Ryan Schiff
District Manager
Born and raised in Long Island, NY, Ryan began playing guitar at age 13 after seeing the movie "La Bamba" about rock legend Ritchie Valens. He studied with Grammy-nominated guitarist Steve Briody for several years before starting his own projects and soon became an instructor himself. While still in New York, his band Code Anchor independently released several EPs and one full-length album, "Rosada," while touring extensively nationwide from 2005-2009. A co-writer in the band, Ryan also played lead and rhythm guitar while singing lead and backup vocals. Memorable stages include the Vans Warped Tour at Nassau Coliseum and headlining bills at some of New York City's greatest venues like CBGB's and The Knitting Factory. It was during this time that Ryan began teaching at School of Rock in NY. Hungry to pursue new musical ventures, Ryan departed from Code Anchor and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. Since then, he's been busy writing, producing and performing with his newest project, Lou Pine. As a Sony/ATV artist, Lou Pine’s music has been featured on television shows like “Chicago Fire,” “Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word” and “Food Paradise." Ryan enjoys playing every genre, including jazz, funk, country and folk, but credits the blues and rock n' roll as his main influences. He is the district manager at School of Rock Santa Clarita.
Selena Lysle
General Manager
Raised in Los Angeles, Selena has always been passionate about music, from photographing concerts to working in health and safety at music festivals. She started with School of Rock in 2014 and since then, she’s helped cultivate a welcoming and inspiring community of future rock stars.
Selena has an associate's degree in Business and Studio Photography. She is currently pursuing degrees in Graphic Design and UX Design. Selena loves creating rad artwork and running around with her camera at School of Rock shows. You can catch her custom-made show posters around the school.
When she's not behind the front desk, she enjoys learning new things, gardening, cooking, and being outdoors.
Holly Chacon
Assistant General Manager
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Holly has always had a deep passion for singing. She participated in her high school choir as well as in an on-campus singing group at Cal State Northridge where she graduated with her Bachelor's in Psychology. Using her love of music alongside her bubbly personality and education in human affairs, she is the Assistant General Manager for our Santa Clarita campus.
Reece Clark
Music Director, Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Reece Clark started learning guitar at the School of Rock in Dallas, TX in 2009, and after continuing through their program for a few years he eventually started playing in bands of his own. He then took his love for guitar and for learning to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he studied guitar of all genres (including classical, jazz, pop and R&B) as well as music theory, live production and music business while still touring with his band outside of school.
Since graduating, Reece has decided to pursue music as a career. His old band Oh, Weatherly signed to Los Angeles-based record label Hopeless Records, put out their debut full-length album and immediately hit the road. Since then, he’s toured across the entire United States and Canada with alternative acts such as Mayday Parade and Ryan Key of Yellowcard, performed on the final Vans Warped Tour, Sad Summer Festival, and most recently decided to put that same passion into teaching and possibly helping other kids find their love for music as well.
Zakary Herman
Singing Teacher
Zakary Herman is a Los Angeles based Performer and Composer. With over a decade of experience in vocal performance, his musical endeavors span across genres from Musical Theater, Jazz and Rock.
Benjamin Badalian
Guitar Teacher
Benjamin is a music student at College of The Canyons studying guitar performance. He plays in the Jazz ensemble as well as the Commercial Music ensemble. Benjamin has spent a lot of time studying a variety of styles of music including Jazz, Funk, R&B, Blues, and of course, Rock. Benjamin's goal is to one day become a professor of music.
"Music is my favorite language, and to be able to teach a person to speak the language is a privilege."
Jake Rodriguez
Keyboard Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
Growing up in the Antelope Valley, Jake began learning music at the age of seven. He started playing drums at a local church.
At the age of nine, he started to learn the scales of the piano and has been an accompanist for his high school choir. In addition to that, he started to pick up the guitar during his high school days.
He studied music composition and obtained an AA from College of the Canyons with an emphasis on piano. Recently he has earned a certificate from UCLA extension in “Independent Music Production.”
He currently works on his own music projects and is glad to be a part of The School of Rock in Santa Clarita community.
Liam Tracy
Drums Teacher
Liam Tracy began his musical journey on drum kit at age three. Liam took to the set naturally and it became his true love. A multi-instrumentalist Liam also studied cello for 12 years and has won numerous awards for his musical achievements. Liam has lived both in Canada and the United States and is a dual citizen. At 13, while residing in Toronto, Canada, Liam began studying drum kit with Aaron Edgar from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When moving to Santa Clarita at the beginning of 10th grade Liam studied with Kevin Katich and then with Jeremy Colson (Steve Vai). In 2020 Liam performed YYZ with Colson at The Canyon in Santa Clarita. In 2021 Liam recorded and released four songs with one (Dancing Until We’re Dead) receiving weekly best song prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2021. The recordings were produced by Stevie Blacke with Liam “Crash” Tracy playing all instruments and singing. Liam continues to pursue his song writing interests and enjoys working on drum kit, guitar, bass, and his vocals.
Jay Adana
Singing Teacher
Jay Adana is a singer and composer. She began studying voice in Santa Clarita at age 9. She currently works in music for stage and screen primarily in New York and California.
The Loophole (The Public Theater, music and lyrics), The Jordan & Avery Show (The O’Neill Theater Center, book, music and lyrics), The Woodsman (New World Stages, lyrics), Notes From Now (59E59, contributed music and lyrics), Fingerpaintings (Playwrights Horizons Downtown, music and lyrics), LeFay (Musical Theater Factory, book and lyrics), The Last Tiger in Haiti (Berkeley Rep/La Jolla Playhouse, contributed music and lyrics). Performance venues include The Public Theater, 59E59, Joe's Pun, 54 Below, and Rockwood Music Hall.
2020 Richard Rodgers Award, 2021 Vivace Award, 2018 Jonathan Larson Award, 2019 Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellow. Work featured by PBS, The American Theater Wing, and The Dramatist Magazine. Teaching/Mentoring: NYU Playwrights Horizons, American Theater Wing. Education: #BARS workshop founded by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, Acting BFA SUNY Purchase Conservatory.
Emily Tschirhart
Singing Teacher
Emily Tschirhart is a vocalist, songwriter, and composer, currently attending California Institute of the Arts. Over the course of Emily's career, they have headlined festivals in Michigan, performed and recorded original work at Capitol Records, performed in venues across Los Angeles, and scored award-winning animated short films. Emily's main musical strengths include voice (contemporary and classical technique), vocal arrangements, and pop music form (R&B, Blues, Pop, Folk). Emily is passionate about all things music, as she has been performing and recording from an early age, and is committed to uplifting and supporting young artists.
Jonathon Eley
Drum Teacher, Keyboard Teacher
Jonathon Eley first made a name for himself at the age of 19 after winning a beat battle competition hosted by Ryan Lewis (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) and Buffalo David Bitton in May 2014. After his victory, Eley’s career took a turn for the best, receiving media coverage from the likes of MTV, the Recording Academy (Grammy Awards), Rolling Stone, XXL Magazine, and more. Since the competition, Eley has taken time to develop his sound and hone his craft even further. He is now a producer, singer, songwriter, musician, and music teacher.
"My only true goal is to do and teach music at the highest level possible, whatever that means for me."
Kaleb Slack
Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Kaleb is originally from New Mexico and he started playing live music in the punk scene, eventually venturing out to other genres. Kaleb has been making music for over a decade, most recently releasing music under his solo project, HoneyWire, which released a new album in January 2023. Kaleb looks forward to sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for live music and helping his students rock on!
Nathaniel Sellin
Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher
Nathaniel was born into a prominent Los Angeles-based musical family and grew up in the California folk music scene. At age 12, he formally engaged in the study of upright bass through a charter arts program where he studied classically. Nathaniel also studied jazz privately with one of Charlie Haden’s pupils, Evan Conway. He then went on to study Jazz at the Colburn School, playing in the Sunday lab band under Lee Secard. Nathaniel also grew up attending the Lark in the Morning world music and dance camp where his mother taught Celtic harp. Through his time at Lark, and with the community developed there, he was able to study music from a diverse array of cultures including Old-time Americana, Traditional Irish, Balkan, Greek Rebetika, Arabic Classical, and Turkish Roma Music. Through his time at Lark, Nathaniel developed technical facilities with a wide variety of string and percussion instruments including Guitar, Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, Baglama, Tzouras, Tupan, Bodhran, Dumbek, and Riqq.
Despite all his years of study, Nathaniel never intended to pursue a career as a professional musician and spent several years working in healthcare as an EMT. However, his love of music remained, and ultimately he decided to do that which just made sense. Nathaniel enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts to study Guitar, Tonbak, and music production with a specialization in audio engineering under John Baffa. He graduated with a degree in Experimental Pop Production and is now working as a freelance producer, multi-instrumentalist, and engineer in addition to teaching at School of Rock Santa Clarita.