Our TEACHERS

Luke Smith (he/him) has been teaching students of all ages in the NYC area for 12 years, alongside a professional acting career working extensively on Stage and Screen. His most recent tv appearances include Goosebumps, FBI: Most Wanted, and Netflix's upcoming Zero Day. He recently concluded a 4 year tenure in both the Broadway and 1st Nat'l Tour casts of To Kill a Mockingbird. Luke has composed, performed, and produced with groups "Awning" and "Shirley House," who had a yearlong residency at The Mckittrick Hotel. His acting background combined with his musical expertise has helped Luke develop a unique ability to understand and empathize with his students on a personal level, and to unlock each student's own joyful exploration of music.

Eric Lane (he/him) has been teaching and performing professionally for 25 years. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Lane’s pursuits in music have brought him all over Europe, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, and Afghanistan. He has performed and recorded with Joan as Police Woman, Cautious Clay, Margaret Glaspy, Lake Street Dive, and most recently, Mike Doughty. An avid composer, Lane has released two full length records and an EP, with another full length record scheduled for early 2025. His current teaching studio is diverse with ages from 3 to 63 covering everything from the classics, to modern composition, theory, music production, and how to improvise and create music from scratch.

Claire Blackwelder (she/her) is a Boise-born, DC-raised musician, actor, and teacher who has worked all over the globe. She holds a BA from the University of Southern California, where she performed with and served as Music Director for the award-winning collegiate a cappella group The SoCal VoCals. She studied Shakespeare at BADA Midsummer at Oxford before promptly heading to New Zealand for her first professional job: fighting alien monsters as the Purple Power Ranger for two seasons of Nickelodeon's Power Rangers Dino Charge. She received her MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Co. Academy for Classical Acting at GWU, and was employed as a Teaching Artist at STC upon graduation. She taught with the Riko Method School of Piano and Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles, served as a Guest Lecturer at Boise State University, and has coached privately in L.A, D.C., and now New York. She belts 80s rock and goes home to play Chopin, and encourages her students to bring their unique, contradictory selves to their work.

Morgan is an (he/him) actor/musician living in NYC. He earned a B.A. in music performance with a concentration in guitar as well as a B.A. in Theater Arts with a concentration in Acting from Castleton University, VT. After graduating he taught guitar at the North End Music and Performing Arts Center in Boston, MA for three years before going on to earn his M.F.A. in Acting from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK. Most recently he was seen in the First National Tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. Morgan specializes with beginner to intermediate guitar players of all ages.

Dylan DeBiase (he/him) is a multi-instrumentalist with 10 years of experience in the New York City Rock, Indie, Folk, Jazz, and Theater scenes. He has toured the US with 5 time Grammy Award winner and legendary Bass Player Victor Wooten. In 2018 Dylan won the International Solo Bass Competition held in Brooklyn NY. He continues to work as a bandleader and sideman and teacher on guitar and bass in numerous groups of varying styles. He is the house bass player for Hudson valley based theatre company Castaway Players and is just as comfortable in the theatre pit as in a rock club and everything in between. When teaching, Dylan strives to make learning an educational yet exciting process for students of all ages. He is passionate about sharing the joy of creativity and helping students express themselves through music.

Camila Maric (she/they) is a Brooklyn based musician, teaching artist, and actor from Virginia. They hold a B.M. in Vocal Performance from James Madison University. Camila has over 15 years of performance experience and has performed in venues all over the world, including Notre Dame Cathedral and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Having developed musically through formal and informal/self-taught means, Camila believes fiercely in the importance of intuitive exploration in early music exposure.