Rich Germaine is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Rich has studied Classical trumpet with Henry Golis, Jazz trumpet with All-Time Jazz legend Lennie Tristano, and Duke Ellington Lead Trumpeter Jimmy Maxwell. He’s worked with Ted Brown, and Berklee Instructor Jeff Stout, played Percussion with Eugene Bozzi of The Hartt School, Drums with Stan Getz, and drumming great Charlie Perry. He’s also played guitar with Tonight Show Band Guitarist Billy Bauer.

Rich received his B.A. from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY and is also an alumnus of Elim Bible Institute near Rochester, NY.

Bob Dunkin is a local music teacher with a bachelor’s degree in K-12 Music Education from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Bob teaches band, choir, handbells, guitar, ukelele, recorders and classroom music at Brighton Adventist Academy, and band at Foundations Academy. Here at Joyful Noise, he coordinates our band and orchestra instrument rental/repair program, and offers private lessons on trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, flute, French horn, and trombone and tuba.

Bob has a warm relaxed teaching style. His philosophy is that music is one of the most beautiful gifts God gave us,and and He intended for us to enjoy it. Music enhances practically everything in life. It can evoke every emotion that humans experience, from adoration to rage, from despair to exuberance. It facilitates the mental processes involved in all the academic disciplines. By using terms and expressions from other languages, it promotes better understanding of other cultures. The acoustical properties of music provide opportunities to explore the behavior of sound waves in the physical world. The rhythmic units of music notation promote a better understanding of mathematics, especially fractions.Making music as part of a group promotes friendship, teamwork and a sense of belonging.The emotional and inspirational impact of music can be a very powerful force for making the world a better place.

Kathleen McIrvin earned her Liberal Arts Bachelor’s degree from CSU in 2009 with a double major in Percussion Performance and Music Education. Since then, she has taught multiple elementary- through high school-level music classes for the homeschooling Options Programs in Greenwood Village and Brighton, as well as teaching privately throughout the Denver area. She performs often at festivals and community gatherings and plays and sings with the Risen Christ Catholic Parish Youth Mass in Denver.

Kathleen enjoys teaching holistically—from theory and music-reading to listening and creative application—and encourages her students to find their “musical niche” whether it be playing pre-written music, interpreting lead sheets, improvising melodies and accompaniments, or composing and writing original music. Her business MySong, LLC is aptly named because Kathleen strives to realize and harmonize with the “song” that is inside herself, fellow musicians, students, and listeners and she guides her students to realize their own “songs” throughout their lives.

Miss McIrvin teaches drumset; concert, marching, and mallet percussion; keyboard and piano; acoustic, electric, and bass guitar; voice; and a variety of ethnic percussion: Irish bodhrán, hammered dulcimer, djembe, cajon, and congas.

Heather Houston has been playing the piano since she was 9. She studied with some of the best instructors in NY. Shes a graduate with a B.A from South University in Georgia. She teaches beginner, intermediate, and advanced classical piano.