Charles Jared Robinson is the owner of his own tuning business called Justified Tuning, the name being a play on words that references both his method of tuning – justification – and his Christian faith. In fact, before going to Music College he spent a year at the Word of Life Bible Institute in upstate New York.

It was in church as a small boy he discovered his passion for music, and although he is a church musician, he has no difficulty playing "secular" venues, and has in the past played in hotels and similar venues.

As a seven-year-old, when service at the White Hill Gospel Hall Chapel was over, he would go up to the piano and plink on the keys with one finger. Several of the members would mention to his parents that "that boy's interested in music".

"So at the age of eight I went to my first piano teacher, a lady by the name of Mrs. Clark, from England. When she returned to England I went to study for a short time with Mrs. Dzofonoo at her studio on Burnaby Street," he said.

"After that I went to the teacher with whom I spent the most time, Mrs. Olivette Morris, the first black woman in Bermuda to pass the Grade 8 Royal School of Music examinations, and also the LRSM.

"At The Southampton Glebe, as it was called then, I was an attentive student, and as I was already a piano student, and tall for my age, Mrs. Ricketts thought the cello would be a good fit. I became fascinated with the cello."

At Warwick Secondary, his favourite subject beside music was dance, which he studied with Linda Manders, who was, he says, 'a fantastic teacher'. Jared also joined The National Youth Orchestra under Major Kenneth Dill. He was by now playing four instruments: cello, clarinet, tenor sax and piano, beside singing in the church choir.

After attending Word of Life Bible Institute, he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he majored in piano and music education. As he was already playing several instruments in high school, he found instrumental studies easy, except for the brass. He got a scholarship from the college, and a Ministry of Education grant helped to pay his tuition. His parents took up the slack making sacrifices for which, says Mr. Robinson, he is profoundly grateful.

In Boston, he had little or no social life; he didn't have a girlfriend. It was all study, practice and church.

He remembers an unpleasant incident which he believes was a result of racial profiling. He'd gone into a store to buy a Mother's Day card, and was searched!

Also, he says, he was told never to get off the bus in South Boston, he confides, a little wryly.

Now he is a multi-instrumentalist and teacher, having mastered string and woodwind teaching in college, and has taught at several schools in the public and private system, including West Pembroke Primary, and Warwick Academy.

Recently he returned from a course of study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in Cardiff. While there he had the opportunity to play in one of the only two jazz clubs in the city.

He learned piano tuning in Boston when Carl Schectman, the former owner of Pianos Plus, afforded him an opportunity to study, in return for his dedicated service upon completing his training.

Jared elected to serve in the Bermuda Regiment Band when he was drafted, and had the opportunity to visit Britain where he was attached to the Royal Anglian Regiment Band for two weeks. With the Regiment he also visited Hong Kong and Jamaica.

In Hong Kong he recalls wryly that, with the handover of the colony to China pending, the Bermudian lads were highly sought after by the ladies there as possible spouses with British passports!

While abroad, he found himself losing his Bermudian courtesy while adapting to different social norms, and on return to the island was called out on this by some friends, who wanted to know why he waas "snubbin" them. But he's quickly readjusted, he's happy to say.

He hopes to continue growing his business as both a piano tuner and teacher.

He does not think he could give up the freedom and flexibility of his new schedule to return to the classroom, although he would relish the opportunity to teach the youth some of his musical skills.

'They could channel their aggression in a positive way; one guy could say to another, after riffing on his saxophone: "Beat this. Then the other could respond with his own riff ... de da da da da da on his horn, instead of all the crazy violence going on now."

Reflecting on his time at Warwick Academy where he taught at the primary level for some three years, he said: "The parents were phenomenal. When you planned an outing, the parents were right here, fully supportive.

"And Kent Hayward is doing a phenomenal job with the jazz band. He gives them the basic tools of theory and technique, and they play!"

"The last time I heard his jazz band ", he says a little wistfully, "they were smoking the stage!"