Teachers

Daniel Barrett (Guitar, Voice)

I have been playing and teaching professionally since 1994. I have a B.A. in music from the University of Massachusetts (Cum Laude, Senior Honors), as well as studies at Berklee College of Music and the National Guitar Workshop. I was an elementary school music teacher (K-6) at Bay Farm Montessori Academy in Duxbury, MA before moving to Austin. I have been teaching adults and children private guitar lessons for 10 years. My band, PORTERDAVIS, has played throughout most of the United States. I’ve opened for Melissa Etheridge, Lyle Lovett, Patty Griffin, 10,000 Maniacs, Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary), The Fixx, Marc Broussard, and many more. In town, PORTERDAVIS plays at The Cactus Cafe, Antone’s, Stubbs, The Glenn, and has performed live on KGSR, KUT, and KLBJ.

I am interested in you as a musician and as a person. I would like to know what excites you about the guitar, and what music drew you to learn more. That will be our starting point. I am very patient, yet I expect a lot from students. I love to laugh, though enjoy the serious sides of learning, too. Paradoxes like these, in my experience, yield the most complete learning experience. Teaching is a joy for me, and I accept your time, presence, and effort as a gift to handle with care.

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Geno Stroia II (Guitar, Bass)

I’ve been playing guitar since age 8 while listening to 50’s, 60’s music of all types.

My home has been in Austin for 15 years while working and building a career in the music business. Teaching guitar has been a wonderful experience as I continue to learn and grow with each new student. I enjoy the process of getting to know students so I can help them realize and reach their goals and maximize their potential. My best asset as an instructor is listening to what the student wants from their instrument.

We can tailor a program to fit those goals and needs while providing a fun, healthy environment for learning. We will nurture the natural strengths and develop the students untapped abilities. This “practical guitar” approach can fit and help students at every level.

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Kevin Carroll (Guitar, Music Theory)

As a player, songwriter and teacher I’m interested in exploring options and making informed, creative and organic choices. I’m as interested in what isn’t played and why as in what is played. I’m an avid listener of many styles of music and focus on the role of the guitar in serving the song and integrating into an ensemble music approach. I have a huge appreciation of the trust placed in me as a teacher and seek to honor it thoroughly in the most respectful and helpful manner possible. As a teacher I’m very dedicated to helping students discover and develop their own authentic “voice” on the instrument. I particularly enjoy working with songwriters in a closer investigation of the guitar as it relates to composition in an effort to maximize the options of expression available to an artist. To me space truly is the final frontier and I am constantly challenging myself to find new ways to provide space in both my music and the music of those with whom I play. I like to look at it as sonic feng shui.

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Louis Landry (Piano, Drums, Guitar, Ukelele, Etc.)

I started performing at age 6, when I sang The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer”
at the Glenvar Elementary School Talent Show. I have been performing and
writing music ever since. After teaching myself theory as a teenager, I did
some session work as a drummer, bassist, and keyboardist, and played
classical percussion with the Roanoke and Lynchburg (Va.) Symphony
Orchestras. Then I went to VCU and studied with T. Howard Curtis, a
globally reknowned drummer, percussionist, writer and teacher. I majored in
Drum Set and minored in Jazz Piano. After graduating in 2003, I moved to
Austin with $20 and a van full of instruments. Since then I’ve played with
The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Particle, Shawn Nelson & The Ramblers, Ryan
Bingham, LZ Love, Nelson Ray & Friends, The Portal, and more.

Over the years I have learned to play the drums, piano, bass, guitar,
mandolin, baritone ukulele, melodica, trombone, djembe, synthesizers,
tympani, vibraphone, marimba, kazoo and lots more. I’ve independently
released 3 solo CDs, “IS” (1999), “ON” (2003), and LEAVING & RETURNING
(2004), and an original opera entitled “TELEVISION & OTHER FORMS OF TIME
TRAVEL.” I sing, write & play keyboards for a new Austin band called
PartyboobytraP.

At Red Leaf I’ll be seeking Beginning, Intermediate & Advanced students for
Drum Set, Keyboards and Electric Bass. I’ll also be teaching Beginning to
Intermediate guitar, voice, ukulele, melodica or whatever weird instrument
you have in the back of your closet.

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Simon Wallace (Harmonica)

I was born in England and raised on a healthy diet of my father’s record collection. Music has always been a big part of my life. I started playing Harmonica when I was 12 yrs old. In 1998, at the age of 17, I won the British National Harmonica League title for Blues/Rock Harmonica. At that point I had already been playing in bands and duos for a couple of years. From there I have gone on to play music professionally with numerous acts during my time living in England, Holland and now America. I’ve been playing in Austin since January 2005 with the band porterdavis. In addition to playing locally around Austin and Texas, we tour nationally on the club and college circuit.

I was lucky enough to have a great teacher right from day one. I was able to avoid the pit falls and bad habits self taught players can often pick up. It’s having that start on the instrument which makes me believe there’s no substitute for a real teacher. My aim as a teacher is to work with my students so they can achieve their own individual goals as harmonica players. From working musicians playing in bands, to individuals who simply want to entertain themselves, I have a relaxed and effective approach to teaching that yields results. Teaching and defining techniques, developing improvisational skills, different styles of playing and confidence are just a few of the things that will help players grow into adaptable and tasteful musicians. Music has given me so many opportunities and pleasures in life. Teaching at Red Leaf allows me to share them.

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Terry Hale (Upright and Electric Bass)

Terry has performed everywhere from New York’s Madison Square Garden to the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, on television shows from Austin City Limits to the BBC. As an original founding member of the “Ace in the Hole Band”, Terry has been supplying the “bottom end” for MCA recording artist George Strait for the last thirty-three years and as such has appeared on numerous gold and multi-platinum selling albums, two major motion pictures, “Pure Country” 1992 (Warner Bros.) and “The Soldier” 1980 (James Glickenhous Films). He has also performed on many television and radio commercials, videos and countless syndicated radio broadcasts. He has performed live on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson as well as with Jay Leno, multiple music awards shows, “pay-per-view” telecasts and two HBO specials.Locally he has preformed with the Floyd Domino Big Band, Johnny Nicholas and the Texas All Stars, The Rick McRae Trio and Javier Chaparro’s Jazz Ensemble, as well as Erik Hokkanen and the Hip Replacements and the Riff Ryders.

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Emily Shirley (Voice)

I’m a recent Austin transplant, Sagittarius, the oldest of 3 kids from a musical family in Connecticut, I began preparing for the big stage at age 5 upon discovering leg warmers, A Chorus Line and the record player – and I’m totally jazzed about teaching voice at Red Leaf.In my own musical journey I feel lucky to have worked with a great vocal coach. If I can pass on to you just some of the knowledge and confidence I gained in those sessions, I will consider this a worthy endeavor. We’ll begin with the idea that if you can speak, you can sing….. and we’ll go from there. Along the way we’ll explore your voice as your instrument, look at the difference between vocalizing and performance, and talk about the importance of being yourself. And ultimately, I want to help nurture your natural abilities and push you to go further than you thought you could go.I look forward to getting to know you both, as person and a musician and I hope that together with some drive and dedication, we can set you on the path to realizing your full potential as a vocalist and performer.

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Charlie Faye (Mandolin)

Hi! I’m Charlie Faye. I’m a singer/songwriter, and I play mandolin and guitar. I graduated from Oberlin College in 2003, and then moved to New York to play with some more seasoned musicians I knew there. I spent a year touring with Dan Zanes and Friends, playing mandolin, guitar, and singing to all-ages audiences all over the world. I learned a lot during that time, including this: little hands love the mandolin. I’m a firm believer in everyone’s ability to pick up an instrument and make music – and have fun doing it!I’ve given private lessons on mandolin and guitar to kids and adults since 2003. I’ve also studied voice for years, and learned how to sing harmonies alongside some fantastic singing partners.

I play a lot with my band here around Austin – Charlie Faye and The Total Sweethearts – and I sit in with other friends whenever I get the chance. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences with you!

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Jess Klein (Stage Performance)

Are you a singer-songwriter who is just starting to perform live? Looking for some tips on how to really affect people with your show? I can help.

In the last year, I have toured the US, Ireland and UK multiple times and put out an album that MOJO Magazine gave Five Stars. I have shared the stage with the likes of Damien Dempsey, Erin McKeown, Adam Duritz, and Alejandro Escovedo. I’m known for being an incredibly powerful performer: “Jess Klein’s performance at Club Helsinki on Thursday night, destined to rank as one of the year’s best, was both an affirmation and a revelation…Klein is an intense, focused performer with a compelling body of songs which she fully inhabits while she delivers them as if she is writing them on the spot” — The Berkshire Eagle. The Boston Globe described me as, “Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced”.

I would like to help you be the best performer you can be. I am not offering vocal or music lessons per se but coaching you on how you can be your most powerful, genuine self onstage.

I recently moved to Austin and am overjoyed to be in the Live Music Capital of the World.  Looking forward to meeting you!