Our Staff

Melanie is a huge fan of the fine arts. At the age of six, she discovered the piano and took piano lessons with the support of her family. During her lessons, she opened herself to the different genres of music, such as classical, jazz, gospel, and many others. She studied Music Education at the University […]

Availability – Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturday Mornings, Sundays Felipe Verdejo is a musician from Santiago, Chile and Jersey City, NJ, now residing in Washington DC. Felipe started music at a young age, playing baritone and singing in choirs in grade school. In Santiago, Chile, Felipe was an inaugural member of the Coro Bicentenario Instituto Nacional under […]

Violin, Viola Sundays, Mondays. Fridays Sage Mitchell-Sparke is a violinist, violist, and pianist. Having played the violin since she was five, Sage grew up surrounded by music enthusiasts, performing concerts for her grandparents. She has taken lessons at Oberlin Conservatory while getting her BA at Oberlin College. Her favorite concerto is the Barber Concerto. She […]

Available Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, Larion De Bhaile is a 21-year-old guitarist from Washington, D.C. Larion started his musical journey on piano, but reconnected with music during Covid, practicing guitar for hours on end through lockdown. Since then, he has begun playing live at local venues with various bands, as well as with his Irish […]

Having come of age in the cultural melting pot of Wilmington, North Carolina, Keith Butler, Jr. has deep roots in many musical traditions. Due in no small part to his versatility and creativity on the drum set, he has become a mainstay of the Washington D.C. music scene, performing with some of the area’s top […]

Available Mondays and Fridays Matthew Waterman is a musician, composer, and teacher from Bloomington, Indiana. Teaching trumpet, trombone, baritone/euphonium, and piano on Fridays, Matthew believes in treating all styles of music with respect, and fostering the irreplicable creativity of each student. Whether your goal is to play a classical concerto, improvise over a funk groove, […]

Available Wednesdays. Hays Dowdy is a D.C.-based alternative indie songwriter and multi-instrumentalist performing live as a solo artist along with elite bands in International Musicians League. Rooted in British Invasion rock, bluegrass, and trained in jazz, his approach focuses on an idiosyncratic pairing of lead guitars and baroque lyricism. He graduated from Montgomery College with […]

Available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays “I started playing trumpet, like most, in elementary school.  I took to it right away and started private lessons soon after.  I enjoyed music and trumpet specifically so much that the more I played the more I grew as a musician. Private lessons helped immensely. I played classically as […]

Teaching on Saturdays only. Passionate about music from a young age, Jason began his studies at the age of eight on the acoustic guitar. Quickly developing an interest in woodwind instruments, Jason joined his middle school band and began experimenting with the clarinet, saxophone, flute and bassoon. Throughout his grammar and secondary education, Jason participated […]

Available Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays Coming from a musical family on both sides, Rios was born fully aware of his purpose and passion. By age 3, he was given his first shot at playing drum set at his family’s Pentecostal church, one of the 3 churches he plays at to this today. […]

Available Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Jaylin Conner, 22-year-old musician and instructor, is thrilled to be a part of the amazing staff at Middle C Music. While this is Jaylin’s first year at Middle C, he is not unfamiliar to his vocation. Jaylin has been playing piano for eight years, ranging from musical theater, golden age, […]

Available Sunday and Tuesday. Hailing from Washington, D.C., Hank Upton has played bass and guitar for more than 25 years. He has toured internationally, playing more than 1,500 live shows in 20 countries with former rock band Lionize. Co-writer of more than 100 recorded songs, he is adept in numerous styles including rock, funk, R&B, […]

Available Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. Potter has had a passion for the fiddle since a young age. He started playing Bluegrass fiddle at 8, jamming with his father and uncle, attending jam circles with them, and performing with his uncle’s band, The Mutineers. Throughout his education, he was introduced to the world of classical music, […]

Available online Tuesdays & Saturdays (email for more availability) Doug is a longtime teacher and band director in the Washington, DC, and Maryland school systems, leading concert, stage, and marching bands to numerous awards over years of competition. At Eastern High School, Doug helped grow the instrumental music program from 12 students to more than […]

Available Sundays, Mondays, and Thurdays Jack is a native of Richmond, Virginia. At age 11, Jack picked up the saxophone for his middle school band and has not put it down since. He started off playing the alto saxophone; however, as he progressed as a musician, Jack was drawn to the music of baritone saxophone […]

Available Monday, Thursday, & Friday John Linn is a performing singer and songwriter in Washington, D.C., with 20-plus years of experience playing guitar. Having grown up singing harmony and listening to folk music in the style of Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, and Woody Guthrie, John specializes in teaching traditional styles of American music, such as […]

Available Sunday, Wednesday, & Saturday Alicia Kopfstein, Ph.D. is a master teacher (her students call her the “technique queen!”), classical guitarist, folk singer, ukulele player, and classical singer as well as award-winning musicologist, and published author. This broad range of experience provides her with an unusually varied perspective which enriches every lesson. A gifted communicator, […]

Available Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Nelson Dougherty is a multi-instrumentalist, improviser and composer. He studied Jazz and classical guitar at Brevard College where earned a Bachelor of Arts with and emphasis in Jazz. Nelson also completed the 5 week Performance Program at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2012 he recorded […]

Available Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday Esther Haynes is a versatile vocalist and rhythm guitarist residing in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Her styles range from vintage jazz to swing, blues, bossas, folk, and bluegrass. Since 2002, she has been nominated for several Washington Area Music Awards (Wammies) for Debut Recording, Jazz Vocalist, Big Band […]

Currently not accepting new students Joe Gallo is a guitarist and composer from Baltimore, Maryland. Having studied classical, jazz, rock and blues in depth, Joe provides his students with a diverse and interconnected understanding of the instrument. His goal is to incorporate both classical technique and jazz improvisation in lessons, to give students a broader […]