David Joseph
Owner and Chief Rock & Roller
David Joseph is passionate about rock and roll. It’s been that way forever. His favorite teenage memories involve playing the drums with his bandmates. Almost 20 years ago he made Chapel Hill his family home. He loves the community and its vibrant musical scene. Opening a School of Rock in Chapel Hill is more than a business opportunity for him. It's a musical mission to give back.
School of Rock Chapel Hill is here to share the joy and passion of rock and roll music with our friends and neighbors! We hope to see you here soon.
Mary Grace Greason
Assistant General Manager
Mary Grace Greason is from the birthplace of Rock and Roll - Cleveland, Ohio - and she was born with a love for music. Mary Grace is a violinist, singer, and songwriter with a passion for inclusive music education and making sure people feel loved. 'MG' moved to Hillsborough, NC in 2014 and began working in the restaurant industry. She has kept her hands in the customer service world ever since.
Mary Grace is pursuing her library sciences degree while singing in the car as much as she can. She is so excited to meet the coolest of kids and listen to the raddest of tunes here at School of Rock Chapel Hill!
Mary Clayton Liles
Studio Coordinator
Mary Clayton is from the bustling metropolis of Siler City, NC. She started playing piano in third grade and attended Appalachian State University to major in music education. While there, she focused on the French horn as her primary instrument but enjoyed learning the basics of several other instruments as well. After eighteen years of teaching elementary and middle school general music and chorus with Chatham County Schools, Mary Clayton embarked on a fabulous new adventure with School of Rock. She can't wait to meet all of the budding rock stars in the Chapel Hill area and to support them in their awesomeness however she can!
Mary Clayton listens to a little bit of everything, from bluegrass to hip-hop to opera, but her heart will always beat loudest for Rock-n-Roll. She believes that self-expression is a basic human right and that music is nourishment for the soul. She also loves dogs, traveling, fried okra, bright colors, and her Nintendo Switch.
Samaria McKenzie
Studio Coordinator
Growing up in New York City, Samaria McKenzie was exposed to diverse worlds and quickly came to appreciate art as a way of life. Music became her solitude at the age of 12 when she received her first guitar (almost two decades later it still gets playtime!).
Now, happily nested in the heart of Durham, North Carolina, you can find Samaria working on a new painting with her daughter, composing a song, or attempting a new skate trick. She looks forward to being a part of each School of Rock student’s journey to joy through community and music!
Justin Ellis
General Manager, Music Director
Justin Ellis is a multi-instrumentalist who has called the NC Triangle home since 1998. Currently, Justin sings and plays bass and keys for the Chapel Hill post-rock band SLOW TEETH and drums for INS KINO, an art-pop band based out of Raleigh. Justin also tours on bass with shoegaze group EASTER ISLAND (Atlanta, GA) and performs and records original indie pop music under the moniker RAVARY with a rotating group of friends, including several members of the School of Rock Chapel Hill staff.
Primarily a bass player and vocalist, Justin spent his formative years performing in various school choirs, a cappella groups, marching bands, jazz combos, musicals, and operas throughout high school and college. Justin has since spent a good chunk of his twenties and thirties riding around in vans playing clubs and music venues all over the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and even the Netherlands with a variety of rock bands.
Justin has shared stages and green rooms in NC, and on the road, with such acts as The Mountain Goats, Cindy Wilson (B-52s), Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Mundy, The Love Language, and more, and has performed everywhere from The Cat's Cradle to Carnegie Hall. Justin is a proud alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Media Production / Music / History 2013) and in his spare time enjoys travel, hiking, exploring the Triangle's food and music scene, and going to the movies.
Justin has been an instructor at School of Rock Chapel Hill since 2018, its music director since 2020, and a General Manager since 2022.
Jake Waits
Assistant Music Director - Drum, Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar and Singing Teacher
Back in the 1990s Jake Waits started playing drums on his older cousin's kit by sneaking into the basement during holiday visits and stealthily learning how to beat Queen's "We Will Rock You" with brushes. Unconvinced there existed a worthier pursuit than music, he began to study percussion in his sixth grade concert band. His studies have since forayed into styles and techniques like rock, jazz, funk, folk, blues, metal, various hand-drumming, rudimental marching percussion, classical percussion and musical theater. Jake has had the good fortune to study and work under the tutelage of Matt Savage, Alan Keown, Lynn Glassock, Dr. Juan Álamo and Cameron Britt. In addition to teaching, Jake currently helps out at Schoolkids Records in Chapel Hill and plays drums for music projects Happy Abandon and the Tan and Sober Gentlemen. He is a guitar teacher, bass guitar teacher, drum teacher, piano teacher and vocal instructor at School of Rock Chapel Hill.
Jones Bell
Piano, Singing, and Guitar Teacher
Born and raised right here in Chapel Hill, Jones Bell has been performing in venues and at festivals across the country since he was a teenager. Getting an early start singing in church and school choirs at 5 years old, he then took up the piano at age 10, and soon after, learned to play the guitar.
A sucker for half-time rhythms and mournful metaphor, Jones has always been particularly drawn toward American folk and soul music, though his current projects range in influences from funk to pop, electronica to rock, and more. When he’s not performing live, Jones works as a music producer and engineer for both local and international artists. He also makes a mean cup of coffee and a halfway decent grilled cheese. Above all, he believes the cornerstone of good music is fun and is excited to share his love of collaboration and performance with the School of Rock community.
Crystal Bright
Singing and Piano Teacher
Award winning singer/songwriter, ethnomusicologist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and new mom to twins, Crystal Bright, grew up in Mt. Pleasant, NC where she began taking music lessons at the age of seven. After performing in numerous high school musicals, she studied Drama before earning a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She then earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology from Florida State University while performing in a variety of genre-spanning acts, including Mariachi, Chinese, Ugandan, Brazilian Samba, and Balinese Gamelan ensembles. After graduate school, she traveled the world where she studied flamenco dancing in Spain and worked for the Montana Conservation Corps across the wilds of Montana and Yellowstone National Park. She then taught multicultural music and dance at the Greensboro Montessori School (ages 4-11). She sang and played keys in numerous bands until starting her own band called Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands in 2010 and has played over 1000 shows from Canada to Austin, and New Orleans to Seattle and Thailand, sharing the stage with the likes of Beats Antique, Abney Park, Aurelio Voltaire, The Love Language, Rising Appalachia, and many more. She plays many instruments alongside piano, including musical saw, accordion, concertina, adungu (Ugandan harp), hammered dulcimer, various percussion, zheng (chinese zither), guitar, and vihuela and has directed and produced multi-media performance art pieces with her music alongside acrobats, dancers, actors, and side-show artists.
Bright won the North Carolina Symphony's Triangle Talent Search in 2011 to perform with the North Carolina Symphony on an arrangement of her song "Toy Hammer," and has performed at various festivals around the country (SXSW, Savannah Stopover, FloydFest, DragonCon, LEAF, Midpoint Music Fest, The Steampunk World's Fair, The International Steampunk Symposium, Shakori Hills, and many others). She took Runner Up for On the Rise at Floydfest 2013 for returning sets in 2014 and 2015, and was named Best Singer in 2012, Best Songwriter in 2014, and Best Musician in the Triad in 2015 by Greensboro's Yes Weekly, and has won multiple national music video awards. Her visual collaborative music albums have received glowing reviews in the US & Europe, as well as radio airplay in the US, UK, & Canada, including NPR and BBC appearances.
Since 2019, she has sang and performed Jazz on accordion and musical saw with local legendary pianist Robert Griffin at many venues across the state. She is also a certified Holistic Health Coach / Nutritionist with a degree from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City and has taught piano and voice since 2009. She believes that all humans are musical and has a passion for helping everyone realize their potential and that music is a powerful tool in bringing people together in a profound way.
Anna Cobb
Singing and Piano Teacher
Anna currently resides in Hillsborough, NC, but grew up in places all over the country, even spending a year studying internationally in Helsinki, Finland. Inspired by her father's musical interests, Anna's passion for music began at a young age and only grew as she developed a love for all genres of music, from Folk Punk to Metal. Her primary instrument is voice, but she also teaches some piano and guitar.
Anna began vocal instruction in high school and is currently on academic leave from St Olaf College after finishing her sophomore year. She has sung in a cappella groups and various choirs in high school, as well as Manitou, Cantorai, and Gospel Choir at St Olaf. Her favorite performance remains her show with the St Olaf Jazz ensemble, just two months before COVID shut everything down. In college, Anna studies piano, voice, and music theory, but also majors in Sociology and Anthropology, even developing an interest in Nordic Studies.
As a teacher, Anna wants all students to know that the paths for pursuing music are endless, and wants to help kids find whichever one that may be. When she is not teaching, she can be found reading (probably a comic book), drawing, or jamming to some music in her hammock.
Rob DiMauro
Drum Teacher
Described by many local musicians as “a chameleon” for his ability to adapt to almost any musical situation, Rob was born on the west end of Montreal, Quebec and raised in Chapel Hill, NC. He knew at age 10 and a half that he wanted to be a drummer after seeing the film “That Thing You Do!” when it was released in theaters. Learning under the tutelage of local drum teacher Larry Duckworth and Rob’s middle and high school band programs, Rob had a solid local foundation and drive that set him on the path to doing what he loved to do. Later specializing in Modern Rock, Jazz, and Funk, Rob is also an aficionado of Motown and Classic Rock….and sometimes Star Wars. In his pre-teens (and later as a guest instructor) he got to attend the prestigious Soundwall Music Camp in Southern California, where he learned from some of the best Bay Area session players in the industry, including John Xepoleas (Independent) and Jason Wall (touring drummer for the late great Louie Bellson, Independent). Through those experiences, he was taught how to truly open his ears and play as a pivotal part of any musical ensemble. Following those years, Rob has racked up over 4,000+ hours of session drumming experience, played and toured in over a dozen bands, opened for major label acts such as Citizen Cope and Eric Gales and co-hosted the infamous Monday Night Open Mic at The Station in Carrboro, NC.
Will Dominici
Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Piano Teacher
Will Dominici was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee but has lived in North Carolina for the last 20 years. Will grew up in Cary but now resides locally as he pursues a double major in Music and Economics at UNC Chapel Hill on music scholarship. He actively participates in both the UNC Jazz Combos and Big Bands while pursuing his third year as a music major with jazz emphasis, receiving private instruction from accomplished professors.
Will first started playing guitar at the age of 14 and has been hooked ever since. He was first inspired by bands like Black Sabbath, Talking Heads, and The Who. After joining his high school drum-line, he soon became heavily involved in the school's many musical outlets. He played guitar in the jazz band, combos, musical pit orchestra, and electric bass for the indoor percussion ensemble. Will later found local heroes in the jazz scene and sought mentorship through private instruction, making jazz guitar his eventual focus. While he has an emphasis on Jazz Studies, his musical influences spread from the likes of progressive rock bands like Dream Theater, to rock fusion pioneers like Jeff Beck, and everything in between! His academic training gives him a strong foundation to instruct for most genres a student could be interested in such as Funk, Pop, Blues, and Classical. On the weekends Will is either working with musical community outreach programs or playing lead guitar with an indie-pop band. He will be teaching guitar, bass and keyboard lessons.
Nate Gerard
Drum, Guitar and Bass Guitar Teacher
Nate Gerard is from the Hudson Valley area of New York State, and has been passionate about music from a young age. In 5th grade, he found an old acoustic guitar in the attic that belonged to his dad, and was immediately drawn to it. He’s played in multiple bands from old-timey Folk, to Ska, to Funk and Punk Rock and currently plays drums in two Chapel Hill bands, Mystery Ranch and Server. He can’t imagine his life without music in it. Music has always been a pillar that has upheld him, provided support, comfort, friendship, and happiness. His goal with his students is to inspire a similar passion for music, and to connect them with performing and playing in a deep and meaningful way. He is a guitar teacher, bass guitar teacher, and drum teacher at School of Rock Chapel Hill.
Danlee Gildersleeve
Guitar Teacher
Danlee Gildersleeve was born and raised right around the corner in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He grew up surrounded by music, his father having been a prominent guitarist in the 70s and 80s, playing alongside such greats as Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Such immersion was impossible to resist, and for the last eleven years, Danlee has been dedicated to the guitar and all its wonders, traveling all the way out to LA and back with his six string at his side. His inspirations are many and varied, from Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic to Masayoshi Takanaka, from Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria to Ben McClod of All Them Witches. Jazz, funk, blues, good ol rock and roll, he loves it all, taking a little from a lot to make new sounds thus unexplored. As a teacher, Danlee hopes to pass on the excitement and true, simple beauty that lies in playing music with others. There exists a connectedness with something greater than ourselves in sharing those moments with the musicians around us, and he firmly believes everyone can benefit from experiencing it at least once. When not teaching, he can be found reading, listening to records, or enjoying some quality time with his wonderful cat, Penelope.
Chip GrawOzburn
Guitar and Bass Guitar Teacher
Chip GrawOzburn is a guitarist and songwriter originally from the cold northern farm valleys around La Crosse, Wisconsin. He has lived in the Chapel Hill area with his wife and two children for over 11 years. He has taught various guitar students on a one-to-one basis over the last 20+ years. He is extremely excited to teach and share his love of the instrument with the School of Rock community and students.
Chip began playing guitar in 1986 as a freshman in high school and immediately began playing in jam bands. While working towards his Associate degree in communications and broadcasting after high school, he frequented the music scene around the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Minneapolis gave him an opportunity to play a variety of styles from rock, reggae, and funk to acoustic styles. After broadcasting school, Chip built a recording studio (Citrus Productions) and worked with a writing partner writing songs and recording. He tightened up his guitar playing, learned to play some bass and became a studio rat, programming keyboards, drums and various other sounds.
Matthew Greenslade
Piano, Singing and Guitar Teacher
Matthew Greenslade is a North Carolina native singer-songwriter based right here in Chapel Hill. His primary instruments are guitar and keyboard but he is first and foremost a vocalist. He started singing early in his childhood, often harmonizing with his three brothers and performing in church. By the age of 11 he had auditioned and been accepted into the North Carolina Boys Choir. He went on to sing throughout high school, forming his own a cappella and barbershop groups. Arranging music and harmonizing became a passion for him during these years. In college he minored in Music while developing his song craft and making periodic appearances at local open mics.
After college he dug in on honing his keyboard and guitar skills while playing with Bevel Summers, an Americana and folk band based in Chapel Hill. As a band they recorded two albums and played shows all over the east coast, from South Carolina up to Vermont, notably playing one show in DC to an entirely deaf audience. Since then he has formed his own projects and is currently working on writing and recording a solo album. His experiences have given him a deep appreciation of harmony and for the ways melody and harmony work together to create the complex colors in each song. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of harmony, melody, music theory and vocal technique with other passionate, aspiring musicians as a guitar teacher, piano teacher and vocal instructor at School of Rock Chapel Hill.
Char Harris
Piano, Singing and Guitar Teacher
Char Harris grew up in Charlotte, NC and now resides in cozy Carrboro. Char has been a lover of music since they were young, and spent most of their childhood singing in school choirs, participating in musicals, playing piano, flute and guitar, as well as performing the entirety of Britney Spears' hit album 'Oops!... I Did It Again' for their stuffed animals. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, Char reconnected with their love of music by working as an audio engineer at Cat's Cradle. This has given Char a ton of exposure to new artists and artistic styles, as well as a greater appreciation and understanding of live music as a whole. Char has worked in a variety of jobs centering on childcare and education. They are passionate about supporting young people in the community in their growth, both musical and personal. They are extremely grateful to the role models and support the music community provided for them growing up, and hope to be a part of creating this type of space for their students. Char currently sings, plays guitar and keys for a local group. They love songwriting and using songs as a tool to process their feelings and thoughts. In their spare time, Char can be found cooking, going to shows, knitting or hanging out with their cat Basil.
Georgia Hertz
Bass Guitar, Singing, Guitar and Piano Teacher
Georgia hails from Clemmons, NC and spent most of her time as a child playing piano and catching critters outside. Her father taught her how to play the 12-bar blues at age 4, and there was no going back after that. At 11 she moved on to alto saxophone, by 13 she had her first guitar, and when it came time to graduate high school she turned in an acoustic demo CD of original music recorded in a small Winston-Salem studio as her senior project. Much to her parents' amusement, she and her brother formed a short-lived band called Crash where she played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies.
She moved to South Carolina to continue her education at the College of Charleston in 2011 and became involved in the school's pep band and wind ensembles with alto sax. She also picked up bass guitar and ukulele at this time, joined a folk-punk band called Rigours, and toured SC and NC during her college career. Upon graduating with a BA in History, she attempted to do the historic tour guide thing - but music wouldn't let her be. She then joined folk-singer Avi Jacob as a bassist when he toured the Southeast in 2015.
In the fall of 2019, Georgia finally released her self-titled EP. She sang and played all the instruments under the name Georgia Moon. She is keen on songwriting and lyricism, and understands that sometimes musical passion must be paired with patience in order to manifest the best!
Will Kitchin
Drum and Piano Teacher
Will grew up in Greenville, North Carolina where he got his start reading music by playing in a middle school band. Like many kids who grew up in suburban areas, he learned his rudiments and developed his reading through his high school drumline. Being immersed in 90s alternative music, a huge part of his adolescence was spent playing in original rock groups. Will attended East Carolina University in 1999, where he studied percussion under Jonathan Wacker. He participated in various ensembles including the ECU Wind, percussion and a few music theater productions. In 2000, he was also fortunate to play in the WGI group Carolina Thunder Percussion Ensemble, led by Scotty Cells. Ultimately, though, Will gravitated towards jazz as his primary focus for his music degree. His concentration in Jazz Performance gave him the opportunity to study and interact with many world class musicians such as Caroll Dashiell, Paul Tardif and Stephen Riley.
Upon graduation in 2005, Will taught privately in the Greenville area and performed/traveled in local funk groups Dystonic and Blount Harvey. In recent years, Will has worked on cruise ships. In that setting, he has accompanied a variety of singers and instrumentalists, all while traveling the world. He has also lived briefly in the NYC area, where he accompanied plays for the STC, an independent theater group. When not working on cruise ships, he has spent most of his time playing jazz gigs and writing/recording music for his art rock/indie project Angel Boy Cow. As a teacher, Will attempts to show that the best and most compelling drumming is often made up of simple musical phrases. Mostly, he tries to make learning drums fun and inspire creativity for students of any age bracket or experience level.
Libby Miller
Guitar Teacher
Performing arts has always been the center of Libby’s life. Growing up in New Jersey and playing guitar at the age of 7, Libby also took an interest in singing, competitive dance, and any opportunity to be on a stage. Her older brother (also a former School of Rock guitarist), mother, and father were a big inspiration to her musical taste, introducing her to bands that she still loves to this day like Led Zeppelin, Rush, Kansas, Metallica, and Pink Floyd.
Libby loves all musical genres including but not limited to rock, progressive metal, funk, jazz, pop, and indie. For the last two years, Libby was a student at School of Rock Chapel Hill and was a guitarist in the School of Rock Chapel Hill House Band. Libby is currently being mentored by Tom Monda, the lead guitarist and founding member of Thank You Scientist, and she also continues to write, compose, and perform live music in the region as the lead guitarist in several bands. She foresees mastering many more instruments in the future in addition to vocals and bass!
Libby believes in the expression that music is a universal language that allows for joy to be spread throughout communities and brings people together. She is excited to continue her musical journey by sharing her knowledge with students who want to explore the depths of their instrument through technique, theory, and performance. Improvisation is a technique she utilizes frequently and is her favorite skill to perform with other musicians. Learning rock songs that are the soundtrack of her life never fails to give her joy and she looks forward to instructing guitar students who want to indulge more deeply into their favorite music while also introducing them to new music at School of Rock Chapel Hill.
Henry Pfeiffer
Singing Teacher
Henry’s biopic would open with a 3-year-old Henry tenderly singing the Rolling Stones' "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" to other tiny tots having tantrums at his preschool. Henry was raised on a steady diet of Dwight Yoakam, show tunes, and SiriusXM Radio, and by the age of 12, he had cast aside his parent’s musical tastes and cultivated his own.
Henry has been actively involved with School of Rock Chapel Hill since 2018 and was a vocalist in the 2022-2023 House Band. He happily toured five states with the group in the summer of 2023 and continues to perform with several local bands.
Professionally, Henry has been a camp counselor, a roadie, and a certified lifeguard. He also spent a decade of summers writing and performing in original musicals under the auspices of musician and composer Creighton Irons.
Henry is a kinetic, magnetic performer who enjoys connecting with and entertaining a crowd. His favorite concert experience involved wandering away from the Sierra Ferrell show he was attending at Cat’s Cradle, and accidentally stumbling into a foggy, strobe-lit backroom where a DJ was blasting electronica and a motley crew of concert-goers danced like he had never seen before. He is a devoted listener of WXYC 89.3 FM.
A 2023 graduate of Carrboro High School, Henry loves skateboarding, rock climbing, live music festivals, hanging with his cousins, swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, travel, Olympic-level charades, cooking, and helping young people find their voice and style, as well as unique stage presence, here at School of Rock in Chapel Hill.
Gabriel Reynolds
Piano, Singing and Guitar Teacher
Gabriel Reynolds is a pianist and singer with over ten years of live performance experience. Since graduating from the University of North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2013, he’s done a bit of everything in music, from working at recording studio BNB Audio to booking for Carrboro bar 2nd Wind to producing other artists’ work to playing in multiple bands. He loves collaborating and building artistic experiences together, with one of his proudest experiences being the White Album 50th Anniversary Concert he organized in 2018, where he organized a house band to help him and nine other local artists cover all 30 of the album’s songs (yes, even that song) to raise money for the Compass Center for Women and Families. He currently performs as Wake Moody and released his debut EP under that name in 2019; he’s also been a resident member of many bands including XOXOK, Matt Phillips, Emily Musolino, Morning Brigade, T0W3RS, and more. While Gabriel spent time focusing on jazz and classical music at UNC, his biggest genre loves are pop, rock and R&B/soul, with a particular passion for music theory, arrangement, and songwriting. Gabriel knows it’s a privilege and a joy to play music and is excited to pass that joy and empowerment along to others.
Connor Southerland
Drum Teacher, Singing Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher
Connor’s love of music began at an early age when he would sneak off with the family camcorder to perform his favorite songs from Eminem, Green Day, and Blue October. He began playing the drums when he was 12 years old. After his first Metallica concert at age 14, he made the declaration that he didn’t care if he had to wear a bunny suit and play birthday parties, he needed to play in a band.
Thus, his journey at School of Rock Chapel Hill began. Connor has studied drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocals, and performed as a member of our school's House Band during his time as a student. He was also selected to be a member of the School of Rock AllStars program in 2022 as a songwriter.
Connor continues to enjoy diverse genres of music, but his primary focus is funk, rock, pop, and metal. His musical influences currently include Radiohead, Between the Buried and Me, Epik High, and Harry Styles.
Connor enjoyed mentoring younger students as a member of the House Band and as an intern assisting with School of Rock Summer Camps. He is excited to continue encouraging young musicians to pursue their musical aspirations, and most importantly, to have fun and find joy in the world of music.
Andrew Yesnick
Piano and Singing Teacher
Andrew Yesnick grew up in the DC suburbs and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2018, but his passion for music goes back much further. Andrew has been playing piano since he was five years old, and in high school he started exploring as many different kinds of music as he could, performing in jazz combos, concert ensembles, and playing all kinds of pop and rock. During college he continued to study music and music theory, writing and recording original music as well as playing keys in an indie pop group. Andrew has always been drawn to the joy of performance, expression and improvisation in music, and loves finding ways to share that joy with others. He teaches keyboard and vocals at School of Rock, Chapel Hill.
