is available now!
David’s newest album came out December 15th!
Here is the link to the site where you can order:
N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S NEWEST ALBUM “DYING TO LIVE” FOR SALE! https://davidmichaelcray.bandcamp.com/
Check out these offers by clicking on the links below. For more
information about each offer, follow the link
or visit N.C. Classical Guitarist David Cray’s Store page for photos,
links, and descriptions.
These are the public prices for these items.
There is a special discount for those who watch my webinar above
called “Making Musical Memories”:
1. N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S Crayfish Creations Classical Love Piece Package: Custom music with 10 merchandise bonuses with free shipping.
2. “Dying to Live” album by N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST David Michael Cray
3. (Free!) :”Little Miracles” N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S First Classical Improvisation Album released in 2018
David is available now for in-person and streaming performances. As things are starting to open up again he and his wife are fully vaccinated and will be taking precautions to protect our Crayfish Clan audience.
Contact david at:
info@davidmichaelcray.com to book anytime.
David is booking out the whole year and beyond.
N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S SHORT BIO:
David Michael Cray graduated high school & college from UNCSA. Then, he attended Berklee College of Music & Brevard College. He studied privately with Aaron Shearer who had the most competition-winner students in the world. While studying at those prestigious schools, David studied with a Segovia student(Gerald Klickstein), with a “Ted” award winner(Roger Cope), with Larry Almeida(UNCSA), and with Robert Calmes. N.C. classical guitarist David Cray also performed in master classes with many top performers & teachers worldwide including five Grammy award winners.
He performs solo classical guitar pieces from every musical period including hymns, Broadway tunes, popular songs, & unique original finger-style improvisation. He performed with the W-S Symphony twice in 1994 & meanwhile has performed over 1200 times since 1990. With the Christian Rock Band “Zion” he performed concerts & shared the stage with “Overflow”. Overflow had 2 Top 40 hits on Christian radio. David regularly performed at Celebrate Recovery in the band “Surrendered” at a church in W-S, N.C. for 5 years.
David was the founder & guitarist of Contemporary Christian Rock Band: “Temples of the Spirit” (where he met his wife Dianne). They performed his original music and cover songs. “Temples of the Spirit Productions” is named in honor of meeting his wife in that band.
His album “Little Miracles” came out Nov.30th, 2018 & is available for free through his email list. Sign up today for free!.
His poetry was published in the International Library of Poetry’s “Best Poems & Poets of 2007” & a few other coffee table books. He received an honorable mention in the Chirascuro Magazine’s Poetry Competition.
Contact David for classical guitar performances & studio work at: info@davidmichaelcray.com.
Sign up at https://davidmichaelcray.com/newsletter to get free MP3s of his music, free poetry & wellbeing tips.
N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST
DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S FULL BIO:
THIS IS N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY!
David was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on July 2nd, 1973. David Michael Cray is a classical guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer, lyricist, and award-winning poet. Since 2012 David has been a North Carolina-certified mental health support specialist.
After attending Cary High School from 1987-1990, David auditioned and was accepted to U.N.C. School of the Arts for his senior year. He graduated from both High School and College at the North Carolina School of the Arts where he majored in classical guitar performance. David also briefly studied jazz, rock, and classical guitar at Brevard College in N.C. He also is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Later , he studied to become a N.C. State Certified Peer Support Specialist and worked at the Mental Health Association of Greensboro for five years. There he helped people who struggle with mental health challenges. David Cray integrates what he learned from that work into his performances and his social profiles posting inspirational quotes and wellness tips.
David has always loved music and performs his original music as well as music from all time-periods. His main focus is on music and the arts. Nevertheless, he shares the life lessons he has learned from all the great teachers and experiences he has had in his life. It is his dream to use his music to spread a message of peace, joy, and love to people so it can be a catalyst for promoting health and well-being.
N.C. Classical Guitarist David Cray’s Guitar Teachers:
First, David studied guitar privately with Robert Calmes (a Professor of Literature and the director of the writing program at St. Joseph’s Seminary College) before attending UNCSA.
While at UNCSA he studied with the infamous classical guitar teacher Aaron Shearer. Shearer published 13 books with Mel Bay Publishing and received an Honorary Doctorate from Duquesne University. Dr. Shearer has since passed away. Nevertheless, he achieved amazing things in his life and had the most competition-winner students in the world while he was alive.
David also studied privately with a student of the great Andrés Segovia Torres named Gerald Klickstien. Klickstien is the Founder of Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Professor Klickstein taught at North Carolina School of the Arts (1992-2012), Univ. of Texas at San Antonio (1989-1992), Michigan State University (1986-1989), and Lansing Community College (1980-1985).
Meanwhile, his second private teacher was when he got to UNCSA. There he studied privately with Larry Almeida (assistant professor at UNCSA).
While at Brevard College David studied privately with Roger Cope. Roger Cope was a Brevard College affiliate professor, who also taught at the University of Southern California, He is a Times-News “Ted” Musician of the Year, and a student of Aaron Copeland, Leo Brouwer, Bruce Holzman, and other great musicians.
David has performed in masterclasses with many internationally renowned classical guitarists including 5 Grammy award winners. Moreover, has studied with amazing guitarists and teachers such as:
Aaron Shearer (see above);
Gerald Klickstein (see above);
Larry Almeida (see above);
Roger Cope (see above);
William Kanengizer (from the L.A. Guitar Quartet, Mr. Kanengizer is a Two time Grammy Award-winner with recordings with DG, Delos, Sony, Telarc, and GSP Records);
Bruce Holzman (He is a Professor at Florida State University, and he used to be tied with Aaron Shearer for having the most competition winner students in the world);
David Russell (He has recorded with GHA, Telarc, and Opera Tres record labels, and is a 2004 Grammy Award winner);
Ricardo Cobo (He was decorated with Colombia’s “Order of Cañasgordas” and the “Order of Belalcazar”, he has recorded with Naxos, Ellipses, and Essay Records);
Sergio Assad of the Assad Brothers (he is a two-time Latin Grammy Award Winner with records with Sony, Nonesuch, and the Assad’s label);
Paul O’dette (He is a famous Lute Performer with 5 Grammy nominations, has 120 Recordings, and is a Professor at Eastman);
Norbert Kraft (He was a Professor at Manhatten School of Music, Univerity of Toronto, and Royal Conservatory of Music, He won the 1975 Canadian CBC Radio and 1985 Andres Segovia International Guitar Competitions, he was Gramophone Magazine “Critic’s Choice 1989”, and was awarded Classic CD Magazine’s “Favourite CD of the Year”, he has records with Naxos Records);
Andrew Zohn (He has Publications with Les Productions d’Oz, Canada, Tuscany publications (Theodore Presser), and FJH Publication, he has recordings with Clear Note and Centaur Records, and he is the winner of 5 national and international competitions).
N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray’s Performances:
David has performed over 1200 performances in many venues as a solo artist and with various bands. He has also performed twice with the W-S Symphony at their “Pops in the Park” concert series.
Crayfish (David’s nickname) performed weekly in the Contemporary Christian Praise Band “Surrendered” for five years at Celebrate Recovery at Pinedale Christian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Then, he also performed in the Christian Rock Band “Zion” from Eden, N.C. for a little while, even sharing the stage with the band “Overflow” who had two top 40 hits on Christian Billboard Radio Charts.
Later, David founded the Christian Contemporary Rock Band “Temples of the Spirit” which was together from 2009-2012, where he met his wonderful wife. She was the lead singer in that band for a while.
Dianne and David were married in 2012 and are very happy together. Temples of the Spirit gave David an outlet to perform his original compositions and other Christian rock music cover songs and turned out to be the place where he met the love of his life!
David began working with people with mental health challenges in 2012. While working for the Mental Health Association of Greensboro (M.H.A.G.) for five years until February 2018, he began performing live improvisation every week. He gave these performances in support groups that he facilitated. This was a kind of therapeutic music and information session where he gave patients information about M.H.A.G. Meanwhile, he also let them know a little about himself and gave inspirational talks and performed classical guitar repertoire for them.
This helped him to prepare for two albums of improvisational finger-style guitar music that he self-produced in his home studio. “Little Miracles” was released on November 30th, 2018. Meanwhile, he also released almost 75 Music videos from 2021-2024 on his Crayfish clan-David Michael Cray Youtube channel and curates a few playlists on there and on Spotify as well.
Pick up some of David’s other great offerings at his Crayfish_Creations Zazzle store at the following link:
N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S ZAZZLE STORE LINK : https://www.zazzle.com/store/crayfish_creations
First, David learned recording engineering from studying sound engineering in an internship at Whitewater Recording Studios in Asheville, North Carolina in 2000. He also developed his skills through studying on his own very intensely since then. YouTube is so handy!lol. During that time, he also got a lot of help from online courses, books, and many hundreds of blogs and email newsletters too! David is thrilled to make albums on his own! His second album is coming soon!
In October 2016, he began his music business “Temples of the Spirit Productions”. He gave it that name in honor of meeting his wife in that band. Because of doing more work with his music, he left the Mental Health Association of Greensboro to pursue his music dreams more seriously soon after. Now he performs mostly in and around the N.C. area, but is open to expanding!
Fun Fact: In studies, it was shown that people who attended concerts regularly were happier even than people who practiced yoga regularly. It is also believed that they live longer. More study needs to be done on that. Musical experiences are possibly one of the most effective tools for mental health and are probably the most widely used tool too!
David is glad that he can still contribute to people’s health and well-being through his gift of the music. He is excited that he can help by performing and with the tips he gives through his social media, Crayfish Clan email subscription, and blog posts!
N.C. Classical Guitarist
and Poet David Michael Cray’s
Writing:
David also began writing poetry in 1991. In the spring of 2000 he received an Honorable Mention in Brevard College’s “Chiaroscuro Magazine” poetry competition and was published in the 2000 issue. His second award was being given the chance to be in the International Library of Poetry and Poetry.com’s “Best Poems and Poets of 2007” coffee table book.
He has been published in three coffee table books including:
2008: The International Library of Poetry’s “Best Poems and Poets of 2007”;
2007: Noble House’s “Centres of Expression”;
2005: The International Library of Poetry’s “A Surrender to the Moon”.
He has finished and is preparing to publish two full-length books of original poetry and lyrics. One of which is Christian and the other secular. He just has to get the covers and artwork done! Therefore, make sure to be on the lookout for those too!
For Booking N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray:
David Michael Cray is available for classical guitar performances for :
Receptions, Weddings, Concerts, Dinner music, Meditation Groups, Retirement communities, Dance performances, Yoga groups, Restaurants, Private parties, House concerts, and other events. He keeps his rates reasonable for more opportunities to share different types of music with people who may not have heard this style of music.
David is also available for studio recording, songwriting, and compositions. He occasionally has taught guitar privately as well.
Here is what someone said about David’s performances:
For more Testimonials look at his Testimonial Page to see what people are saying about him!
Links to his music, books, and other merchandise will be available on the pages of this website. They also will be on his store’s pages on Bandcamp and Zazzle at the following two links:
N.C. CLASSICAL GUITARIST DAVID MICHAEL CRAY’S NEWEST ALBUM “DYING TO LIVE” FOR SALE: https://davidmichaelcray.bandcamp.com/
N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray’s Zazzle Store link: https://www.zazzle.com/store/crayfish_creations
Again, don’t forget to get his album “Little Miracles”. It is now available for free through his email list.
Enjoy the rest of this website and check out David’s other profiles at:
Facebook.com
Instagram,
Twitter,
and REVERBNATION
Have a truly blessed day, and may God fill your life with peace and joy!
Fill out the form below to hear more about N.C. Classical Guitarist David Cray. You will get updates on upcoming performances and releases of books, CDs, digital downloads, cool merchandise, and more Crayfish Clan Subscriber bonuses.
Meanwhile, he also includes some inspirational tidbits in his newsletter to try to share some of what he’s learned about mental health and well-being from his training as a mental health support specialist and the life lessons he’s had. Sign up now to get inspired!
N.C. Classical Guitarist David Michael Cray’s Newest Album “Dying To Live” For Sale: https://davidmichaelcray.bandcamp.com/
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David appreciates your support and encouragement so much!