OUR INSTRUCTORS
At Jammin’ Music Studios our team is committed to helping you achieve your musical goals and aspirations. Each instructor is an experienced performer and educator, preferring not only to play music but also to pass on their talents to others. Student’s musical likes are woven into the lessons along with core skills (proper technique, sheet music reading, music theory, etc). We believe learning to play music should be fun! We’ll have you playing music fast, and before you know it you’ll be playing your favorite songs.
-
Joey Archer | Studio Director | Guitar
Joey Archer’s life has revolved around music since he was a child. He studied trombone and bass in High School and graduated in ’98 with the nationally recognized John Phillip Sousa Award and the National Choral Award. Read More…
-
Jon Balsley | Guitar Instructor
Olympia native, Jon Balsley, has a passion for making good music and for helping others learn to do the same. Having played on multiple projects and in several different bands, he understands well how to work with other musicians in a band setting. Read More…
-
Paul Thompson | Guitar Instructor
Paul is a long time guitar enthusiast and an Olympia native who has been playing guitar now for over 30 years. He started playing in rock bands as a teen and after taking some college level music theory eventually found his niche in the area of Contemporary Christian Worship Music. Read More…
-
Eric Nail | Guitar Instructor
Eric’s musical journey started when he was young and his grandparents bought him the $99 mini strat pack. At 12 years old he took lessons with Studio Director Joey Archer and has excelled at music ever since. Eric is a natural musician and teacher; whether talking about guitar or electronics (one of his other loves), he can’t help but show you what he knows and explain how things work. Read More…
-
Katie Mathias | Classical Guitar
A recent graduate from Colorado Christian University Katie is a talented classical guitar player. Having studied with Joey as a teenager, she discovered a whole new love in college, classical guitar. Read More…
-
Maureen Johnson | Piano Instructor
It was Christmas time in a little country church, and five-year-old Maureen, along with her two younger sisters sang about the Christmas candles. Thus began her life-long love of music. In grade school she accompanied the school orchestra and by junior high was asked to play for the high school choir and orchestra. Read More…
-
Cheryl Bradley | Piano Instructor
Growing up in Canada, Cheryl’s love for music was first established when she was six years old and started playing piano by ear. She began taking lessons at 9 years old and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music until age 16. She played in many festivals and appeared on radio and TV during her years as a student and attained second place in the province of Manitoba for the fourth level RCM test. Read More…
-
Dennis Williams | Piano Instructor
Music has been a passion for Dennis since he was very young. He started out playing the piano on his own learning as much as he could. He began taking lessons and in his first year he advanced quickly and was chosen to represent his class in the State Audition Recognition Recital. Read More…
-
Alex Lee | Piano Instructor
Alex began playing piano when she was 6 years old. As with many students Alex did not always enjoy learning, but through her mother’s encouragement she stuck it out and flourished. Today, those 14+ years of classical training have taken root and Alex not only loves playing piano… Read More…
-
Laurel Backholm | Piano Instructor
Laurel’s musical education started very young on the piano with her dad. She has many memories of him quizzing her on different chord structures and key signatures along with teaching her short jazz “licks.” In her teens she began teaching piano lessons and also began to take lessons from a local classical piano teacher. Read More…
-
Laurel Gonzalo
Piano | Composition | PerformanceLaurel Gonzalo has worked in many areas of music following her graduation from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music. After studying and performing in England and Europe she returned to live in Los Angeles, CA continuing her studies at Cal State Long Beach (electronic music) and University of California at Los Angeles (film scoring). Read More…
-
Stephanie Nelson | Voice and Piano
Born and raised on the Jersey Shore (Toms River, NJ), Stephanie had a rich and diverse upbringing in music. From an early age she was immersed in Broadway, jazz, rock, classical, and much more. She was singing from the time she could speak, and began playing piano at 7 years old. Read More…
-
Crystal Clayton | Voice
Sisters, Crystal and Tiffiny, are our tag team vocal coaches. Growing up and performing together has taught them to lean on each other’s strengths and they prefer to teach as a team. Crystal is a classically trained soprano while Tiffiny has a rock/pop alto voice. Read More…
-
Tiffiny Theis | Voice
Sisters, Crystal and Tiffiny, are our tag team vocal coaches. Growing up and performing together has taught them to lean on each other’s strengths and they prefer to teach as a team. Crystal is a classically trained soprano while Tiffiny has a rock/pop alto voice. Read More…
-
Kerry Gansberg | Drum Instructor
bio coming soon! Read More…