Jonathan Portillo is an Austin-based jazz musician and educator. Hailing from Dallas TX, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Performance from Texas State University in 2022. He performs with several groups across the Austin and San Antonio area, and has opened for legendary musician Victor Wooten. In addition to his musical pursuits, Jonathan has […]

Chris is thrilled to be a part of The Musician’s Woodshed after having taught in the Austin Public School System for 10 years and earning a “Master Teacher” designation from the TEA in the process. While he has called Austin home since 2010, he was born and raised in the bustling metropolis of Conroe, Texas, […]

Kevin Arratia-Diaz fell in love with music and singing at an early age and started his journey in performing in college. A talented musician with a degree in Music and knowledge gathered from both professional engagements and artist programs in Europe working with renowned artists from all over the world. With extensive experience performing in […]

Leaf McFadden has been immersed in music and art from a young age. Throughout their upbringing, Leaf was an active participant in choir, show choir, band, musical theatre, and color guard. After teaching and leading the show choir club their senior year, they were led to pursue a degree in Music Education at the University […]

Guitarist, Pianist and Composer Jason Schimmel is a native of southern California and hasbeen performing and teaching professionally for over 20 years. He holds multiple degrees inclassical, jazz, film scoring and electronic music from the University of California Santa Cruzand the University of California Los Angeles. He has performed at many notable music festivalsand renowned […]

Jake Young is a drummer and educator based in Austin, Texas. Jake first started playing drums when he was 9, and taught his first lessons as a high school senior. Originally from Connecticut, Jake arrived in Austin seven years ago to study at the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s […]

Hi there! My name is Tia Patel and I am from Niceville, Florida! I have been in choirs and taking dance lessons for as long as I can remember. Participating in high school show choir, voice lessons, Florida All-State, and several orchestra choirs were formative experiences that ultimately led to me pursuing and studying music […]

Glenn Rexach has been a mainstay of the Austin music scene since 1984, and many of his former students are now highly respected and in demand (including one Grammy winner!). Born in Texas, his innate musical curiosity has had him play everything from straight up rock-n-roll, to funk, blues, jazz, country, Latin, and a plethora […]

Kim’s first musical memory was realized at the early age of 3 while watching an episode of Mr. Rogers featuring the Pittsburgh Ballet in the early 1970’s. This introduction inspired 12 years of  ballet classes at Miss Beverly’s School of Dance where music and movement would forge a lifelong pursuit of music. Kim is the […]

Ben grew up singing in church and playing music in school. He began studying trumpet when he was 8 and continued through college, adding guitar in the 10th grade, then ukulele and mandolin. Ben studied theater in college and spent several years pursuing an acting career and working as a high school drama teacher before […]

Rob was introduced to the world of music performance at the age of 10 with a fortuitous introduction to a trombone, but met his true love two years later upon receiving a second hand electric bass as a Christmas present.  He steeped himself in the sounds of funk, soul and rock that he had grown up with and started […]

Josh fell in love with music after hearing “Ticket to Ride” by the Beatles in fifth grade and starting playing music and writing songs shortly thereafter. He started performing in college and moved to Nashville shortly after he recorded his first album.   He graduated with honors from the Atlanta Institute of Music and holds […]

“I LIKE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR GOALS ARE, AND THEN GET TO WORK RESEARCHING WHAT CAN INSPIRE YOU TO MEET THOSE GOALS” In addition to guitar, violin, voice, ukulele, keyboard; Benji also teaches music theory, songwriting, and audio production! He started off on violin at age 10 and then wanted to know more and […]

Hailing from the swamps of Southeast Texas, Nick has been performing, composing, and teaching music professionally for over 20 years. Thanks to music he’s had the opportunity to travel the world, meet all sorts of interesting people, perform many different styles of music, and be involved in fostering the love of music. He is thankful […]

Reyna began her musical journey at the age of 9 with the violin. She is classically trained and enjoys playing classical and jazz. Not getting enough of music, Reyna found a love for guitar and picking it up to play any song she hears. Growing a passion for learning more instruments she picked up piano, […]

Blake’s musical journey began at age 8 in New Orleans, where he picked up the alto saxophone for his school’s band program. From there, he jumped around from Alto, Tenor, and Baritone saxophones, mellophone and French horn in concert and marching bands. But ultimately, the guitar stole his heart when he started listening to bands […]

Alec has been playing and learning a variety of string instruments for 20 years now, starting on the viola in elementary school and continuing through college where he studied the viola at TX State under the guidance of Dr. Ames Asbell, and played in Texas State’s orchestra. Today he is a member of the Central […]

David Noble is a professional musician of 17 years who is proficient at over 10 instruments and has performed guitar, keys, bass, drums, mandolin, and vocals at a professional level among many genres. His band, King Shelter, has written and recorded 5 studio albums with songs in the millions of streams on Spotify. With that […]

A.J. Vincent is an international touring musician, producer, keyboardist, vocalist, and DJ. He plays keyboards and sings in the band …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, and he is the creator of the EDM act Party Wolfe. A.J. was previously in Scorpion Child, The Bright Light Social Hour, and The Matt […]

I started my musical (piano) career at the age of 12 with the Royal Conservatory of Music located in Toronto Canada. Yes I am Canadian and originally from Montreal. I’ve been with the Woodshed now for almost 8 years and I have to say it is home for me. I am classically trained, however, absolutely […]