Don Newman is an active performer and recording artist native to the Clear Lake area, who began studying guitar at the age of 9.

In middle school, he started playing clarinet, and later moved to bass clarinet in high school while also picking up the bass guitar, where he consistently performed with the reg…

Trung Nguyen was born and raised in Houston, TX, and began his musical career at 10 years old on the trombone. He has been playing the trombone for 13 years and has learned to play guitar, bass, piano, and other brass instruments along the way. He has a passion for music expression and exploration. Learning h…

An avid educator Adrian Ponce has taught both privately and in public schools. He has participated as a Solo and Ensemble judge for several school districts in the Rio Grande Valley. During his time in the Houston metro area, Adrian has taught with the Houston Youth Symphony’s “El Sistema” based Coda …

Russell has been teaching piano and guitar in the NW Houston area for 10 years. He is the Musical Director/ Worship Leader for his local church. His eclectic musical influences range from classical piano to all decades of rock music. Russell began his musical training at 6 years old taking piano lessons and …

Joe Risch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up amongst the cherry orchards of Door County, Wisconsin. He exuded a deep passion for music at an early age, but it wasn’t until he picked up a guitar at age 12, that his native ability was realized. That summer, he locked himself in his room with his ne…

Emilio Rodriguez is a Houston-based musician and composer who began his musical journey learning to play bass at the age of 7. He studied music under Jose and Julio Pecina, who are well-respected music teachers in the Houston area. Since then, he has learned various instruments, most notably the guitar and th…

The intrinsic language of music has been a life-long pursuance for Dane Ruckstuhl as the tradition of music has been passed down and practiced throughout many generations of his family. From banjo folk tunes to jazz piano, Dane practices a wide variety of genres, instruments, and techniques. Starting off as a…

Dreco Salgado is a musician from Houston, Texas who believes that learning music can not only improve one’s ability to play an instrument, but also teach valuable lessons about problem solving and creativity in the future. Born in Miami Florida, Dreco began studying Guitar, Ukulele, and Bass at the age of 1…

Lily is an energetic and passionate lover of music. She was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL. At age 10, she remembers seeing her older cousins play guitar and sing together at a family reunion. At that very moment she turned to her mother with a huge smile on her face and simply said “I want to do this, t…

Michael Anthony Shanks is a guitarist, composer and seasoned music teacher from Houston, TX. In addition to the guitar, he also teaches, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, electric bass, piano and saxophone. His music has taken him to some pretty amazing places such as Buenos Aires, Argentina and London, England. He c…