Brookside Online Faculty
All our online music instructors are professional musicians and excellent teachers. Most of them have graduate degrees in Music. They are also dedicated music educators who are experienced in online teaching. They are passionate to work with you to fulfill your need of musical learning.
Dr. Sheung-Ping Lai
Music Theory, Composition, History, Pedagogy
Dr. Lai received her D. M. A. in Composition from The Ohio State University, her M. M. in Composition from Cleveland Institute of Music, and her M.M. in Music Education (Jazz Pedagogy Focus) from Capital University. She has substantial college teaching experience in the U. S. and in Asia. Dr. Lai believes that cross-cultural music making and education can enlighten souls, break cultural barriers, bring people closer together, and achieve global harmony.
Dr. Matthew Kiroff
Composition, Piano, Contemporary Music, World Music, Free Jazz
Dr. Kiroff earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at The Cleveland Institute of Music. He later earned a Doctorate from Cornell University studying composition with Karel Husa and jazz with Karlton Hester.
His spectrographic analysis of the music of Cecil Taylor was published in Jazz Forschung, Graz, Austria. His quintet “Ombre” was performed at The International Society of Contemporary Music’s World Music Days, Warsaw. He has received numerous awards and grants from The Foundation For Contemporary Arts, The ASCAP foundation, The Ford and Cleveland Foundations, The Bascom Little Fund, The Ohio Arts Council, and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Currently he teaches at The Cleveland Institute of Art as well as maintaining a private teaching studio.
Lisa Clark Augis
Voice
Lisa Clark Augis has been a vocalist, voice teacher, and music clinician in Central Ohio for over 30 years. She has been a featured singer with The Columbus Symphony Orchestra, The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra, among many others.
Rachel Sepulveda
Voice and Piano
Rachel Sepulveda is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and arranger skilled in pop, R & B, jazz, and Latin styles. She has performed abroad singing for international audiences at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, and also MusicFest Canada. She received her Masters of Music in Jazz Performance at Western Michigan University.
Hector Garcia
Classical Piano
Hector Garcia obtained his Master of Music at Indiana University, specializing in piano performance and music education. His piano teaching experience spans over 35 years, and includes instruction of both advanced students and beginners from the very young to adults. He conducts piano studies online with Elena Abend (University of Wisconsin) and John Bloomfield (Golandsky Institute, New York).
Maria Prentice
Classical Piano
Maria Prentice graduated from Capital University with Bachelor’s degrees in Piano Pedagogy and Performance. She has been teaching, using the Suzuki Philosophy, since 2016; and began taking Suzuki Teacher Training in 2018. Maria has been teaching private piano lessons to students ranging from the ages of three to adult, as well as tutoring college music students in Class Keyboard.
Tony Bonardi
Jazz Piano
Tony Bonardi received his MMME (Jazz Pedagogy Focus) from Capital University. He has been wowing audiences with his creative keyboard skills for over twenty years. Now residing in Columbus, Tony keeps a busy schedule playing with variety of acts throughout the Midwest. Currently, Tony is the Jazz Piano Faculty at Capital University (Conservatory of Music). He also teaches at the Columbus Jazz Arts Group and offers online lessons.
Meagan Cramm
Violin and Viola
Meagan Cramm earned her Bachelor’s in Music Performance at Miami University in 2007 and her Masters in Music Performance at University of South Carolina in 2009. She has been teaching viola and violin privately in the Columbus area for about nine years.
Ashley Conner
Cello
Ashley Conner received her Master of Music degree and Professional Studies Certificate at The Boston Conservatory. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from Azusa Pacific University, graduating magna cum laude. Besides private lessons, she has also taught group lessons and classroom music, coached sectionals, and directed small children’s ensembles.
Nicholas Young
Double Bass
Nicholas Young is a double bass teacher and performer based in Columbus, Ohio. As a teacher, he has coached the bass sections of the Columbus Chamber Strings Youth Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra. Nicholas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Bowling Green State University and a Master’s degree in String Pedagogy from The Ohio State University.
Alix Raspé
Harp
Alix Raspé Gray, professionally known as Alix Raspé, is an award-winning classical harpist, chamber musician, music educator and musical entrepreneur. Ms. Raspé currently serves as an Associate Harpist for Columbus Symphony. She has performed with New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the NY Pops, the Symphony of New Hampshire, Symphoria, Portsmouth Symphony and more.
Cole Biedenharn
Guitar, Bass
Cole Biedenharn is a guitar instructor with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from The Ohio State University focused in Jazz Studies. He has been playing the guitar since age 10 drawing inspiration from bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Rush. Cole has substantial guitar teaching experience with students at all ages and levels. He also runs his own professional home recording studio and works as a stagehand for Promowest productions.
Zsolt Dvornik
Guitar
Zsolt Dvornik is a guitar instructor, and a guitar player performing regularly in the Columbus Ohio area. Z has online students from all over the nation and overseas. His guitar lessons are designed to help beginners, intermediate and advanced players to take their skills to the next level. Beginners don’t need previous music experience to join his lessons. Intermediate and advanced students will learn songs in different styles, also techniques and theory to improve as a musician.
Gayla Ebersole
Woodwinds
Gayla Ebersole received her Bachelor of Music in Education from Miami University and a Master of Arts in Woodwind Pedagogy from The Ohio State University. She currently teaches orchestra in the Columbus City Schools. She is a woodwind doubler and performs around the Columbus area doubling on flute, piccolo, clarinet and alto saxophone.
Lauren Edwards
Flute
Lauren Edwards earned her Master of Music in Performance from Ohio University, and her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Capital University Conservatory of Music. She was the Flute Teaching Assistant at Ohio University, utilizing online teaching.
Michael Rueda
Oboe and English Horn
Michael Rueda is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance. He is a proficient oboe and English horn reed maker / salesman and also holds a certificate of oboe repair from the Colorado Institute of Musical Instrument Technology.
Brian Lang
Clarinet and Saxophone
Brian Lang is a versatile, multiple woodwind performer and educator. He has performed at high profile venues in many countries, as well as the Ohio Governor’s Inauguration Ball at the Ohio Statehouse. Brian has extensive experience teaching private lessons, jazz history, jazz combos, and music theory at his own home studio, as well as the Toledo School for the Arts and Terra State Community College.
Frankie Wantuch
Saxophone
Saxophonist, and educator, Frankie Wantuch serves as a member of the 100th Army Reserve Band in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. She has been awarded the Corbett Mayerson Award, was selected as a winner of the 2017 Ohio University Concerto Competition, the 2018 Ohio State University Concerto Competition, and has performed at Carnegie Hall.
Mitchell McCrady
French Horn
Mitchell McCrady is a freelance horn player in the Columbus area. He received his Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Dayton and his Masters of Music in Horn Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with Jeff Nelsen of the Canadian Brass.
Tim Perdue
Brass
Tim Perdue has been a professional brass musician in the central Ohio area for the past thirty years. He performs regularly with a wide variety of groups. He teaches all brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, French horn, euphonium, tuba).
Aaron Bishara
Drums
Aaron Bishara is a full-time freelance musician, session musician, and private instructor. He offers professional drum instruction on numerous percussion instruments spanning numerous styles. Private lessons are available for all ability levels. Besides drumset and Classical Western percussion, Aaron also offers lessons on world percussion instruments
Brookside Music Studio 