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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Elyse Anderson

French Horn

Bio Coming Soon

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Gary Way

Jazz Piano, Jazz Theory

Bio Coming Soon

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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 bands, Dillinger's Clambake and River Talk, and can be seen at many of the regional festivals and jazz clubs.

Visit us at www.dillingersclambake.com

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John Savage

Guitar, Piano, Bass, Voice, Jazz Band

John Savage has been performing and teaching on the West Coast for over 40 years. At the Anacortes Jazz Festival in 2007, Clarence Acox Director of the Seattle Jazz Philharmonic, proclaimed John to be, “the real deal”.

Now on his 18th year on the music faculty at Skagit Valley College, he teaches guitar, piano, bass (electric and acoustic) and voice. He has worked with the jazz choir and directed the Jazz Big Band. He enjoys public speaking and has taught numerous workshops and group-focused events. In addition, he has been the musical director and played in the pit for several theater productions in the northwest.

John studied guitar with such greats as, Herb Ellis, Howard Roberts, Tal Farlow and Jamie Finley of the Guitar Institute.

A musical powerhouse, John taught himself upright bass, electric bass, piano and is a singer and prolific song writer. He has extensive experience in studio recording.

On the West Coast, John has performed with many prestigious musicians in a variety of venues including; The Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, John Hodgkins, Robert Cray, Chuck Berry, Tom Anastasio, John Anderson, Trish Hatley, Louise Rose and Josh Cook. In the 1970s, he performed at the Pioneer Club in Los Angeles' Watts District with such R&B luminaries as Smokey Wilson, Etta James, Otis Rush, Jr. Walker, Luther Alison and Jr. Wells among others.

John is currently the leader and front man with Dillinger’s Clambake, the Savage Jazz Trio and Johnny and the Moondogs. Former local bands in which John performed include: The Soul Miners, The Cruisers, The Classics, The Stonetones, The Road Kill Big Band and Frankly Moanin’.

You can find out more by visiting the following websites:

• savagejazztrio.com
• johnnyandthemoondogsband.com
• dillingersclambake.com

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Kit Mills

Percussion

Bio Coming Soon

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Kim Tinuviel

Upright Bass

Bio Coming Soon

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Leanne Godsey

Piano, Viola

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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Lourdes Villalta

Piano, Violin, Flute, Voice

Bio Coming Soon

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Patrick Manuel

Clarinet, Saxophone

Bio Coming Soon

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Scott Small

Percussion, Drum Line

Scott draws on 35 years of professional performance and teaching experience to design a custom program for each student. Whatever your current level of ability, a combination of modern training tools and proven teaching methods will kick your technique, groove, musicianship, and creativity up a notch every week. You¹ll have your own personal percussion trainer!

After forming a successful rock band in high school, Scott went on to perform with many well-known Pacific Northwest groups spanning every style of music, from jazz to world-beat, soul to rock & roll. He also held the drum char in large and small jazz ensembles at the University of Washington, Western Washington University, Stanford, and Bellevue College, and studied privately with several of the best teachers in Washington and California.

Currently he¹s gigging with the Eastside Modern Jazz Orchestra (modern big-band), Bahia (Latin jazz), and Ruzivo (African marimba band), pursuing a busy teaching schedule, and constantly working to improve his own drumming using exactly the same techniques he offers to his students.

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