Cory West Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Cory West graduated from Berklee College of Music. He teaches drums, guitar and bass, along with some vocals and keys. If you wanna shred on guitar, Cory is your guy! He loves kale and eating at Riyadh's. He plays in a rad band now called Liquid Light. His influences are Genesis, Husker Du and Guided by Voices. He love puns and random stuff on Facebook. They put a smile on his co-workers' faces or maybe even a frown! We love it!
Amanda Sloane Singing Teacher, piano Teacher
Amanda has been teaching and directing shows at School of Rock since 2017. She started playing piano and singing at age eleven and has a BA from Haverford College. Amanda is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, both as a soloist and with the art-rock band Pareidolia. Amanda completed a year long apprenticeship and is a Transformational Voice-trained vocal instructor that teaches students to bring their voice, body, and mind into singing. Amanda offers personalized instruction, creativity, and warmth to both in-person and online lessons. Amanda enjoys spending time with her teenage son, who is also a musician at SOR, and their two kittens.
David Coniglio Drum Teacher
As our Music Director and head drum instructor, David brings a ton of teaching and playing experience to our school. He's a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he worked with some of the world's finest musicians. He currently plays drums in local prog band Humours, psych soul band PigWar and instrumental electro jazz funk band Dove Driver. He also plays drums and vibraphone alongside Jose Medeles in their spacey instrumental trio, 1939 Ensemble. They have been featured on Pitchfork, Spin and Rolling Stone. Besides teaching and playing drums, David enjoys the simple things in life - spending time with his family, grilling and listening to baseball. Dave also makes the best drum faces in the history of drumming!
Eric Hedford Drum Teacher
Best known for his drumming in The Dandy Warhols and DJing as Aquaman at his long running soul night at The Goodfoot, Eric is a multi-faceted musician with a genuine appreciation of many styles of music and a ton of experience working patiently with both creative professionals and kids. He loves teaching, making ice cream and bidding on rare vinyl 45s on eBay.
Luke Broadbent Guitar and Bass Guitar Teacher
Luke Broadbent is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance with a Bachelor's Degree of Music in Jazz Studies. He has toured internationally and worked as a studio musician for the last five years. With close to ten years of experience teaching music, Luke has developed a curriculum that caters to the individual needs of each student. Luke teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, and beginner keys.
An avid fan of Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, The Beatles, Prince, and D'Angelo, Luke has an eclectic taste in music and mastery of many different genres including rock, blues, jazz, latin, funk, reggae, soul, and R&B.
When not teaching, Luke can be found playing music with his band Spiller, watching sports (Go Packers), and enjoying the beautiful scenery Oregon has to offer.
Zach Alec Holden Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Zach Alec Holden has been a devoted musician since he was a teenager when he began playing rock guitar. Those early years consisted of everything from learning, practicing, and rehearsing to performing, writing, and recording music with various groups. Holden is a graduate of SOR who then attended Portland State University, earning a Bachelor of Music degree and further developing his musical ability and identity through his education in jazz and classical styles. During his education and thereafter, Zach has continued to write music, perform in bands and in the “pit” for staged musical productions in Portland, and has begun educating others about music as well. Zach is also an avid cook, a history and geography nerd, and a burgeoning language enthusiast who is currently studying Italian.
Tiana Jimenez-Srisook Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
Tiana is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and audio engineer from Los Angeles. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Design & Production at Columbia College Chicago and has engineered, performed, produced, written music and worked alongside musicians and engineers all over the country. Tiana is a lover of all things analog, lo-fi, or unreleased and you can usually find anything from Zappa to Japanese funk to AfroCuban to old country music on my record shelf. As a former School of Rock All Star, Tiana is happy to be teaching guitar, bass, and drums to the next generations of music makers. A fun fact about Tiana: “I once toured with an all-female Metallica tribute band Misstallica as Kirk Hammett!”
Tiana loves to cook and spends most non-musical brain power thinking about food and new recipes. Her favorite foods are the family’s traditional cuisines: Thai and Argentine. ”I’m a huge X-Files nerd and my favorite movies to watch over and over again are “Spirited Away, Harold and Maude, and The Hunger.”
Octavio Dowling Bass Guitar Teacher, Keyboard Teacher, Singing Teacher
Octavio is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance with a Bachelor of Science in Music Technology. He has played in multiple Portland bands and composes music for films, TV shows, video games, and ads for everything from Sizzle Pie to Nike.
Having started his musical journey at School of Rock Portland when he was 11, Octavio has developed a deep passion for music education and music history. He’s always enthusiastic to have his students embrace their curiosity and learn from all genres of music.
When he’s not building synthesizers, Octavio enjoys reading history books, cooking Korean food, going to the movie theater, collecting retro video games, studying Japanese, and trading obscure vinyl soundtracks.
Ryan Wykert Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Keyboard Teacher, Singing Teacher, Drum Teacher
Ryan Wykert is a drum, bass, guitar, piano and voice teacher. He is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Studies. After studying with drummers Jim White and Chris Smith in Colorado, Ryan moved to Los Angeles where he played in numerous bands and studied with Dave Elitch and Thomas Pridgen. Throughout his musical career Ryan has become proficient in many different styles on many different instruments. With a background in rock, jazz, metal, indie/folk rock, and freely improvised music, Ryan can adapt to the needs of any student, and most importantly, make it fun! Ryan is a recent transplant to Portland, and after teaching at the school of rock in Santa Clarita while touring and playing with bands in LA, he is looking forward to continuing the musical journey in Oregon! Favorite bands include Dillinger Escape Plan, John Coltrane, Nirvana, Alexisonfire, Led Zeppelin, and Tom Waits. Favorite hobbies include running around with his dogs and jumping into rivers.
Brienna Watson Singing Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Brienna was born in California and raised in Texas by two musicians. She was always surrounded by song, dance, and music. From a young age, she and her sister would make up songs together, performing them for their family. She always knew she was meant to pursue music. At 15 she was given the Jeff Bradetich Scholarship to pursue her passion for upright bass. At 18 she began pursuing music production and music education at a university in Seattle. By 19 she became the youngest jazz conductor at Ingraham High School in Seattle. She now releases music of her own, as Kelley Laike, as well as gigs with different groups whenever she can. She loves harmony, boba tea, sunsets, and is very excited to teach at School of Rock!
Wayan Zoey Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
Wayan Zoey has been making music for most of his life, starting on guitar before grade school, and picking up bass, drums, and keyboards along the way. He majored in Jazz performance at Lewis & Clark college and has studied with Dan Balmer, Jojo Mayer, and Joe Russo. He’s toured the country as a guitarist with The Funk Ark and as a Tour Manager for Nerve. He has multiple albums out on Ropeadope Records, and has previously worked as Production Manager at Brooklyn Bowl (NY) and Assistant Editor at Relix Magazine. Wayan has been teaching for over 20 years, and has numerous former students touring in bands. These days he mostly listens to instrumental music spanning the spectrum from Butcher Brown to Chon, and spends the bulk of his free time figuring out how to play the hybrid bass/guitar he got from Charlie Hunter.
Ron Varod Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Originally from New Jersey and a recent transplant from New York City, Ron has been teaching guitar lessons for over 15 years in various music stores, lesson studios, private lessons and after school programs. Over the past 10 years he has toured the US and internationally with the bands Kayo Dot, Sabbath Assembly, Psalm Zero and his solo project Zvi (to name a few), including appearances at Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands, Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig Germany, Psycho Las Vegas and a Japan Tour in 2016. In addition to playing and teaching music, Ron loves drawing and doing tons of Karaoke.
Rachel Fannan Singing Teacher, Keyboard Teacher, Drum Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher
Rachel is a multi instrumentalist, singer songwriter, and audio engineer best known for her work with bands Black Mountain, Sleepy Sun, and UNKLE. In between tours she has accumulated over a decade of experience working as a musical instructor to all ages in the Los Angeles area and is excited to now call Portland home. Rachel is currently drumming for a feminist punk group and her favorite singers are David Bowie, Robert Plant, Billie Holiday, and Freddie Mercury.
Pablo Reese Keyboard Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Pablo Reese is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer born and raised in Portland. He has played in rock, funk, hip hop and jazz cover bands such as Star Stuff, Thundersnatch and Rip City Soul, as well as performed his own music around town. Before getting his start in music, he played shows at this very School of Rock!
Pablo loves sound of all kinds. From classical music to experimental electronic music; there's always something to learn. His biggest musical influences are Mort Garrison’s Plantasia, Herbie Hancock’s fusion and synthesizer music, Japanese funk band YMO and expressionist composer Maurice Ravel. When Pablo isn't playing music he’s spending time with friends and family or going on long walks, usually humming some kind of melody as he goes.