Piano
Marianne Thomas
Piano - Voice
Marianne Thomas is a classically trained voice and piano teacher with a BA in Music Composition from Brown University and an MAT in Music Teaching/Vocal Performance from Rhode Island College. At Brown, she received both the ASCAP Award and the Hassenfeld Premium for excellence in music studies. She began taking piano lessons at age 9 and soon learned the joy of singing, writing music and playing the piano, which would become her life’s work. A Certified Oregon Music Teacher, Marianne has taught private voice and piano for decades and has also spent many years teaching choir, songwriting, keyboard, and general music in Central Oregon schools. She is known as a versatile, kind, and vivacious educator who skillfully adapts to the needs, goals, and musical interests of each student.
In addition to teaching, Marianne is a professional musician, songwriter, and actress with a long and varied performance career. She has released three full-length albums, toured extensively throughout Boston and the East Coast, performed in five European countries, and delighted audiences with engaging piano/vocal performances, both solo and with full bands. Before moving to Bend in 2004, she was the lead vocalist for numerous popular Boston bands, and she remains active in local theater, recently serving as Music Director for Fiddler on the Roof and starring as the hilarious Mrs. Clackett in Noises Off with Cascades Theatrical Company. Whether teaching, performing, or directing, Marianne brings honesty, humor, and a deep passion for music to everything she does.
Jordan Ouro
Piano - Guitar - Drums & more!
Jordan Ouro is a multi-instrumentalist and dedicated music educator with a lifelong passion for performance and teaching. Coming from a family of musicians, Jordan began playing piano at age five and quickly expanded to drums, trombone, guitar, and more. He went on to earn a degree in Piano Performance from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, and spent two years in Washington, D.C. in a Music Education exchange program.
Jordan’s performance experience spans church music, orchestras, choirs, and bands, big bands, accompanying vocal groups and playing in a wide variety of musical settings.
As a teacher, Jordan has worked with students as young as four and as old as eighty-five, believing that “anyone eager to learn can do it.” He teaches piano, guitar, electric bass, ukulele, drums, low brass, accordion, and more. His favorite part of teaching is helping students find joy in their instrument and guiding them toward their unique goals.
Outside of music, Jordan enjoys spending time with his dog and two cats, and spending time outdoors with his wife. In the winter, you can often find him teaching snowboarding at Hoodoo on the weekends.
Lauren Bahr
Piano
Lauren began playing piano and singing in choir when she was around 7 years old. Lauren participated in the Milwaukee Children’s Choir as well as the Vocal Arts Academy for almost 10 years in her youth. In these choirs Lauren gained experience performing in a group and practicing advanced vocal techniques and was granted opportunities to perform professionally. Although Lauren has so much experience singing, her passion is the piano. Lauren has been practicing the piano for around 20 years. In addition to the private lessons Lauren took in her childhood, she has taken private jazz lessons as an adult as well as group classes at the university level to continue to master her instrument.
Lauren has experience playing in a small pop band in Milwaukee as well. With her band, Lauren has composed and recorded original music. She has also performed live at most of Milwaukee’s venues including 3 shows at Summerfest.
Lauren’s other passion is working with children and empowering young people to face challenges and grow. Lauren has extensive experience working with children in an outdoor setting. Lauren spent the past summer teaching outdoor survival skills to children 6-14 in summer camp. Lauren has one and half years of experience as a substitute teacher and has another year and a half experience working with teens and preteens in the wilderness setting helping heal wounds of attachment trauma.
Mary Kellogg
piano - voice - guitar
Mary was born into a musical family who expressed creativity through the piano, organ, harmonica, guitar, and singing. It is second nature for her to encourage her students to bring forth their innate abilities and confidence that might not be acknowledged in traditional school settings or academic programs. Accessing areas of natural inclination that each student is drawn to can help build a strong foundation of musical skills that often springboard unique interests and goals.
It was an exciting time in Sacramento when Mary was studying jazz and classical music performance and theory at American River College and Sacramento State University. Jazz vocal and instrumental programs were taking root and expanding exponentially with the expertise of internationally renowned choir director Perla Warren and world-class pianist Dr. Joe Gilman. Mary moved to Bend in 2012 and decided to further her studies in music composition and performance. She recently attained a Bachelor Degree at Eastern Oregon University where she graduated with Summa Cum Laude Honors.
Highlights of her career include a USO Military Tour of Alaska with a country/bluegrass band based in San Francisco; featured performances in the Artist in the Schools program through the California Arts Council; Choir Director of the Children’s Conservatory of Music in Roseville, California; active leader and soloist of a professional quality church band in Bend; and seven years of solo performances at a venue in the Old Sacramento downtown tourist district.
Mary teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced piano. Her vocal instruction emphasizes techniques which support a full and lifted tone. For jazz vocal, phrasing is highlighted in singing both lyrics and scat syllables. Guitar teaching focuses on strong rhythm and can be combined with singing and playing favorite songs in the student’s vocal key. She has been teaching for over twenty years with a special heart-felt intent of bringing out the innate best in each student.
Andy Jacobs
Guitar - Bass - Drums - Piano - Voice
Born in Bend during the early 80’s, Andy developed an intense passion for music at an early age. His parents exposed him to the oldies they grew up with, ranging from Elvis and Buddy Holly to Motown and The Beatles. In 1994, while Andy was in 8th grade, a Jimi Hendrix cover band played at his school and blew his adolescent mind. At that moment, he decided to use the money he earned delivering the local newspaper on his bike to purchase his first electric guitar. Immediately, he began to learn the instrument on his own by playing along with his favorite albums of the early 90’s. It wasn’t long before he was playing in bands and gigging out regularly. Andy has played in countless bands around town over the last two decades. ‘Goodbye Dyna’ is Andy’s solo project that has released a few albums in which he writes and plays everything on them. Andy is also an accomplished drummer and can be found playing in the local band ‘The Color Study’. He is also currently playing lead guitar and singing for the Beatles tribute band, ‘Magical Mystery Four’. Some other bands he currently plays with are 'Wild Bells', 'Weez-It', 'Natty Red', and 'Toothpick Shaker'. Previous bands include 'Juju Eyeball', 'Subliminal', 'Drunk Pilot', 'Sons of Dirt', 'Blame Amy', and 'Thought Police'. Andy has been teaching private lessons for 15 years now and has also taught the ‘School of Rock’ class at Cascade School of Music. He is also well-versed in vocal training and can offer this service as well to aspiring performers. For those students looking to approach music from a songwriting perspective, Andy is able to combine vocal coaching with other instrument instruction. He was taught voice by Don Hoxie, who studied under the same instructor for Ann Wilson of the iconic rock band Heart.
Andy also just recorded an original album with Goodbye Dyna at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.