Stephen Clair started playing the guitar when he was 11, and has been teaching the instrument for 25 years. He has taught music at the Randolph School where he continues to oversee the music lessons program, and for many years led weekly sing-alongs for kids under the name Singalong Slim.

 He is the music teacher at the Mill Street Loft's Summer Arts Camp, and he's taught songwriting to kids at Little Red Schoolhouse in NYC. A critically acclaimed songwriter, Clair has released four solo albums and toured the U.S. as both a solo artist and as bandleader. He's the founder of Local 845, a live-music concert producer, that has presented a wide variety of top-notch artists in the region. He runs Beacon Riverfest, an annual rock music festival on Beacon's waterfront. Inspired by his experience teaching at the Gowanus Music Club in Brooklyn, he started his own school of rock called Rock Band Boot Camp, and its home is now here at the Beacon Music Factory. He was honored in October 2011 with a County Executive Arts Award for being an inspiring teacher and dedicated organizer of live music.

Kathleen Patrick is a freelance violinist, violist, and teaching artist who has performed extensively in the greater Boston and New York City metro areas, performing with a wide range of various orchestras, opera, and chamber ensembles, from the Boston Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Boston, Central Park Summerstage, to Broadway shows and many Carnegie Hall productions. She has worked with such worldclass musicians and conductors as Seiji Ozawa, John Williams,Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Christopher O’Riley, and Malcolm Lowe, among many others. Her primary teachers were Dana Mazurkevich, Mary-Lou Speaker Churchill, and Roman Totenburg on violin, and Michael Zaretsky, Eugene Lehner, and Stephanie Baer on viola.  Ms. Patrick teaches part-time in several private schools in the greater New York area, as well as teaching out of her home studio in Beacon, NY.  She continues to perform and teach, bringing music to people of all ages and backgrounds.

Josh Stark is a musician and artist living in Wappingers Falls NY.  Originally from Portland OR, Josh spent many years living in Brooklyn working in experimental theatre and film, with the likes of artists such as Richard Foreman, The Wooster Group, Hal Hartley, DJ Mendel, Big Dance Theater, Accinosco, and GAle Gates et. al., to name a few.  In the 2000's he was a fixture in Brooklyn's roots-country scene, playing upright bass with Gloria Deluxe, Matty Charles and the Valentines, and others.  He has travelled the United States and the world as a musician and performer.  Josh currently plays electric bass with The Octomen, and Bill Speers Project.  He also plays drums with Brooklyn's The Totallys and Beacon's Im Better Now.  Josh is the Music Tech at SUNY New Paltz.

Michael Farkas is a singer, song-writer and multi-instrumentalist. He is also the founding member of the band, THE WIYOS. Michael has toured extensively in the US and abroad, and is currently trying his hand at children's music with, LUCKY DIAZ AND THE FAMILY JAM BAND. In 2009 The Wiyos were hand picked as the opening act for Bob Dylan, WIllie Nelson & John Mellencamp's summer tour, and that same year were a featured act in the BBC Documentary, 'Folk America- Good time Stompers and Ramblers'. He has performed for over 10 years with the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood  Concert Series, at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and literally at hundreds of festivals, clubs, and theaters.

Tina McVey-Cody, lyric soprano, is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music. She has performed as a soloist with Boston Pro Musica, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and with the Boston Symphony & Boston Pops. In the New York area, she has continued her vocal career as a soloist with Cappella Festiva, Tri-County Opera, the Bardavon Opera, Taconic Opera, Opera Drammatica, the NY Opera Forum and The Light Opera Company of Salisbury.  She has appeared in various roles including Barbarina in the Marriage of Figaro, Mercedes in Carmen, Papagena in the Magic Flute, Berta in Barber of Seville, Musetta in La Boheme and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. When not singing, Mrs. Cody teaches voice and piano lessons and early childhood music in several private schools and institutions in the area.


Evan Schwartz started playing guitar at the age of 11 and has never looked back.  After years in high school garage bands, Evan studied music and audio engineering at NYU. Over the last 20 years he’s performed with a number of rock and blues bands including Paul Byrne & The Bleeders, The Challengers and Play-doh’s Republic. A bluesman at heart, Evan has been a regular of the tri-state ‘Blues Jam’ scene for two decades. When he’s not playing, he’s busy teaching guitar. Evan has instructed dozens of students both privately and at the C-Note Music School, where he started the Rock Band Workshop project. A self-proclaimed ‘Tone Junkie’, he has devoted years to perfecting his electric guitar sound. From classic guitars, to vintage tube amps, to building his very own effects pedals, he’s uncovered the many factors that contribute to the sound of an electric guitar. He’s excited to share this knowledge with you.

Cat Guthrie learned to sing harmony when she was three years old, and has been harmonizing ever since. A professional entertainer for over thirty years, Cat has sung in ensembles, choirs and cabaret acts all over the country. From folk groups to pop/rock bands to the LA Jazz Choir and the Satin Dolls, a close harmony jazz trio she performed with for seventeen years, she has performed all styles of music.  Now, she loves to inspire others with the joys of harmony and group singing.  She believes that singing together promotes world peace.

J Why  J Marcus (aka J Why) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who studied jazz, classical, electronic and experimental music at California Institute of the Arts, Berklee College of Music and San Francisco State University. He has been teaching drums for more than two decades and computer music applications for over a decade. As a drummer/percussionist & a bass clarinetist he has performed in such varied settings as the Spanglish-rock band Caramelize, funk-jazz ensemble President’s Breakfast and with experimental composer Pamela Z. As a composer J has scored modern dance works and dance films for Sasha Welsh/Victory to Others and Anna Brady Nuse/Straight to the Helicopter. His compositions were featured in Amir Bar-Lev’s critically acclaimed documentary My Kid Could Paint That

Matthew Chase is a banjo junkie. He was addicted the first time he plucked a string; and played his first gig on the banjo only a year later. Since then he's played in a variety of projects from indie rock to old-time string bands. He's released two albums and an EP with the 'alternative bluegrass' band he co-founded, Frankenpine. He performs regularly in NYC, tours regionally, and has appeared on WNYC, WFMU, Folk Alley, and North Country Public Radio.  Matthew also designs, builds, and restores banjos.  He enjoys teaching beginners by combining a methodic approach to technique with the joy of improvisation and experimentation. You can hear his music at frankenpine.com.

Adrian Sicam Adrian was born into a musical family in Syracuse, NY. Upon graduating from Syracuse University with a BFA in musical theater, Adrian moved to Somerville, MA where he served as a vocalist and keyboardist for the spoken word & funk-rock ensemble, Neon Grandma.  Adrian served as music director for the Suskind Young At Arts after school songwriting and drama workshops.  In addition, Adrian taught private voice and piano lessons through the Winthrop School of Performing Arts. After stints teaching in NYC, and recording and releasing his own music, Adrian relocated to the Hudson Valley, where continues to teach and perform.

Daria Grace is a self-taught ukulele player who has been playing baritone and soprano since about 1998, when she first caught the uke bug. Since then she has played uke in various groups including the Moonlighters and Kings County Queens, and now leads her own uke-centric band, The Pre-War Ponies.