Our Private Lessons Staff

Steve Gardner

Steve Gardner is a fiddle player, music educator, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has toured America and Europe many times, performed with Grammy Award winning band Blues Traveler, recorded for Grammy Award winning producer Bobby Ozuna, played with Decca/Sony artist Danni Leigh and is a founding member of Culann's Hounds. He studied Viola performance at SFSU with the Alexander String Quartet's Paul Yarbrough and at the Aaron Copeland School of Music with Danny Phllips of The Orion String Quartet. Steve has recorded for artists as diverse as Culann's Hounds, Freeway (Rockafella), Goapale (Skyblaze), Jake One and The Darktown Rounders. His experience in Irish, Country, Blues and Classical music has been earned on some of the biggest stages around. Steve is the artistic director and co-founder of Roots Music.  

Isabel Sokol-Oxman

Isabel Sokol-Oxman is a violinist with a wealth of experience in many different genres of music.  She was classically trained from the age of 5 and played in the Portland Youth Philharmonic from the ages 11-18.   She began to improvise and developed her unique folk style while playing with a travelling street musician troupe called the Soulfire Project throughout Mexico.  Her later travels to Bulgaria also greatly influenced her perspective on rhythm and timing.   She plays currently as part of a duo called Beam and also with an alternative rock group called the Stages of Sleep.  A natural teacher, she is drawn to the field because of her desire to share her passion for the powerful sound of the violin and the opportunities folk music offers in terms of alternative rhythms and styles.

Check out this recent article about Isabel and her band Beam from the Marin IJ.

Javier Jimenez

Javier Jimenez is from Madrid, Spain and a member of the renown Gypsy Jazz group Beso Negro.  He studied at the Liceo L'aula, the Berkeley School of Music affiliate in Barcelona.  His mentor was Manouche legend Diego Araoz of Baxtalo Drom.  His phenomenal technique and style evoke the master, Django Reinhardt.  Javi's skill, patience and sense of humor make him a fabulous guitar teacher for all levels of players. 




Robyn Mercurio

Robyn Mercurio

An "obsessed" Irish Fiddler, Robyn Mercurio is a registered Suzuki Violin instructor. She grew up as a Suzuki kid, beginning violin instruction at the age of 4. She has a special interest in working with beginning adults, very young children and children with special needs. She offers individual private lessons as well as group lessons which blend Suzuki techniques with traditional fiddle styles. She is also a co-founder of Roots Music.

Robyn is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. 

  

Jacob Groopman

Jacob has taught privately for years around the East Bay in private homes and at The 5th String music  store in Berkeley. His lesson studio has always welcomed students of all ages, backgrounds and musical interests. He also brings extensive experience working with kids. While a counselor at Camp Rockmont in North Carolina, he founded the guitar instruction program that still exists today. For the last five summers he has traveled to Alaska to the Cordova 4H Bluegrass music camp teaching group classes on guitar and mandolin and coaching a kid band. From 2007-2010 Jacob worked at The Marin Country Day School in Corte Madera teaching in the after school music program where he maintained a studio of around 20 students from 1st to 8th grade and coached a variety of kid rock bands. Since then he has maintained a private studio around the East Bay, Marin and out of his home studio in Richmond.

Jacob is performing at Studio 55 on June 9th.  Come see a great show!  Studio 55

 

Jeanne Carlson

Jeanne Carlson started playing violin during her youthful Bay Area days.  She got an early boost from Suzuki, and has been on a musical journey ever since.  Through Classical orchestras, and chamber groups, with guidance along the way from teachers, including David Balakrishnan, she now mostly travels along the dusty roads of Old Time fiddle music.  Her style continues to ripen and she teaches to share the fruits of her passion with newcomers to the fiddle.


Kyle Alden

Tina Mander

Tina Mander specializes in teaching finger style guitar playing and singing folk songs from America and Europe.  She will guide you in transposing songs to fit your natural voice key and help you develop the skills required to play guitar while singing.  She encourages students to bring recordings of their favorite songs to lessons so together you can work on developing a repertoire of performance ready material.  You will gain exposure to all of the basics like how to properly string and tune a guitar and how to apply music theory.

Tina has an incredible variety of musical experience gained by singing in various community choruses locally, in Sweden and Alaska.  She studied music at Merritt, UC Berkeley and College of Marin.  She performs locally with several groups and she will nurture your confidence so you too can develop your musical talent.

 

 

 Cormac Gannon

A native of Co. Mayo, Ireland, Cormac was inspired to take up playing the bodhran by hearing the Irish group De Dannan, and the powerful bodhran playing of Johnny (Ringo) McDonagh.  After immigrating to San Francisco in 1991,  he found a vibrant Irish music scene including sessions at The Plough & Stars Pub where he met Galway musician, Vincy Keehan. A few years later The Gas Men were formed and Cormac continues to perform with them around the Bay area. Cormac is often called on to accompany some of the leading Bay Area Irish musicians including Lucia Comnes, Steve Gardner and Kyle Alden.  He is the founder and organizer of the weekly Irish session at The Sleeping Lady Restaurant, Fairfax, on Sunday afternoons as well as leading a once a month singing session at the Plough and Stars in San Francisco. 


Making and repairing bodhrans is something that Cormac does in his spare time.