Private Music Lessons

Vermont Academy’s music lesson program offers students with an interest in performance a chance to study their instrument as part of their academic regiment. Students take a lesson with a private teacher once a week during the academic day. They can earn academic credit for their lessons, and have access to practice rooms, lockers, and listening resources.  These lesson students benefit from the outstanding teaching and musicianship brought to Vermont Academy by our staff of adjunct music teachers.  Browse below to learn more about this group of wonderful teachers.  Arrangements are easily made for students interested in studying instruments not mentioned below. 

Jason Koerber (saxophone, clarinet) performs regularly with the Keene Chamber Orchestra, the Keene Jazz Orchestra, the Half Diminished Swing Band & The Jacksonville Blues Band.  He is also a former member of the Tom Foolery Band, the Josh Evans Trio & the funk band Giza.  Jason has appeared as a soloist with the KSC Chamber Orchestra and with the Pink Floyd tribute band Liquid Floyd.  He has also performed with the Raylynmor Opera Company, The Hugh Keelan Ensemble & The Monadnock Chorus & Orchestra.  Jason currently teaches saxophone and clarinet at Vermont Academy - Saxtons River VT, The Putney School - Putney, VT, The Open Music Collective - Brattleboro VT, Peterborough Music - Peterborough NH and Elm City Music & Movement - Keene, NH.  Jason has studied saxophone with Scott Mullett, Harvey Kaiser, Mario Bernardo & Craig Sylvern.   He has studied clarinet with Richard Sanders & Mario Bernardo and flute with Robin Matathias.

Greg Burnell  (guitar) lives and teaches in the Brattleboro area and is an active performer with the Greg Burnell Band as lead guitarist and vocalist. Burnell has recorded his own renditions of blues classics with the Jacksonville Blues Band. He has over 25 years of experience as a soloist and working with ensembles. Burnell attended Marlboro College and Keene State College where he studied under Jose Lezcano and performed in the KSC Guitar Orchestra. Burnell went on to study Classical and Jazz Guitar with Ed Lopata for ten years. His band has performed all over New England and opened for Ronnie Earl, Room Full of Blues and NRBQ.  Burnell has taught guitar at Vermont Academy for seventeen years. He is presently working on a new CD of original music.

Ben Carr ('ukulele, percussion) performs regularly with regional acts Mo Ambesa, Sunny Lowdown, Patty Carpenter, and BroadBand, as well as fronting his own group, the Ben Carr Music Project. He has shared the stage with Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Carlos Averhoff, Ayizan Sannon, Trumystic, members of Phish, and has performed with the Windham Orchestra.

Ben has produced and recorded three solo albums. The most recent, 'Oakleaf', was released in Aug. 2011 and was recorded in Horowitz Hall at Vermont Academy. He is currently involved in phase one of the James Hill Ukulele Initiative teacher certification. Ben also teaches privately and at the Open Music Collective in Brattleboro, VT.

Ben lives at Vermont Academy with his wife, Christine Armiger (who is head of the Environs Program and teaches Environmental Studies) and their son, Elliott.

Bonnie Fairchild (piano, cello) has a B. A. in Piano Performance from Lyndon State College (1974), with continuing education at Keene State College (Elementary Education) and Villanova University (strings).  She studied piano with Melissa Brown, John Koch, and Rein van der Linde and flute with John Norris and Edward Powell. Fairchild has taught piano and flute for 36 years. Bonnie studied strings with James Kjelland, Melissa Brown, and Dorothy Straub and has taught strings for 16 years.  She is former director and conductor of Southern Vermont Youth Orchestra and of Westminster School Orchestras in Westminster, VT.  Ms. Fairchild taught piano, flute and violin at Putney Central School for 15 years and co-directed the Middle School Chorus. She is presently the director of Milkhouse Music Studio in Westminster West, VT, and on faculty of Sonata Programs in Old Bennington, VT.  Bonnie enjoys singing with Brattleboro Concert Choir and playing cello with Windham Community Orchestra in Brattleboro, VT.  She is a frequent accompanist.  Ms.  Fairchild is a member of MTNA, MENC, and ASTA and certified by VMT.

Jon Fisher (percussion) first formally studied drums with Bob Gullotti at the University of Massachusetts from 2000-2003.  While at Umass, he had a chance to perform with jazz greats such as Ernie Watts, Adam Kolker, David Berkman and Rich Perry.  Mr. Fisher has worked with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and with local theatres and orchestras.  Mr. Fisher is currently based in Western Massachusetts where he teaches drums and performs throughout the Northeast with NYC based Left Ear Trio, Funk and Soul Jazz Guitar legend Melvin Sparks, the Scott Mullett Trio and Northampton based Hammond Organist Beau Sasser.

Alex Ogle (Flute)  Senior Lecturer in Music and Director of the Performance Laboratory in Chamber Music at Dartmouth College, has performed at the Marlboro and New England Bach Festivals and played principal flute for, among others, the D'Oyly Carte Opera, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the original American production of Jesus Christ Superstar.  At conventions of the National Flute Association he has performed several times and moderated a panel on the teaching of Arnold Jacobs.  For many years he also taught flute at Amherst and Mount Holyoke Colleges.  He attended Harvard College and the Juilliard School of Music and studied with Douglas Royal, James Pappoutsakis, Julius Baker, Harold Bennett, Marcel Moyse, and Keith Underwood. He has recorded for MusicMasters and Opus One.

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