Music Instructors | Music House | Overland Park, Lenexa, & Olathe School of Music

Every aspiring musician needs mentors

Our well-trained teachers are highly experienced and work together as a team to help students reach their individuals goals. At Music House, you'll have access to some of the best musicians and instructors in Overland Park, Lenexa, Olathe and the Kansas City metro. Our entire team of educators works together to bring a diverse range of perspectives to each and every student.

Little-known fact: Our teachers are full-fledged employees of Music House, not just independent contractors like at every other music school in the Kansas City area. What does that mean? It means consistent instruction across the board, fully vetted music teachers, and an incredibly strong music community. We can't wait to meet you!

Administrators

Aaron Sizemore Co-Founder, Executive Director — **Aaron Sizemore**
*Co-Founder, Executive Director*

Music House Co-founder, Aaron Sizemore grew up in the Quad Cities, a hotbed of blues and jazz along the Mississippi River on the Illinois/Iowa border. He started out on the trumpet when he was nine...
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Becca Kephart Director of Band Workshops — **Becca Kephart**
*Director of Band Workshops*

As a popular independent music lesson teacher, Becca brought a whole fleet of students with her when she began teaching at Music House in 2014. It was the focus on community that had attracted her ...
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Rachel Cross Director of Classes — **Rachel Cross**
*Director of Classes*

Rachel Cross is a midwest based singer, actor, harpist, voice teacher, and musical director and is excited to join the Music House team! She holds an MM in CCM Voice Pedagogy and Speech Science and...
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Kinsey Belgeri Director of Community Culture — **Kinsey Belgeri**
*Director of Community Culture*

Born in Overland Park, Kansas, Kinsey’s love for music came out of her early experiences as a dancer. Her parents influenced her love for classic rock, and she is now the self-proclaimed number one...
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Brian Kephart Director of Technology — **Brian Kephart**
*Director of Technology*

A veteran of many rock, funk & jazz bands from southern Illinois to the Colorado front range, Brian has a diversity of musical experiences that he loves to share with students and fans of all t...
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Kay Pritchard Program Coordinator / Drums — **Kay Pritchard**
*Program Coordinator / Drums*

Kay Pritchard is a multi-instrumentalist from Northern California that specializes in drums and percussion. Kay graduated with a Bachelors in Music with a Jazz Performance concentration from Califo...
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Jerad Tomasino Program Coordinator / Guitar / Bass / Ukulele — **Jerad Tomasino**
*Program Coordinator / Guitar / Bass / Ukulele*

Jerad Tomasino is an American born composer, producer, and teaching artist from K.I. Sawyer, Michigan, living and working in Kansas City, MO. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas Cit...
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Jake Schubert Program Coordinator / Drums / Piano — **Jake Schubert**
*Program Coordinator / Drums / Piano*

Jake Schubert is a percussionist from Milwaukee, where he completed his degree in classical percussion performance from UW Milwaukee. He has toured throughout Wisconsin playing jazz fusion and musi...
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Mary Gladbach Community Assistant — **Mary Gladbach**
*Community Assistant*

Mary is an artist and music-lover born in Fort Scott, Kansas. With a background in violin and musical theater, she likes to surround herself with other creatives, musicmakers, and performers. She i...
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Stephanie Howard Community Assistant — **Stephanie Howard**
*Community Assistant*

Stephanie has been an amateur musician since picking up a viola at summer camp in the 90’s. From viola, she moved over to guitar as she delved into her love for grunge rock. She also loved playing ...
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Milcah Sarekukka Community Assistant — **Milcah Sarekukka**
*Community Assistant*

Milcah is a former Music House student from when the school was in the original house! She continued her education in music and singing for 11 years, taking private lessons while leading worship wi...
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Brass & Woodwinds

Katherine Anderson Voice / Clarinet / Saxophone / Flute — **Katherine Anderson**
*Voice / Clarinet / Saxophone / Flute*

Katherine is a music educator who believes in the power of building strong communities and connecting through music. She studied clarinet performance and music education with a vocal emphasis at KU...
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Nick Johnston Piano / Brass — **Nick Johnston**
*Piano / Brass*

Nick grew up playing guitar, bass, and brass instruments before discovering a love for the piano as a teenager. A lifelong Kansas resident, Nick attended Blue Valley High and is a Music House Alum!...
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Alex Dergal Winds / Piano — **Alex Dergal**
*Winds / Piano*

For the past year Alex Dergal has been living in Overland Park while teaching in the Blue Springs school district. Directing most of his energy at Brittany Hill and Paul Kinder Middle Schools, Alex...
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Daphne Hootman Piano / Flute — **Daphne Hootman**
*Piano / Flute*

Daphne Hootman is a Kansas City native who has been teaching in the area since 1995. “My teaching philosophy is to give students the important tools they need to learn,” says Daphne, “while also gi...
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Drums

Jacob Gregg Piano / Drums — **Jacob Gregg**
*Piano / Drums*

Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Jacob Gregg started playing the drum set at age 14. He always loved music, and at age 18 he turned his musical sights toward piano and composition when he was comple...
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Joel Shipley Drums — **Joel Shipley**
*Drums*

Joel Shipley has been teaching drums for years, but what brings him to Music House is his passion for playing music with others. “My goal is to share the joy of drums and music with every student.”...
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Steve Thomas Drums — **Steve Thomas**
*Drums*

Throughout his over 20 years of teaching experience, Steve has enjoyed sharing his passion for music with students of all ages. His teaching style is often described as “inspirational” and we’ve be...
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Kevin McAfoos Drums — **Kevin McAfoos**
*Drums*

Kevin McAfoos is a drummer, educator, and audio/video technician in Kansas City. Originally hailing from small town Cleveland, MO, Kevin was given ample opportunity to try his hand at music educati...
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Dodi Wiemuth Drums / Guitar / Bass / Ukulele — **Dodi Wiemuth**
*Drums / Guitar / Bass / Ukulele*

Edoardo (Dodi) Wiemuth has been playing guitar, drums, and bass for over twenty-five years. He is originally from Tuscany, Italy and graduated from the Music Conservatory of Perugia in percussion. ...
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Early Childhood Music

Elliot Yeager Piano — **Elliot Yeager**
*Piano*

Elliot has been immersed in the Kansas City music scene from an early age, attending his father’s jazz performances. He began his musical journey at eight, learning piano and guitar, and later expa...
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Shamika Franklin Voice — **Shamika Franklin**
*Voice*

Shamika Franklin is happy to be joining the Music House School of Music as a vocal music teacher. She has prior teaching experience as an elementary teacher, tutor, teaching artist, and Music Toget...
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Zakara York Voice — **Zakara York**
*Voice*

Zakara’s musical journey began at home, with musician parents and siblings. She started writing songs soon after picking up the guitar at age 11, singing in her school choir throughout childhood. A...
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Guitar & Bass

Rafael Jeri Guitar — **Rafael Jeri**
*Guitar*

Rafael Jeri is originally from Peru and has lived in the USA for the past 20 years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Production from Full Sail University. He comes to Music House with o...
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Luis Gonzalez Voice / Guitar / Ukulele — **Luis Gonzalez**
*Voice / Guitar / Ukulele*

"Music has kept me alive through the most vexing winters of my life; it's a first love that has always fed my soul." Originally from Mexico, Luis was trained classically in voice and piano from the...
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Matt Elton Guitar / Bass / Ukulele — **Matt Elton**
*Guitar / Bass / Ukulele*

Hailing from Kansas City, Kansas, Matt began playing string instruments at the age of 10, and was playing professionally by the age of 12. After graduating from Turner High School, he pursued a deg...
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Piano

Cole Harrison Piano — **Cole Harrison**
*Piano*

A KC area native, Cole comes from a family of musicians and music teachers. Having been teaching music lessons for over ten years, he’s honored to carry on the family legacy. Starting music at a yo...
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Yuli Almonte Piano — **Yuli Almonte**
*Piano*

Yuli is a passionate music educator with over 16 years of teaching experience. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Education, and is certified in both the Kodaly method and Orff process. Over th...
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Audrey Lena Baughman Piano / Voice — **Audrey Lena Baughman**
*Piano / Voice*

Music is Audrey's number one love language. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Audrey finds great joy when she inspires her students and helps shape them to become the artist they desire to...
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David Olson Piano — **David Olson**
*Piano*

David has been a professional musician for over 20 years, with vast experience teaching piano/keyboard, bass, guitar and voice. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, David was surrounded by music a...
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Stas Heaney Piano — **Stas Heaney**
*Piano*

While growing up in the Midwest, Staś had a knack for chancing upon world-class musical experiences as he studied piano, voice, violin, and percussion. He picked up a number of other instruments al...
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Andrew Ouellette Piano — **Andrew Ouellette**
*Piano*

Andrew Ouellette is a Kansas City pianist, composer, and educator. Originally from Hannibal, MO, Andrew has taught piano lessons for over 6 years. He had the privilege to study under the world-reno...
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Voice