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.
James Malriat
Assistant Music Director, 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.
Morgan McClain
Studio Coordinator, Guitar Teacher
Morgan is a guitar teacher, studio coordinator, and a School of Rock Doylestown graduate. She grew up heavily influenced by Rock music from her parents and active in various music extracurriculars. Starting School of Rock in 7th grade for guitar lessons, Morgan progressed throughout the school, learning guitar, bass, voice, and some piano, as well as performance programs and House-band. Morgan is active in the local music scene with her all-girl punk band Froggy (link) and is a professional musician. She played many shows around the area with Froggy, has played with Joe Talcum from the Dead Milkmen, has been on 93.3’s Preston and Steve show (link), and recently has a song in the soundtrack of the new movie Clerks 2 (link). She loves playing, listening and teaching music of different kinds and has always considered the School of Rock Doylestown to be her second home.
Fiona Boyd-Clark
Special Projects Coordinator, Drum Teacher
Fiona has felt connected to music for as long as they can remember, listening to many influential artists like David Bowie and Stevie Wonder before they could talk. Fiona spent six years at School of Rock Doylestown as a drum and bass student in the performance program and spent three years in the Doylestown House Band. They have now joined the School of Rock Doylestown team as a Special Projects Coordinator and drum teacher.
Fiona is active in the punk music scene with their band Froggy, which has played with musicians including Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen, Bad Cop Bad Cop, The Casualties, and many more. Froggy has been featured on WMMR and WXPN, and has collaborated with 7-Eleven to create a cheesy music video for their song, "7-Eleven Nachos." Fiona is proud to be part of the local music community, and especially the School of Rock community, where they have always felt at home.
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
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.
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.
Quinn Shamberger
Keyboard Teacher
Quinn has been playing music since he was 6 years old. He took piano and trumpet lessons privately all the way up until high school, and at that point I felt like he was fit enough to continue his studies at his own pace. Quinn currently plays in a few Philly bands whose styles range from rock and fusion all the way to funk and jazz. He is excited to be teaching at School of Rock!
Ian Roberts
Singing Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Ian Roberts is a School of Rock Doylestown alum! As a student, he performed in shows playing guitar and singing, was a member of the House Band, and was selected to the AllStars program in his last year as a student. His love for classic rock, hard rock, and heavy metal is what brought him to the school and has helped unlock a deep passion for singing and understanding how it all works.
Ian has returned to School of Rock Doylestown to help teach more aggressive styles of singing with a more nuanced approach to the genre, without the worry of damaging one's singing abilities! Ian has played in multiple hard rock and heavy metal bands around the tri-state area. He has also hosted a few workshops on how to achieve healthy aggressive vocalizations and how to improve one's stage performance and show etiquette, both at the School of Rock here in Doylestown and at private venues in New York City.
Joel Adams
Drums Teacher
Joel started with drum lessons at age 7. He has been playing professionally since he was 12, which was the minimum age to join the musicians’ union. Joel played in the school bands and musicals, neighborhood garage bands, and as a regular and sub drummer for all kinds of local bands in the Pittsburgh area. He got his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition, with a principal instrument of percussion from West Virginia University where he participated in a wide variety of percussion and jazz groups. Most recently Joel played in a grunge cover band all over Philadelphia and the mid Atlantic region. He is excited to join the School of Rock team to share his talents with young musicians.
Tyler Beck
Guitar Teacher
At the age of 7, Tyler Beck was one of the first students to join School of Rock Doylestown. He started with drums and eventually started to learn guitar and vocals. He continued playing with the Performance Program and House Band until he graduated high school! Learning to play music has opened up many opportunities in the community for Tyler. This includes assisting in coordinating the Doylestown Youth Arts Fest and hosting a weekly open mic night at a local restaurant. Since beginning instructing, Tyler has fallen in love with helping other students grow as musicians. School of Rock Doylestown has been one of the most comforting places to be for Tyler and he wants others to share the same enjoyment!
Jake Lapergola
Guitar Teacher, Bass Teacher, Show Director
Jake started his musical journey playing viola in school orchestra at 10 years old and picked up guitar shortly thereafter. As a School of Rock Doylestown student for several years on guitar, bass guitar, and vocals, Jake participated in House Band and 2 All Stars Tours. Jake graduated from CB East High School and attended Northeastern University. Now, returning to School of Rock Doylestown as a teacher is like a homecoming in which he can pass on some of his experience to his students.
Ryan Cassidy
Guitar Teacher, Bass Teacher
Ryan grew up having a wide variety of musical influences especially in Classic Rock. He is a Guitar and Bass player who loves to write and record his own music. One of my biggest life goals is to become a professional songwriter and recording artist who inspires others to pursue their passions, whether it be in music or whatever field they choose. Ryan is a graduate of Penn State University and is currently enrolled in the Berklee Music Production program.
Lolly Hopwood
Singing Teacher
Lolly Hopwood has been performing music for children for about 13 years. While she has become a household name in Bucks County because of her long-running storytimes, it has been her three albums for kids and her children's book that have brought her to the stages at World Cafe Live, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Peeps Fest, the Philadelphia Zoo and Music Fest.
Lolly has also been on the Sprout network and was most recently part of the PBS Kids Jam series. In addition to her career in children's music, Lolly is the former bassist and singer for the band Honeychurch. She has shared the stage with Neil Halstead from Slowdive, Mojave 3, Anthony Green from Circa Survive, members of Midlake and Mercury Rev, and many more musicians that she deeply admires. Lolly joined the School of Rock Doylestown team in 2021. She leads the Rookies and Little Wing classes as well as teaches vocals to students of all ages.
Dusty Horvath
Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Dusty has been a guitarist for over 15 years and has five years of experience as an amateur guitar tech. Dusty loves punk rock, cheese, and the color green!
Bogi Trifunovic
Drum Teacher
Bogi started his musical journey as a School of Rock student in 2008 and returned to continue his involvement as a teacher simply because of how much he loved the program. School of Rock was more than just a place to learn music, but was also a second home where Bogi could spend time hanging out and making new friends through a shared love of music. While Bogi initially joined School of Rock for his enjoyment of rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Green Day, Rush, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the various shows and programs that the school offered helped to broaden his musical tastes over the years as well. As a result, Bogi is now well-versed in the drumming of other genres like funk, reggae, hip-hop, metal, jazz, and more. This diverse taste in music is what influences his drumming style and pushes him to be a better musician.
Throughout the years Bogi has performed at countless music venues along the east coast with various different groups, regularly playing at venues like The World Cafe, Kung Fu Necktie, and even the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. While performing is his true passion, Bogi also has a deep love of learning and sharing new information about drumming with his fellow musicians, and it is this love that pushes him to be the best educator that he can be for his students at School of Rock Doylestown.
Lamont Caldwell
Show Director
Lamont Caldwell is an all-around musical force, with several instruments and bands under his belt. He is the leader and founder of the rock band MACH22. They have opened for musical acts like Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Jay Z, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, Slayer, Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, Stained, Slash, Halestorm, Black Label Society, Steel Panther, and many, many more. They have also made their mark at such events as the Made in America Festival, as well as repeat appearances at Rocklahoma and most recently the Monsters of Rock Cruise. On a personal note, Lamont started his performance career when asked to join the band of soul singer Bilal as a saxophonist. Tours quickly followed that with Erykah Badu, Common, Kirk Franklin, Dave Matthews Band, Beck, The Legendary Roots Crew of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and hip hop icon Jay-Z.
Kristy Harris
Keyboard + Piano Teacher
Kristen Harris has been playing piano since she was 5 years old. Growing up in school, her band director’s favorite genre was jazz, so she got to play a lot of it. Krksty took piano, flute, and music theory lessons throughout high school. She went to college at Temple University and obtained a degree in music therapy. Upon graduation, Kristy got a job teaching piano to students with special needs. She also joined her church band, playing for 7,000 people weekly. Kristy continued teaching piano lessons and has accrued twenty years of teaching experience. She loves learning different genres of music (especially rock!) and loves playing in a band. Kristy looks forward to helping students reach their full potential and have an awesome time doing it.
Bobby Beato
Guitar Teacher
Bobby began playing guitar when he was 7 years old and has been playing for almost two decades. He started as a student at School of Rock Doylestown when he was 13, and spent a total of five years here, participating in both the House Band and AllStars. Bobby likes to play all genres of music but he primarily likes to play rock and metal. He received a performing arts scholarship at Drexel University for guitar and graduated from Drexel with a BSBA. Bobby has been playing around Philadelphia with different musicians and bands more recently. He began teaching guitar at School of Rock Doylestown in November 2022 and is also the Director for Rock 101 on Saturdays.