John’s private studies started at age eleven. And at age thirteen he began taking lessons with Herbert Couf, then first clarinetist of the Detroit Symphony, who encouraged him to attend the Interlochen Music Camp, “I went there for five summers and it broadened my musical scope by 200 percent.” John eventually attended the University of Michigan where he played in the marching band under the direction of William Revelli, as well as studying the clarinet with Alberto Luconi and the saxophone with Larry Teal. After leaving the University of Michigan, John decided to continue his education in New York City at The Juilliard School. He first worked with Bernard Portnoy, former first clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and would continue to do so throughout both his bachelor's and master's degrees. “Mr. Portnoy taught me how to play symphonic music, how to take an audition, what conductors would look for, what to do and what not to do in terms of legit clarinet playing. He made me very flexible in terms of the literature of the symphony orchestra.” John continued his studies in NYC with Joe Allard, the famous teacher of multiple woodwinds (doublers), who was a major influence towards his post graduate degree.

John got his start in Broadway through Herbie Harris, a well-known Broadway contractor and fellow substitute musician with the New York Philharmonic. His first show was 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this really put him on the Broadway circuit since it was a Bernstein show, this ultimately led to his big break with Sweeney Todd, a Sondheim contemporary Opera. This opportunity gave way to a close friendship with Stephen Sondheim as John has explained, "I went on to do all of Stephen’s shows, including Merrily We Roll Along, Assassins, Into The Woods, Follies, one after another – they were all great. Everything he wrote was a masterpiece." During this time John was also experimenting with more abstract approaches with artists such as John Cage and Philip Glass, "We played all the contemporary composers and then it became the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), which did many contemporary recordings, and then went on to perform the composers from all over the Americas, as well as Canada. We rehearsed late or whenever we could, and put on concerts at Carnegie Hall. In addition he toured the United States and Europe with Luciano Berio and Dennis Russell Davies, conductors of The Berio Ensemble."