Electric Guitar/ Rock/Blues
Derrick Traffecante is a virtuoso guitarist and gifted teacher. A graduate of the Guitar Institute of Technology, Derrick is fluent in all styles of guitar music including Blues, Hard Rock, Prog Rock, Metal, Fusion and Classical. Check him out!!!!
Guitar and Mandolin
Phip Wheelock is an accomplished vocalist, fingerstyle and flatpick guitar player, and performs currently with "Blackstone Run" (www.phip.us/music/BlackstoneRun/). Previous bands include "The Sun Mountain Band" (www.sunmountainfiddler.com) and "Renya" (Rochester, NY), "Bill Hall and the North Wind" (RI), and "Bluegrass Special" (CT). Phip currently sings with the First Unitarian Church of Providence (RI), and is a former member the Rochester Oratorio Society, Eastman-Rochester Chorus, Providence Singers and Opera Providence. Phip taught Bluegrass Academy guitar workshops at the 2007 and 2008 Joe Val Bluegrass Festivals, and teaches mandolin as well as beginner through advanced guitar at Mockingbird Music.
Bass
Sean Farias completed his undergraduate studies in music performance at UMASS-Dartmouth and his master's degree at the Longy School of Music. Having a well-rounded foundation and an open mind to all styles of music has led Sean to perform in a wide variety of situations whether it be jazz, pop, rock, classical, world, folk, or theatre. He has been fortunate enough to perform with many local and international artists on the cutting edge of contemporary improvised music including the likes of George Garzone, Charlie Kohlhase, Bob Gullotti, Jeff Galindo, Santi Debriano, Eric Hofbauer, and Jim Robitaille. Sean has performed throughout the country on both electric and upright bass including some of New England's local theatre houses such as Theatre By The Sea (RI), The Orpheum (MA), Dean College, and Wheelock College. In 2009 Sean recorded on PBS documentary "The Mosque In Morgantown," named Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Banjo, Guitar, Bass, Mandolin & Ukulele
Glenn Nelson has been playing and teaching five-string and four-string banjo for 23 years and currently performs with "Wide Open Spaces" (http://www.wideospaces.com), "The Manic Mountain Boys", Dawn Kenny Band" and "Acoustic Planet" encompassing world music, folk, jazz and bluegrass. Glenn has taught workshops and performed with with Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, Jens Kreuger, Jimmy Goudreau, Moondi Klein, Sam Bush, John Reischman, Don Steirnberg, Alan Munde, Eric Weissberg, Dave Dillon and Radim Zenkyl among others. Glenn teaches all levels from introductory to advanced while focusing on the individual student's needs. Glenn also teaches Mandolin, Acoustic and Electric Guitar and Ukulele.
Violin and Fiddle
Dave Kassel is well versed in Classical Violin and Old Time, Celtic and Bluegrass Fiddle styles. A violinist since age 7, Dave has played violin in the Concord Orchestra in Concord Ma. and performed with numerous Old Time and Bluegrass Bands in the Northeast. We welcome Dave to our Staff!
Drums
David Ciampaglia: Take It To 2011 with David! Known as one of the hardest hitting rock drummers out of the Boston area, David has played onstage with Robin Zander & Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Bruce Smith, bassist of Orion the Hunter, and Nuno Bettencourt's Schizophonic Tour! Classes are filling up quickly, so get in while there's still a chance and he's not on tour! Yes, You Can Have Lessons On Our State Of The Art Roland V Drums or Acoustic Drums!
Jeremy Murray is a gifted drummer and excellent teacher! Jeremy has been drumming most of his life and is is quite versatile, specializing in hand drumming as well as kit drumming. Jeremy is fluent in all styles of music including traditional African poly-rythmic drumming, Jazz and Rock. We are glad to have him as a member of our staff.
Piano and Voice
Kate Pettit has been playing piano for almost forty years and has played with the Swordsmen, a traveling Southern Gospel group. Kate has taught at various private schools and privately and is now part of our staff! Kate enjoys teaching the fundamentals of music so students can progress quickly and develop a love for piano and music.
Nat Needle has taught Piano, Musicianship and Vocal Performance for over 35 years!!! Co-founding inclusive youth performing arts center (now in its 40th year!) teaching workships in music and directed numerous musical productions as Artistic Director at Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown CT, Drama Specialist at Youth Theater Institute, Hartford CT, Musical Theater and Music at New Salem Academy, a Dean at Campus High School, Ann Arbor, MI (all subjects including music and musical theater), devoted English and music instruction in Japan, co-authored “performance poetry” curriculum as Campus director at YMCA Citizen Schools, Worcester MA, and is not a stranger to organizing public events including visual and performing arts to bring people with and without disabilities through shared creativity, and is the Director of Yes You Chorus in Worcester, Massachusetts! Now that is a qualified run-on! Nat has a Doctor’s of Education degree from Umass, and deserves to have every morsel of his qualifications mentioned, however, this is only a brief biography of this generous and gifted dynamic individual!
Voice
Marco Bonito: A gifted Vocalist and voice instructor, Marco comes to us from the West Coast. Within the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, his voice contributed to a Grammy win for the London/Decca recording of Carl Orff "Carmina Burana" and to Carmine Coppola's heavenly choir resounding in the Vatican sequences of Paramount's "The Godfather, Part III. We are honored to have him on staff! Welcome Marco!
Flute
Pamela Mallette is a professional flute maker and a graduate from the Boston Conservatory of Music. After having taught at Thearls Music Center in el Cajon, CA, she has performed with various chamber music groups and Longy School of Music. Pamela is also a flutist for the Harvard Musicological Society and performs regularly on Beacon Hill in Boston.
Harp and Voice
Lois
Francello has studied harp from the age of 13, after having had played piano
for some years and sang with several school choruses, including the elite Vocal
Ensemble.
215 South Street
PO Box 1010
Berlin, Massachusetts
01503
phone: 978.838.2344
email us at
mbirdmusic@aol.com
Store Hours:
Monday and Friday 3-7pm
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: 10-2 & 3-7pm
Saturday: 10am - 2pm