At the age of 7 Theodore was exposed to a piano in his grandparents' basement, and played it every chance he was given. It was by good fortune they saw how much he enjoyed it and arranged for piano lessons to begin. Thankfully this helped him realize at a young age his passion for music. Several years later he discovered the sitar, and went through the process of exploring music from all over the globe. By his early teens he had a small assortment of instruments, his favorites being the harp and sitar. It was around this time that he began falling in madly love with Latin American & Indian classical music.
He collected a large array of recordings by many great artists such as Félix Pérez Cardozo, Hugo Blanco, Facio Santillan, Alfredo Coca, Asad Ali Khan, Z.M. Dagar, and Vilayat Khan to name a few. It was through these recordings he was able to learn the subtleties of these forms of music. While in high school Theodore also began to construct his own instruments, and owes a lot of credit to Louis Webster for teaching him how to build flutes. His instruments are played worldwide, and have found their way into the hands of many talented musicians.
After high school Theodore decided to move to Chicago to pursue his love for music. Here he was exposed to even more forms of music which led him to take up lessons in Korean, Indian, Cajun, Bulgarian, and Irish music under many great teachers. His focus eventually narrowed down to his first love Indian classical music, as well as Cajun and Irish music.