Derek received degrees (MM,BM) from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy. He was a lecturer at the University of Michigan and the University of Toledo, and is currently on the faculty of Eastern Michigan University and Interlochen Arts Academy. In addition to playing in the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra, Derek is a member of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and substitutes frequently with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Derek was also a member of a select international committee organized to rewrite the Suzuki bass method and is an active clinician at Suzuki Institutes nationwide. He owns four basses: a 300-year-old Italian bass, a 200-year-old French bass, and two modern instruments. He frequently plays recitals with his wife, Anna Bittar Weller, a violinist, both in Italy and the U.S.