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...
Read More

Rachel Loewen Director of Outreach — **Rachel Loewen**
*Director of Outreach*

Rachel comes to Music House from Wichita, KS where she was born and raised. She brings extensive knowledge of the music retail industry having worked 5 ½ years for one of the state’s largest music ...
Read More

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...
Read More

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 ...
Read More

Joel Stratton Director of Faculty Culture — **Joel Stratton**
*Director of Faculty Culture*

Joel Stratton’s love for music first blossomed as a young boy wheeling a comically large upright bass between fireside jam sessions at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, KS. As he gr...
Read More

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...
Read More

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...
Read More

Taylor Carter Community Assistant — **Taylor Carter**
*Community Assistant*

Taylor is a new resident of the Kansas City area and is originally from a small town in northeast Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri in Columbia and received her Bachelor of Fine Art...
Read More

Jocelyn Brokob Community Assistant — **Jocelyn Brokob**
*Community Assistant*

Jocelyn, born in a small town in southeast Kansas, has always had a love for music and a desire to serve her community. Her love for music began in elementary school choir and continued with high s...
Read More

David Cline Program Coordinator / Senior Instructor — **David Cline**
*Program Coordinator / Senior Instructor*

Born and raised in the KC Metro, David walked into his first guitar lesson at age 12 and has been playing and writing his own music ever since. After graduating from Blue Valley High School, he fol...
Read More

Fiona Msechu Community Assistant — **Fiona Msechu**
*Community Assistant*

Born and raised in Maryville, Missouri, Fiona’s love of music started early with the influence of her two older sisters. She is now an avid listener of all musical genres. Currently a business stud...
Read More

Brass & Woodwinds

Teri Quinn Clarinet / Saxophone — **Teri Quinn**
*Clarinet / Saxophone*

Multi-instrumentalist Teri Quinn is an active musician in the Kansas City music scene. After graduating from the University of Kansas City-Conservatory of Music with a degree in performance and mus...
Read More

David Thal Brass / Piano — **David Thal**
*Brass / Piano*

David Thal is a trumpet and piano player from St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in trumpet performance from the University of Kansas School of Music. His playing career began mostly...
Read More

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...
Read More

Drums

Spencer Smith Drums — **Spencer Smith**
*Drums*

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance graduate Spencer Smith began playing the drums at age eight after his mother discovered that he loved to tap on anything he could find. By the time he'd earned ...
Read More

Ryan Smith Drums — **Ryan Smith**
*Drums*

Ryan is a passionate performer and educator based in Kansas City where he performs with original jazz quartet Dreamachine and percussion with rock and funk band Glass Bandit. He is also a recording...
Read More

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.”...
Read More

Josh Blythe Drums — **Josh Blythe**
*Drums*

Joshua Blythe, a Missouri native, is a performer, composer, and educator based in Kansas City, MO. Beginning his musical career in Columbia, MO, Josh moved to Kansas City in the fall of 2012. As of...
Read More

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...
Read More

Early Childhood Music

Alison Mahal Piano / Voice — **Alison Mahal**
*Piano / Voice*

Alison Mahal has a BM in Music Education from Southern Methodist University and nine years of teaching experience. While teaching, she completed 3 summers of advanced training in a playful approach...
Read More

Mary Self Piano — **Mary Self**
*Piano*

Mary is originally from Laguna Hills, California, but grew up mostly in Springfield, Missouri. A Missouri State University alumnus, she has taught piano guitar and ukulele, for many years in the Un...
Read More

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...
Read More

Guitar & Bass

Jon Self Guitar — **Jon Self**
*Guitar*

Jon Self is a guitarist, trombonist, educator, and composer from Kirksville, MO. Having started as a self-taught guitarist, Jon understands a wide variety of musical perspectives. Recently graduate...
Read More

Joe Hertz Guitar / Bass — **Joe Hertz**
*Guitar / Bass*

Joe Hertz, originally from Chicago Illinois, earned his Bachelor's degree in Classical Guitar performance under the American virtuoso Christopher Parkening from Pepperdine University. During his cl...
Read More

Alex Hyden Guitar — **Alex Hyden**
*Guitar*

Alex began tinkering with the guitar as soon as he could hold one up. His parents were set on him becoming a country music star and always had a nylon string acoustic around the home he grew up at ...
Read More

Forrest Fowler Bass / Guitar — **Forrest Fowler**
*Bass / Guitar*

Forrest Fowler is a performer, composer, and educator living in Kansas City, Missouri. Forrest graduated from Ottawa University in 2016 with a BM in Jazz Studies and is currently pursuing his Maste...
Read More

Collin Littlejohn Guitar — **Collin Littlejohn**
*Guitar*

Collin is a live and session guitarist, songwriter, and worship leader. He was born and raised in Memphis, TN where he grew up playing on Historic Beale Street. After attending Visible Music Colleg...
Read More

Logan Contino Guitar/Ukulele — **Logan Contino**
*Guitar/Ukulele*

Logan Contino, a Johnson County native, graduated from Selkirk College in British Columbia with degrees in music composition, music production, and guitar. As a Music House alum, he spent multiple ...
Read More

Guilherme Vaz Guitar / Bass — **Guilherme Vaz**
*Guitar / Bass*

It took only a split second for Guilherme (you can call him “G”) to know that music would always be part of his life. When, at age 11, Santa Claus brought him his first acoustic guitar (he’d asked ...
Read More

Piano

Mark Allen Piano — **Mark Allen**
*Piano*

Mark Allen is a passionate musician and educator whose love for music started at an early age. Originally from New Jersey, he grew up in a musical family surrounded by musicians which led him to pu...
Read More

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...
Read More

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...
Read More

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...
Read More

Charles Hoeft Piano — **Charles Hoeft**
*Piano*

Charles Hoeft is a versatile pianist and a devoted educator. Originally from Minnesota, he moved to Kansas City in 2014 and has enjoyed teaching at Music House since 2015. He loves to teach people ...
Read More

Voice

Ben Chaverin Voice — **Ben Chaverin**
*Voice*

Ben Chaverin writes songs to make friends with strangers. This drive to connect with people extends to his teaching and he’s thrilled to be part of the Music House team. Ben started his music caree...
Read More

Andrew Sanders Voice — **Andrew Sanders**
*Voice*

Andrew Sanders is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance with a strong emphasis in music education. Performing since high school with ...
Read More