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Our Instructors
Daniel Kleffmann
Daniel has been teaching music for sixteen years. He is an instructor, a performer, composer, and audio engineer. Being a drummer at heart, rhythm is his specialty. He studied at the prestigious Drummer's Collective in N.Y.C. and has earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts with Academic Honors in Jazz Performance from the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. Tending to lean towards music involving advanced rhythmic concepts, Daniel has developed methods of explaining and understanding rhythm to make even the advanced and complex simple. He has taught these concepts to hundreds of students of all ages and levels, aiding them to pass auditions of all types, attain perfect NYSSMA scores, earn scholarships and acceptance into music colleges such as the Berklee College of Music and New School of Jazz, become more successful composers, band leaders and side-musicians, in addition to becoming higher level musicians in general.
Georgia Herrera
Georgia is a musician and performer based in NYC, where she graduated from Music Education at the Aaron Copland School of Music in Queens College. She has been playing violin and piano since she was 6 years old under the instruction of distinguished violinists/pianists, such as Allen Weakland, Agnes Kwasniewska, Javor Bracic, and Olga Terlitsky. As a young violinist, she has participated in NYSSMA and the NYSSMA All-State Conference and has been a part of many orchestral ensembles, such as Virtuoso Suzuki Academy’s New York Young Musicians’ Ensemble and the Queens College Orchestra. She has also toured London and Italy with the SFP Chamber Orchestra. On the side, she is also a member of other music groups such as the Voice of Friendship Singers, which is a Filipino-American choir where she sings and accompanies them with violin and piano. Another group is Gamelan Yowana Sari, where she performs traditional Balinese Gamelan music. As an upcoming music educator, Georgia wishes to inspire and empower her students with the confidence to create art and express themselves through music.
BARBARA WALSH
Barbara Walsh graduated from Adelphi University with my Bachelors in Vocal Performance and Psychology. She wanted to share her passion for music and help others reach their full potential as a musician. She went back for her master’s program in music education at Hofstra University. Afterwards, began teaching piano and vocal lessons privately and in group lessons as well as teaching chorus and general music in schools. She really wanted her students to enjoy singing and find a passion in performing. Her lessons will focus on the fundamentals of singing in order to provide healthy vocal technique and a beautiful tone. It is extremely important in all genres for singing to have support, be able to use breath properly and have an understanding how the use of the voice as an instrument properly to achieve a beautiful tone.
BRIAN MAULICK
Brian Maulick is a drummer and percussionist based in the NYC metro area. He is well versed in many forms of World Percussion, Latin Percussion, Orchestral Percussion, Contemporary Percussion as well as today's styles of Drum Kit. He has played PASIC 2015 with Yousif Sheronick, and 2016 with Queen's College Gamelan Yowana Sari. He has played alongside Talujon Percussion Quartet in 2015 for TEDx Met. He has played at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with the Queen's College Percussion Ensemble and regularly performs in the NYC Metro area. He has studied with some of today's most proficient, and well known percussionists/drummers, such as Michael Lipsey, Javier Diaz, David Cossin, and Daniel Sadownick.
JIMMY MILLEN
Jimmy was born in Oceanside, Long Island New York in 1996. He graduated from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam in 2018 with a major in music performance and a minor in jazz studies. That same year he received a scholarship to attend a master's program at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he also studied music performance. Jimmy's main instruments are trumpet and piano. Over the years Jimmy has spent time doing volunteer work, privately teaching, pursuing athleticism and participating in school government. Jimmy's strengths as a teacher and musician include but are not limited to accommodating to various learning styles, teaching music theory/history in a simple way, arranging/composing music and having an extensive knowledge of the tendencies and inherit nature of brass instruments. Jimmy has experience learning from the master's such as Phil Smith of the NY Phil and Victor Wooten of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Jimmy has participated in various competitions, orchestras, chamber groups, master classes and music festivals. Jimmy is currently a third degree Knight of Columbus, freelance musician and member of the 802 Musicians union.
Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller is a native New Yorker from Valley Stream, Long Island. He started his musical studies on electric guitar and later shifted his focus to classical training. He has attained his Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Music with a focus on music composition at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He has studied guitar with Albert Pennachio, William Anderson and Paul Bollenback, and composition with Edward Smaldone and Jeff Nichols. Kyle also spent time studying guitar at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico and Balinese Gamelan in Bali, Indonesia. He is an active performer and composer of Gamelan Yowana Sari and Ictus Novus.
As a member of the Sheer Pluck Guitar orchestra, under the direction of William Anderson, Kyle has performed in venues such as Weill Hall, Lincoln Center, Tenri Cultural Institute and the Symphony Space, where he was a featured soloist at the first annual David Starobin Guitar Festival. In summer 2018, Kyle attended the Bang on a Can Summer Festival as an electric guitar performer.
Brooke Beck
Brooke has been a vocalist since she was in fourth grade. Since then, she has been in several choirs and musical theatre productions in school and outside of school. She now attends Adelphi University earning her bachelor’s degree in Music Education. Her vocal and teaching specialties are the classical, musical theatre, and pop genres. She enjoys building her students’ versatility and ability to sing any genre. Brooke teaches music to encourage people to keep music in their lives, and to inspire them to pursue it for the long run.
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