Guitars in the Classroom

GITC's Faculty ( Under Construction )

GITC-Salisbury: Dr. Diana Wagner
	Diana Wagner is an acoustic musician and folksinger who is known for her show-opening a capella arrangements and for performing a large catalog of historic music played on guitar, mountain dulcimer, and banjo. An assistant professor of education at Salsibury (MD) University, Diana leads Maryland's only Guitars in the Classroom Program and specializes in the impact of music integration on children's academic achievement. Diana's CD Tradition Bearer was released in 2008.
LINKS: Contact Diana / Diana's Faculty Page / Diana Wagner Music

GITC-Petaluma: Tawnya Kovach
	Tawnya Kovach is a multi-instrumentalist and educator from Petaluma, California who teaches guitar, fiddle/violin, piano, electric bass, autoharp, and theory. She teaches all skill levels and ages, and believes that it's never too early or late to start learning an instrument. She has been teaching in her community for over 6 years. "Music is my passion and I love to teach anyone who is interested." She also plays in several bands, and has one daughter named Sonja.
LINKS: Contact Tawnya

GITC-Rutland: Linda MacFarlane
	Linda MacFarlane is an early childhood music and movement specialist and adult educator from Rutland, Vermont. Linda’s main instrument is acoustic guitar, followed by mountain dulcimer, and then by an array of other traditional and non-traditional instruments. She has been involved with Guitars in the Classroom since 2002, bringing the joy of guitar music and singing to teachers, students and senior citizens. As program coordinator for the Rutland County Boys & Girls Club, Linda has introduced the club members to various music and guitar.
LINKS: Contact Linda

GITC-Thousand Oaks: Janis Vaile
	Janis Vaile leads our San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks GITC programs. She is an early development educator who provides music programs to children as well as adults. Prior to establishing her position as a music educator, Janis earned a degree in environmental Biology. She is a singer/songwriter and has written numerous children’s songs, many of which reflect her knowledge of science. Janis offers a wide range of programs and services – from individual music lessons, school programs, enrichment programs, Mommy and Me classes, birthday parties and more. She prides herself in nurturing children’s self-esteem while instructing her music programs.
LINKS: Contact Janis

GITC-Petaluma: Ingrid Noyes
	Ingrid Noyes has been training teachers with Guitars in the Classroom for the past four years, and has contributed her broad knowledge of songs for learning in both English and Spanish to the GITC curriculum during this time. Fluent in Spanish, she started the first GITC training program for early childhood educators working with ELLs, most of them native Spanish speakers, themselves. She's been playing both the guitar asnd clawhammer style banjo since she was a kid, and teaching since then, too. She performs with her band, Rosie and the Railroaders. As a member of the AMIGO team, Ingrid is a "driver" for inclusivity, diversity, and variety in our educational materials.
LINKS: Contact Ingrid

GITC-Cardiff, Encinitas, Oceanside: Jessica Baron
	Jessica Baron is a lifelong acoustic guitarist, singer and “incidental” songwriter who began playing guitar at age seven, teaching guitar in Junior High, and has never stopped. Trained as a music educator, child development specialist, and psychotherapist, Jess taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music in the early 1980s. played the clubs there, then moved to California where she completed degrees in Child Development and Clinical Psychology and taught music, human development, and community service to students in grades kinder through twelve. In 1998, Jessica officially launched Guitars in the Classroom and has devoted herself to making music more accessible for teachers and children ever since.
LINKS: Contact Jess

GITC-Santa Barbara: Michele Harris-Padron
	Originally from a musical family, Michele learned piano then guitar as a teenager. During the 1970s, she played and sang in small clubs and private engagements throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In the early 1980s she moved to Mexico where she developed a Spanish repertoire. Fast forward to the late 1990s and, two children later, she brought her guitar to her daughter's kindergarten class. By the next year she had enrolled in a credential program and has been in the classroom for the past ten years. She currently teaches in the English Language Development (ELD) Academy, grades 4/5/6; ELD Levels I/II "newcomer program" at the Emilie Ritchen School in Oxnard, California.
LINKS: Contact Michele

GITC-Oakland: Alisa Peres
	Alisa Peres has been a musician all her life. While travelling extensively and studying music in Chile, Ecuador and Peru, she began to develop an extensive repertoire of songs in Spanish from a variety of Latin cultures. Back in the states, she earned her B.S. in Special Education and Elementary Education from Boston University and she has been teaching Spanish since 1999 in both public and private elementary schools in the bay area. Currently, Alisa serves on GITC's board of directors, as a music teacher at Sankofa Academy in Oakland, California and also provides music education in several preschools.
LINKS: Contact Alisa

GITC-Omaha: Juan Carlos Veloso
	Juan Carlos Veloso earned his credential in Music Education at University of Concepción in Chile. (1979-1982), got a degree in Elementary Educational at Catholic University of Chile (1983-1986), received his ESL Endorsement from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and earned a Master of Science degree in Educational Administration at University of Nebraska at Omaha (2003- 2005). Juan Carlos has played a vital role in the creation of The AMIGO Project and the AMIGO materials, contributing deep insight, vast experience, and several of his fabulous songs for GITC materials! Juan Carlos' warmth, humor, compassion and talent make him both a driving and a binding force on the AMIGO team.
LINKS: Contact Juan Carlos

GITC-Alexandria: Judy Ginsburgh
	Judy Caplan Ginsburgh is a multi-award winning singer, songwriter and recording artist specializing in Early Childhood Music and integration of music and arts into curriculum. She began playing piano at age 6 and guitar at age 12 and plays a variety of other folk and unusual instruments. Judy has been working with Guitars in the Classroom since 2002. She currently serves as GITC's Southeast Regional Director helping to set up programs from the Mid Atlantic down to Florida and across the Gulf Coast to Texas. Judy also runs a non-profit organization (Central Louisiana Arts & Healthcare, Inc.) whose mission is to bring innovative arts experiences into healthcare settings to enhance the healing process.
LINKS: Contact Judy \ JudyMusic.com \ Arts & Healthcare

GITC-Evanston: Mary Peterson
	Mary is a skilled teacher who specializes in beginning, reluctant and frightened guitar students and is especially happy to work with students who wish to begin studying guitar again. She is calm, patient, encouraging, and aims to create a peaceful, enjoyable space in which students can learn, have a great time, and to share her joy in the arts. Mary has BA degree from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University. In addition to her musical accolades, Mary is a veteran stage performer and specializes in coaching beginning or aspiring stage actors.
LINKS: Contact Mary

GITC-Traverse City: Amy Martin
	Amy Martin makes her home in beautiful rural northern Michigan with her husband and three children. She is regional coordinator and instructor for the Guitars in the Classroom program in Traverse City, Michigan. She loves being a Guitars in the Classroom instructor because as a teacher herself, she relishes the opportunity to be in a roomful of the fun-loving, creative and energetic teachers that GITC seems to attract. Amy is also program coordinator for a cooperative of non-profit organizations in her area dedicated to the conservation of the Great Lakes. Amy has a BA degree from Western Michigan University in music and elementary education and a MA from Michigan State University in Educational Technology.
LINKS: Contact Amy

GITC-Louisiana: Madeline DeHart
	Madeline DeHart is the Fine Arts Supervisor and Public Relations Liaison for Vermilion Parish Schools. Madeline taught instrumental music for eight years within four school districts including Texas and Louisiana, and is aggressively working to bring guitar to the classroom in Vermilion Parish Elementary Schools. She is an active grant writer whose most recent proposals approved funding for a community-wide children’s chorus for Vermilion Parish Youth as well as Louisiana Folk Roots Music Program established within the City of Abbeville. Madeline is closely involved in the community, and is an active Abbeville Rotarian and Abbeville Junior Auxiliary Vice President.
LINKS: Contact Madeline

GITC-Sonoma: Marion Davison
	Marion has been teaching in Elementary Schools since 1982. Her primary instrument is guitar, but she enjoys fiddling around with the piano and all manner of stringed acoustic instruments. She teaches first and second grade at a parent choice performing arts public school in Victorville. She has been training GITC teachers for four years. She also teaches two Little Kids Rock guitar classes to fifth and sixth graders at her school, and teaches a Roots of Rhythm percussion class to grades 3-6. Marion has a bachelor's degree from Mills College and earned her teaching credential at UC Riverside. She started playing the guitar and singing in public when she was in fifth grade. She is currently a lead singer in a rock band called the "Terminal Siphons".
LINKS: Contact Marion

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