Melanie Boyd General Manager
Rock 'n' Roll has always been a major part of Melanie’s life. Her dad sang her favorite Beatles songs on demand, and Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, and Black Sabbath records played non-stop as the soundtrack to her youth. She remains surrounded by music as both her husband and daughter are musicians. Melanie holds an MBA, and with her former experience as Operations Manager for a music school, she has proven success in local marketing, event management, customer service, and administration.
As a parent of School of Rock Doylestown for the past 4 years, she has seen first-hand the incredibly positive impact this unique program and community has on its students. Melanie is thrilled to contribute her experience and talents to the School of Rock Doylestown, and to share her love of music with the students!
Matthew Snyder Music Director
After growing up listening to guitar-oriented music, such as rock and metal, Matt Snyder began playing guitar at the age of 13. A year into his musical career he joined School of Rock Doylestown, where he became a member of the Doylestown House Band. In his time at School of Rock Doylestown Matt was also accepted into the School of Rock AllStars program, where he toured the east coast from Florida to Connecticut. He even had the opportunity to play with famous musicians, such as Butch Trucks of The Allman Brothers Band. Matt enjoyed his time as a student at School of Rock so much that he decided to give back by becoming a guitar teacher so he could pass on his passion for music. Besides being a guitar teacher here in Doylestown, Matt also directs the Saturday Rock 101 group, as well as the school’s summer music camps.
Amber Miller Studio Coordinator
Amber Miller has been a Rocker since she was 2 years old, headbanging to Metallica! She grew up with a diverse taste in music and loves listening to AC/DC, Rolling Stones, and The Beatles. Whatever the mood dictates, she has a song for it! She has previous experience in the hair industry and she is always seeking new ways to express herself creatively. Amber’s sibling has been with Doylestown School of Rock for the past 5 years. She has come to many performances and has seen first-hand the impact of our program. She is very excited to now be behind the scenes and to be starting this next chapter in her life at School of Rock Doylestown as Studio Coordinator!
Jared Griffin Assistant Music Director
Jared Griffin has been singing for as long as he can remember. He got his start performing in front of an audience at the age of 13 at aSchool of Rock in Pittsburgh, PA. A graduate from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, Jared has spent the past two years teaching, at School Of Rock in Fishers, IN and performing with bands like, The Side Hustle, Blue Water Kings, Be On It, Cool City Band, as well as under his own name. Jared has recently moved to the Philadelphia area where he plans to continue his performance and educational career.
Morgan McClain Assistant Studio Coordinator
Morgan is a School of Rock Doylestown Alumni who graduated in August 2021. She grew up heavily influenced in Rock music from her parents, and being involved in various music extracurriculars. Starting School of Rock in 7th grade for guitar lessons, Morgan progressed throughout the school learning guitar, bass, vocals, and some keys, as well as performance programs and Houseband. Morgan is also the vocalist and guitarist of local all-girl punk band, Froggy. With this band, she has played many shows around the Philly area, and has played with Joe Talcum from the Dead Milkmen and has been on 93.3’s Preston and Steve show. Morgan has always considered School of Rock Doylestown to be her second home, and is so excited to return as assistant studio coordinator!
Danny Cipressi Vocal Instructor, Piano Teacher
Danny Cipressi is a diverse and experienced singer/songwriter/musician who has been teaching for 10 years. He studied opera at The Ester Boyer School of Music at Temple University and went on to sing for the Delaware Valley Opera Company in Philadelphia. He has also performed in musicals and plays. Aside from classical study and performance, Danny has written and recorded his own original music, and has performed in rock and pop bands for numerous years. His focus as a teacher is on building confidence and self-esteem in his students, bringing out the best talents in each of them. He is a vocal instructor and piano teacher at School of Rock Doylestown.
Chris Clark Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Chris Clark joined School of Rock Doylestown as a guitar teacher and bass guitar teacher. His daughter has been a student for over three years. Music has been a constant in his life since he was small. He remembers spending hours as a toddler listening to his grandfather play piano. By the time he was in middle school, Chris began playing guitar and saxophone. In high school, he played first chair saxophone in the jazz band, was the drum major for an award-winning marching band and studied advanced music theory. He studied Composition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, after which he lived in and performed in Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA. During this time, Chris played guitar and bass in garage, punk and rockabilly bands, and made a living selling guitars. He has been teaching himself jazz guitar for over 25 years and currently plays around Doylestown as half of the Malcom-Clark jazz duo.
Tony Billings Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Tony Billings is a guitar and bass teacher from Baltimore, MD. He moved to Philadelphia in 2019. Inspired to play guitar by watching his uncle as a young toddler, he’s been an avid fan of music all of his life. He first picked up the guitar at 13. While rock and metal have been his primary areas of interest, he developed a strong love for classical and jazz while studying music at Carroll Community College in Westminster, MD. After performing and touring in local bands for a few years, he continued touring the U.S. as a guitar technician for bands like Texas in July and The Ghost Inside. He strives to inspire and help upcoming generations to become the best they can be on their musical journey.
Adam Howell Drum Teacher
Adam Howell was born and brought up near London in the UK, moving to the US many years ago. Following some early success playing drums with local bands around London, he moved to the support side of the business, doing tour and stage management for many artists including Queen, Paul McCartney, Glen Campbell, Liza Minnelli and many others.
After arriving in the US, Adam pursued a corporate career and in 2015 renewed his focus on playing drums, since when he’s worked with several local bands with styles ranging from rock to country to heavy metal. He’s currently involved with a Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac tribute band based out of Lancaster PA
Kylan Hillman Guitar Teacher
Kylan Hillman began his musical training at the Princeton School of Rock where he developed a lifelong love of singing, guitar and songwriting. Early in his musical career, Kylan performed as a guitarist and vocalist in many local bands whose styles included indie rock, metal, metalcore, punk, and folk. He currently performs as a solo acoustic act with guitar and voice playing covers. After studying music and composition at Mercer County Community College, Kylan is currently majoring in music theory and composition at the John J. Cali School of Music in Montclair and works extensively with electronic music as well as contemporary classical music.
Corey Deck Drum Teacher
Corey Deck has been playing the drums, guitar, and piano for over 25 years. As a lifelong student of music, he has trained with private instructors, drawn from a wide array of books and DVD's during self-taught years, studied marching, concert, and Jazz drums in high school band, and earned an Associate's degree in music at Montgomery County Community College. He has been playing the drums in front of live audiences since his early teens, including original music (Hard Rock, Indie, and Folk bands) and cover band gigs (Jazz, College Rock, Classic Rock, 80's Alternative, Grunge, and more). He is currently a full-time working drummer with the Philly-area band Shot of Southern. Now his passion is to share all that he has learned, and help his students discover the joy of making music!
Cameron Ralston Bass Guitar Teacher, Keyboard Teacher
Cameron Ralston joins the School of Rock instructor staff as a trained musician and former student. After years of multi-instrumental lessons and performances with the Doylestown School of Rock, Cameron attended the University of the Arts to further study the electric bass. While there, he developed his skills in ear training, music theory, jazz vocabulary, and ensemble playing. Cameron brings a unique perspective to each lesson by combining a foundation in rock music with knowledge of advanced musical concepts, and tailors the material to best fit the student’s ability and learning style. When not teaching electric bass and keys at the school, Cameron is an early childhood education professional at a private childcare facility.
Noah Williams Keyboard Teacher, Singing Teacher
Noah Williams is a graduate of Westminster Choir College of Princeton, New Jersey. He studied as a double major in both music composition and piano with a concentration in voice. During his undergraduate performance studies, Noah collaborated and performed with community and symphony orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Philharmonic, Princeton Community Orchestra, and renowned pedagogues and performers Paul Barnes and Phyllis Lehrer to name a few. As a composer, he was the protégé of various professional and well-accomplished composers in the field. His compositional and musical style range from classical crossover to Alternative Rock/Pop and in his career, has composed an entire 12 song set based on the greek zodiac entitled “Star Child”. In his current musical endeavors, Noah is an active freelance musician writing and performing for weddings, and additionally working as a commissioned composer for school ensembles and other various artistic projects. Noah has worked as a private instructor for 3 years and has taught institutionally for 1 year. Future plans for Noah include expanding his studio, and performing and collaborating with studio recording artists and songwriters.
Darnell Darden Drum Teacher
Darnell Darden has been playing drums for a little over 15 years. He started his study of music at Settlement Music School, Germantown branch, where he received instruction in percussion and training in music theory. Darnell then found his groove under a private teacher named Howard Burton, where he was able to partake in more personalized methods of practicing and honing his craft as a drummer. He and his brothers formed a group called The D-Sharp Band and performed around the tri-state area in various types of settings ranging from the Moving Mountains Awards Ceremony, to the Philly Aids Walk, to weddings and birthday parties. Darnell played in the band in his high school, and played drums in the Jazz band, concert band, and performance ensemble in college at University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Darnell enjoys music from all genres, noting that energy and individuality are key. Growing up with a love of skateboarding, and being heavily immersed in the scene through the skate group he led, Darnell found influence in bands such as Papa Roach, The Strokes, The Used, and Green Day. The free and rebellious energy that is shared between the worlds of Rock and skateboarding are alive in Darnell, and that is what he hopes to inspire in anyone who crosses his path ,especially young musicians. Currently, Darnell uses his energy and imagination to work on a personal passion project, based on his admiration of Jazz/Rock fusion and Progressive Rock of the 70’s. Darnell wishes to use his energy to cultivate and protect creativity, and to help new musicians to gain and study the vocabulary that they need in order to pursue their own musical imagination.
Adam Beigler Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
Adam picked up the drums at eleven years old and refused to put his sticks down until he found out that he could play the bass and eventually the guitar at age thirteen. Since then, Adam has played in many different bands of varying genres from jazz to classic rock to thrash metal.
James Malriat Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
James is a versatile multi-instrumentalist. He's a producer, composer, lyricist, videographer, and remote session musician, working from his home studio in Doylestown. He was immersed in music from a young age. As soon as he was aware of his existence, he started trying to play any and all unattended instruments. He played the drums on his notebook with pencils until he was old enough to join his elementary school's band program. He stuck with it through middle and high school, where he played drums in the Lenape and C.B. West Jazz ensembles. Since then, He's performed, recorded, and produced for various local bands and developed an eclectic catalog. He's most comfortable on drums, but he's been playing guitar and bass for just as long; about 16 years. James listens to dozens of albums a week, new and old, while he works on repairs and modifications of old synths, guitars, pedals, microphones, and various other semi-functional electronics. He is a lifelong student of all things music and is eager to share what he's learned over the years.