While walking to his house from school as a child, Paul Bloomfield always knew if his dad was home because he could hear "Dark Side of the Moon" blasting from the family stereo.
"I've always loved music," said Mr. Bloomfield, Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Fine & Performing Arts Department Chair. "Music was a big part of growing up in my household. My dad was huge into Pink Floyd and progressive rock, and my mom was into soul music."
Even though he's never played an instrument, the music bug has never left Mr. Bloomfield, so when an opportunity came up to write about one of his passions, although he didn't think he was fully qualified, he couldn't turn it down.
In the last two years, Mr. Bloomfield has written six music reviews for the JazzTimes and New England Concert Review websites, including four reports since the spring of 2015.
"Writing for music came about as a result of photographing," explained Mr. Bloomfield, a professional photographer. "A website I had worked for doing photography, New England Concert Review, they asked me if I could write about music. I said maybe.
"I had written about art for Art New England for a couple years, had done several articles and a dozen reviews over a few years, but I wasn't comfortable with the music because I don't know one note from another. I could only write from a viewer or audience member. But they wanted something to accompany the photography so I kept it within what I could understand, which is the feeling part of the music.
In May, Mr. Bloomfield saw and wrote a review on Crosby, Stills and Nash, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
"With the photography, I'm on stage and I'm next to them," Mr. Bloomfield said. "When I see performances live I like to see their faces because that's when you get the most out of it. The great thing about photographing musicians is sometimes you get to talk to them and interview them, which I've been able to do."
Being published is nothing new for Mr. Bloomfield, who's professional writing dates back nearly a decade when he wrote 10 articles for Art New England. He attended many of the major art exhibits in Western Massachusetts, serving as the website's top art writer for the region.
"I was the main writer for two years for their reviews and what was going on here," he said. "I usually wrote about what interested me, which is usually what you write best about - what you know."