Ariel Kennedy

Bassoon, Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute

Ariel Kennedy from Owasso, OK, studied Bassoon at the University of Arkansas and graduated with a Bachelors of Music and a Minor in Business. Ariel started out on clarinet and later switched to the bassoon and has been playing for 10 years. She also has been playing saxophone for about 8 years and has studied all wind and percussion instruments in college. Throughout her playing experience in High School she has made superior ratings at solo & ensemble competitions. She has also made Oklahoma All-Region for 3 years and was an Oklahoma All-State alternate for 2 years while in her final year in High School she made 1st chair All-State Band. In her college career she received honorable mention at the Double Reed Concerto Competition in Kansas City, Kansas.

As a bassoonist, Ariel has performed in many ensembles at the University of Arkansas as well as the Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma, the Fort Smith Symphony in Arkansas, and is currently a member of the Saratoga Chamber Orchestra here on Whidbey Island.

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Avi Rostov, Director

Clarinet, oboe, saxophone, flute, trumpet, trombone

Avi is a graduate both in Music Education and Band Instrument Repair Technology. She studied at Peabody Conservatory, University of Maryland, University of Washington and Renton Technical College. She has been a member of the Gettysburg Symphony and the Maryland Clarinet Choir and has taught in the Seattle Public Schools.

Director of the Whidbey Island Clarinet Choir and active member of the local music community, she has maintained a professional band instrument repair shop and a private teaching studio on South Whidbey since her arrival on the island 20 years ago.

Avi serves on the Advisory Committee to the Band Instrument Repair Department at Renton Technical College and is a member of NAPBIRT, the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians.

She is living her dream of bringing people together through music.

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David Laws, Repair Manager

Our Repair Center Manager, David M. Laws, is both a graduate of and former instructor at Renton Technical College’s Band Instrument Technology Program, where he created the curriculum. He is a member of NAPBIRT’s Master Clinician Guild, and he has presented educational clinics at fifteen international repair conventions.

David is the recipient of NAPBIRT’s Omni Award for Achievement in Education and also won the first ever Dick Rusch Memorial Award, a peer-selected award for best clinic at an international convention.

David retired in 2000, but has agreed to put on his apron one more time for ClickMusic.biz.

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Ed Newkirk

Guitar

Ed Newkirk, who has been playing guitar since he was eight, fell in love with rock ‘n roll guitar in the 50’s. Ed spent nine years studying with a great big band guitar instructor on the East Coast, and then joined him as instructor. Ed has 15+ years teaching all age groups. A master of many styles, Ed teaches all levels of Rock, Blues, Country, Jazz, Bluegrass, Pop, Improv! Styles and Beginning Classical. He provides personalized instruction on tuning, chording, rhythm, picking, soloing, playing your songs and more.

Ed opened for some great acts such as the Moody Blues, Captain Hook and the Beach Boys. Ed’s band was also on the bill with Charlie Rich, Lynn Anderson and Ray Price. He is presently playing with Deja Blooze and Swords into Plowshares.

Check out Ed’s bands at http://dejablooze.blogspot.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/swords2plowsharesmusic

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Jeff Hume

Trumpet

Jeff Hume grew up in the Emerald City playing trumpet and writing music for local dance bands. He is a graduate of the Cornish Institute and has taught over 20 years in the Seattle and Oak Harbor School Districts. Mr. Hume performs throughout the North West with his current band, Dillinger's Clambake, and can be seen at many of the regional festivals and jazz clubs.

Visit us at www.dillingersclambake.com

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Leanne Godsey

Intermediate and advanced piano

I started study of the piano when I was 4 years old and started teaching piano when I was 16. At 10 I began playing organ at various churches and have also continued working on those skills. I attended Western Washington State College from 1968 through 1972 where I earned a Bachelors degree with a teaching certificate (K-12 music with an emphasis in Instrumental music and minors in strings, voice and theory/counterpoint) as well as a B.S. in performance on the piano. Upon graduation I taught in the Kettle Falls School District with a K-12 contract in music, and then the Peshastin Dryden School district with a 9-12 position and completed my Masters degree at the University of Washington in Music. I have had a long affiliation with the South Whidbey School District as a substitute specially teacher (Music), working as the professional accompanist with the H.S. Musicals (1980 to 2004) as well as numerous soloist, instrumentally and vocally.

I worked as an accompanist through College and continue in that vein, working with some very gifted young musicians. I returned to the Island in 1980 and have been teaching private piano lessons on Island since that date, working with beginners through advanced students on technique as well as repertoire and performance skills. I focus on a classical technique because it opens all other styles as the student becomes proficient. During this time I have also had the pleasure of raising a large family of children, mine by birth and mine by choice.

I find the piano to be a wonderful way to introduce children to the world of music. It is easy to play but hard to play well. It is open to those with perfect pitch as well as those that are tone deaf. I have even had the privilege of working with severely hearing impaired children on the piano and find they can have a great deal of success and enjoyment. It is accessible to the very young as well as the greatly mature. Music is not only the frosting on the cake, it is the cake too!

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Marty Malloy

Guitar

Hailing form the Windy City of Chicago, Marty has performed and taught guitar for over thirty years. Marty has performed with such rock performers as Kansas and Alice Cooper. His diverse instructional styles include rock and metal guitar performance, composition and soloing, jazz and folk guitar styling and improvisation, as well as country rock and blues composing/performing.

In addition to repairing and rebuilding guitars and amplifiers, Marty also assists guitarists with building custom effects and pedal boards. He can also produce and direct live performances for local bands. Here at ClickMusic, we can provide complete sound reinforcement for live shows, and Marty can help bring your sound to a live venue.

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Noel Curtis

Voice

Noel Curtis (Coloratura Soprano) has performed with Seattle Opera in numerous productions including Faust, Tosca, Carmen, Othello, Die Meistersinger and Aida. Her roles have included the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and recently Maria in The Sound of Music. Noel has performed in many of Seattle’s elegant restaurants. She was a principal soloist for the Whidbey Island Choral and sang many principal roles with Whidbey Island Musical Theater. Noel currently teaches voice, piano and is the director of La Bella Coro.

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Steve Tarr

Trombone

Steve Tarr began his musical studies with the piano at age 10. He took up the trombone the following year. He earned his degree in Trombone Performance from Central Washington University, graduating with high honors in music.

While attending college, Steve served as Principal Trombone in the Central Symphony for four years. He occupied both the lead and jazz chairs in the Jazz Band, performed with the Brass Choir and played with the Wenatchee Symphony. He played in the pit orchestra for musicals as well as in many smaller ensembles and solo recitals.

Since college Steve has continued actively performing on and studying the Trombone. He played lead for 25 years, including 5 as music director, in the Generation Gap Big Band and also contributed arrangements to the band's library. He has played with the pop horn band Road Show, The Swingland Express, The Blue Notes, The Sea Notes, The Saratoga Chamber Orchestra and Camano Junction. Steve has also been a soloist at his church and has arranged music as brass accompaniment to choir productions.

Steve has attended several Trombonolgy symposiums hosted by the University of Washington, Master Classes with Paul Tanner, Urbie Green, Bill Watrous, Ralph Saur, Stephen Fissel, Michael Davis, Per Brevig and the Seattle Symphony Brass Master Class Series. A life-long learner, Steve continues to study with Stephen Fissel of the Seattle Symphony.

Steve is a long time member of the Whidbey Island Jazz Society, an organization dedicated to raising scholarship money in support of local area high school musicians. He playes regularly with this group and his own sextet Talking Circle Jazz Collective.

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Talia Toni Marcus, Director "Click Conservatory"

Violin, viola, cello, beginning piano

Talia has toured and/or recorded with Van Morrison, Jack Benny, Kenny G, Pavarotti and played for 100’s of film scores. She taught at Yale’s Saturday Conservatory, Peabody Institute, UCLA, Seattle Symphony’s Symphony-in-the-Schools Program, Island Strings and across Europe and Japan.

Talia is a part-time LA Sessions Player, offering classes and coaching for Rock and Jazz Bands, Improv Styles, Rhythmic Accompaniments, Taking a Solo, Arranging and Scoring. She has 1000 exercises to offer for Musicians’ Survival and Revival: “Tune In and Tone Up.” Talia is a member of Saratoga Strings, performer~composer~producer at Whidbey Children’s Theater and Whidbey Island Center for the Arts.

Talia heads our Orchestral Strings Department and teaches violin, viola, performance techniques, beginning piano, Improv!, and classes for young children.  She leads our Community Jam and Click Classics.  We are honored to have her as the Director of Click Conservatory.

Check out Talia on the web

www.swchamberplayers.com

www.hunchback.com/latest.html

www.myspace.com/thedandeliongreens

www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/3/emw220483.htm

www.yogacentercorvallis.com/shantala.htm

http://www.kosherredhots.com/cds.jsp

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