Teacher Referral Page

All of the Teachers on this page have worked for us here at V.I.S.A. and we can highly recommend them!

Many of them still teach at our location.

Tiffany Brown - Hawaiian Dance

Tiffany is the director of the award winning 'Bare Foot Dancers.'

She has been teaching Hula here in Vermont for 5 years.

She comes from a long line of Hulu dancers and Hawaiian musicians and looks froward to sharing her love of Hawaiian culture with many more people!

Rory Loughran - Drums and Percussion

Rory comes to our area with 20 years of experience. He has studied in Vermont with various drummers including Gabe Jarrett, Marcus Copening, and Jeff Salisbury. He studied for the past two years in Boston with Bob Gullotti and with teachers Bob Moses and Bob Weiner.

Rory has played percussion and drums with; Up, Down and Strange, Bell Tower Trio, Little Big Man Quartet, Incremental Balance, Network, Captain Marvel and now with The Pulse Prophets.

He performs and teaches Rock, Jazz, Latin, Funk, and world hand percussion styles.

Jessica Mellott - Piano

Mrs. Mellott received her Bachelor's degree in Keyboard Pedagogy with a piano emphasis from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio in December 2003. She studied piano with Professor India Dennis and organ with Professor Janet Linker. Her experience includes six years of private piano teaching experience as well as one year of group piano instruction at Capital University. She won the honor to perform as a soloist with the Capital Wind Symphony in 2003. Furthermore, she has presented lecture recitals for the Symposium on Undergraduate Research in Salt Lake City(Utah), Capital University (Columbus,OH), and in Washington D.C. Memberships include MTNA and the National Piano Teachers Guild.

In regard to her teaching philosophy, Mrs. Mellott believes, "Positive reinforcement always builds self-confidence and reassurance in the art of playing the piano as well as developing educated listening techniques." When offering suggestions for improvement, she assists the student in finding their own answers. Mrs. Mellott also states that "Encouraging objective listening, and empowering the student to find and correct their own mistakes is essential." This stems form a belief that regardless of the students age or ability, any pupil can be guided into making self discoveries about a piece of music. The approach to each student must be tailored to the specific needs and talents of that person. This allows every musician to yield the greatest possible benefits from their instruction.

Scott Paulson - Caribbean Steel Drumming, Beginning Highland Bagpipes, Electric Bass

B.A. Music from Johnson State College, Vermont. Scott has taught instrumental music programs, jazz bands, steel bands and percussion groups in area private and public schools since 1996. He has done Steel Drum workshops for such entities as The Vermont Alliance for Arts Education and for The Killington Music Festival Suzuki School . He has played and recorded with a myriad of groups in various genres and on a variety of instruments, notably as leader/ front man/ steel pannist /bassist with the eclectic group SKABAZZA, which performed at the 1998 Phish festival "Lemonwheel" in Limestone, Maine. He currently plays lead pan in several of his steel bands, Bass Guitar with folk artist/ instrumentalist "Spencer Lewis and the Thrufters," and with GUSANO (Latin and New Orleans Funk), and with 3...2... Get Ready, and Highland Bagpipes with The Catamount Pipe Band.

Paul Rivers - Electric and Acoustic Guitar

Paul has over 40 years performing and teaching experience and is versed in a wide variety of playing styles.

He was a deans list student at Berklee College of Music, and has recording credits in Boston and New York recording studios.

Paul has shared concert stages with various recording artists including the Animals, Buddy Miles, The Turtles, Canned Heat, The Critters, Bad Finger, The Kingsmen and many others.

Currently he is appearing locally in solo performances.

Barbara C. Smith - Woodwinds

Currently, Barbara performs in the area with The East Bay Jazz Ensemble, The Green Mountain Saxophone Quartet, various Steel Pan groups, and at a variety of functions as a solo flutist. She has also served as an adjudicator for district and state music festivals. She has also served as a chamber music coach at the Green Mountain Youth Symphony Summer camp in 2006 and 2007. She is the co-founder of Vermont Independent School of the Arts in Sharon, VT where she has a teaching studio. Many of her students participate in district, state, and regional music festivals.

Beth Telford - Cape Breton Fiddling

Beth Telford has been playing fiddle for more than 20 years at festivals, dances, coffeehouses, and backyards in New England and beyond. Since 1996, she has concentrated on learning the tunes and stylings of Cape Breton music. For the past 3 years, she has organized and taught week-long Cape Breton fiddle camps with her mentor, master Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland. Beth teaches aspiring fiddlers of any age or ability. She believes that it is important to be able to learn music both by ear and from music, and incorporates both methods into her teaching.

Eric Truran - Electric and Acoustic Guitar

Eric has been playing and/or teaching guitar since 1978. He holds a BA in English with a concentration in poetry/lyrics from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

The son of a voice teacher/choir director he started with singing, then moved to piano and trumpet before picking up the guitar. He then studied jazz guitar at the Hartford Conservatory of Music in the late 70s.

His lessons will concentrate on chord forms, rhythm and scales. He is also able to coach the integration of chords and rhythm with the voice.