Music Room Lesson Program

Karen has been the owner of Music Room since 2013 and has been teaching music since 2001.  She has a Bachelor's of Music Education from Mansfield University and a Master's of Music Education from Carnegie Mellon University.  She was the General Music and Choral teacher at St. Mary's Elementary School for four years after college until she became the owner of Music Room, where she has been teaching ever since!  Her primary instruments are piano, viola and violin, but she teaches all band, percussion and orchestra instruments.  Other interests include camping, gardening, writing and music arranging, American fusion bellydance and string band/fife and drum corps as part of Civil War Reenacting.  She also focuses on music pedagogy best practices when working with her staff members and on the Uplevel U: Music platform.

Becky is one of the resident voice teachers at Music Room, also teaching piano and violin. She also works as a piano tuner and technician throughout Western New York. Becky studied Voice for her undergraduate program at The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She later received a dual master’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from D’Youville College and achieved her NYS teacher certification. Before joining the staff at Music Room, Becky taught Music and Theater at a program for individuals with disabilities. Becky likes collecting and learning to play new instruments. Her favorites are the piano, violin, saxophone, pipe organ, recorder, guitar, trombone, trumpet, accordion, etc. Actually, it’s impossible for her to choose!

Brendan has been an instructor at Music Room since 2016.  He has a Bachelor's degree in Music Theory and Composition as well as a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the Univerity at Buffalo.  His primary instruments for instruction are guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, piano and violin.  Brendan also enjoys the use of technology in music and enjoys making people laugh with creative variations and arrangements of famous songs!

Angela is one of the resident woodwind specialists here at Music Room! She also teaches brass, piano, and percussion, and is an instrument repair tech! She completed Villa Maria College's B.A. in Music program, where she focused on oboe, clarinet and piano, as well as music theory. She has worked there as a peer tutor, professional tutor, and embedded tutor, assisting students music theory, and teaching supplemental music fundamentals classes on her own. Angela loves to tackle as many aspects of music as possible, from teaching, performing, composing and arranging, repairing and flipping instruments, and learning as many instruments as she can!

Monica has Bachelors degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Chicago College of Performing Arts and a Masters in Music Education from SUNY Buffalo State.  In addition to teaching private lessons, she is an Elementary General Music Teacher and Elementary/Middle School Chorus director.  Monica has experience singing and playing a variety of music, and takes that experience into her lessons. She can be seen around the Buffalo area performing at weddings, farmer’s markets and other events.  Monica has experience teaching voice, piano and guitar to private students from ages 5 through 60 years old, of differing ability levels and musical backgrounds. She believes in tailoring lessons to fit each student’s needs in order to help them reach their full potential and accomplish their own personal musical goals, while also fostering a lifelong love of and appreciation for music.

Sabrina is one of the most versatile instructors at Music Room and is pleased to be able to teach just about anything!  Sabrina has received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia.  She has experience teaching both band and orchestra in school music positions in Grades 4-12.  Sabrina's main instruments are bassoon (which she didn't know how to play before college!) and saxophone, but you'd never know it if you shadowed her for a day!  Sabrina enjoys reading, gaming and ultimate frisbee.

Joyce discovered her passion for music in fourth grade when she began viola.  She received her BA in Music at Allegheny College.  Besides teaching strings, piano, ukulele, recorder and percussion at Music Room, she also works with special needs students of ages four through adult.  Her experience includes students with ASD, ADHD, ODD, OCD and low vision.  Besides enjoying listening to classical music, Joyce's favorite genre is Punk Rock, especially bands like Mayday Parade and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

My name is Raymond Ball.  I have been writing and performing on a number of instruments for over 20 years.  I hold a degree in ethnomusicology, where I primarily focused on American folk music. Fun fact-I was 19 the first time a song I wrote was played on the radio. I have been teaching on several different instruments for about 1 year, and have been involved with a string band.  I also often perform in public venues around WNY from time to time.