Music Instructors at Hix Bros Music...
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JACQUELINE PEATRY - Pianist
A native of Osaka, Japan, Jacqueline Peatry began life in music at the tender age of four under the direct supervision of her father. Within a year she bagan the exciting career of pianist with her first public recital. When she moved to Chicago, she began taking classes at Chicago Conservatory College, studying under Bernice Peck for 9 years. During this period, Ms. Peatry placed first in every competition she entered. Winning the Chicago Symphony Youth Auditions and solo performer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led to eight additional performances including Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center and at Ravinia Festival. Over the years, she has worked with conductors such as Irwin Hoffman, Milton Preves, Dr. George Lawner, Dr. Paul Freeman, Dr. Leon Stein, Anton Witt, Carmen Dragon, and Frank Winkler. While completing a scholarship program at DePaul University's School of Music, she competed and won the opportunity to be heard by concert pianist Andre Watts, who was holding auditions in all major cities as well as Toronto, Canada. She was singled out along with sixteen other pianists among the 250 applicants, which included stiff competition from the Julliard School and Curtis Institute of Music. Being one of 42 pianists chosen to compete in the Robert Casadesus International Competition followed this accomplishment. Ms. Peatry has performed at New York's Carnegie Hall, on radio, and broadcast television. She has been a guest artist at the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, and Thorne Hall at Northwestern University. Jacqueline Peatry has performed for Rudolph Serkin and the Austrian Consul General, Dr. Hans Sabaditch on CBS television. While living in Chicago, Ms. Peatry commuted to Manhattan up to twice in order to study under concert pianist Nina Lelchuk, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory as well as the author of several articles on the art of piano playing. Currently, Ms. Peatry is an Artist Pupil of Mary Sauer (Principal Keyboard, CSO). Ms. Peatry was a distinguished member of the piano faculty at the American Conservatory of Music and American Conservatory Trio. She has held a position at the Old Town School of Folk Music and conducted a class of piano pupils at the Fine Arts Building for several years. Ms. Peatry was also the official piano teacher at the Francis W. Parker School (1995-2000). She is a member of the Mu Phi Epsilon Sorority and the Musicians Club of Women. Jacqueline's most recent performances include Live from Studio One on WFMT-98.7 radio and an All-Liszt rendition at the Union League Club sponsored by the Chicago Fine Arts Society. She also performed a recital at the Beautiful Sound sponsored by the Steinway Society of Chicago and soloist with the Harper Symphony Orchestra, May 2003, performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat. In addition to gearing toward International competition, she continues to work on a recording project with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague and the Istanbul Symphony in Turkey.
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Ed Breckenfeld - Drums
Ed Breckenfeld is one of the top drummers in the Chicago area. A former major-label recording artist with Epic Records, Ed has been a member of and performed with many premiere Midwest bands over the years including The Insiders, Jim Peterik’s World Stage, The Cathy Richardson Band, Pride Of Lions, Off Broadway, and the Dooley’s. His recording work includes albums for the above bands and many other Midwest, national and international artists, along with radio and television commercials. Additionally, Ed writes a monthly column called “Off The Record” and other technique articles for Modern Drummer, the most widely read drum magazine in the world. Ed’s over 35 years of drumming include 25 years as a well-known drum instructor, specializing in beginning, intermediate, and advanced drumset and snare drum technique. One of Ed’s more illustrious students was Kevin Clark, the young drummer in the movie “School Of Rock”. For more information, visit www.edbreckenfeld.com
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Zach Petritsch - Guitar
Zach started taking guitar lessons from Carl Hix in 1994 when he was 11 years old and has been playing now for 14 years. When he was 15 years old entered the nation-wide contest "The Jimi Hendrix Competition" and made it to the semi-finals. (Famous blues guitarist Johnny Lang won the competition.) Zach began teaching lessons when he was 16 years old and since then has been teaching and playing in local bands. He is currently finishing his Associates Degree in Fine Arts at Waubonsee Community Collegeafter which he plans to attend Northern Illinois University to obtain a Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance and Education.
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Justin O' Connell - Drums
Justin O' Connell has been involved with the Hix Bros family since he started taking drum lessons from Andrew Hix at eleven years old. As the years passed, the brothers began using him to mow their lawns, move small trees, pick up poodle droppings with toothpicks, and answer phones. Finallythey decided to pay him, and Justin started working for the store at age 15. Justin began teaching at Hix Bros Music in 2003 and now teaches five days a week. Justin has played with many local bands throughout the years and owns and operates a private studio in Sandwich, IL. Justin has received his Associates Degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Music from Waubonsee Community College and is currently attending Northern Illinois University to complete a degree in Education and History.
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Jeremy Schmidt - Guitar, Bass
Jeremy Schimdt has been giving guitar and bass instruction for five years. He has been instructing at Hix Bros Music for the past 2 years. At age 15, Jeremy began performing in a classic rock cover band. He has also performed in a number of Jazz ensembles from jazz standards, Brazilian and Cuban jazz, and jazz fusion. Jeremy currently performs in the greater Chicagoland area playing original and cover music. He is a Music Education Major at Northern Illinois University where he wishs to further his understanding of music and music pedagogy.
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Brian Burke - Bass Guitar
Brian Burke made his first forays into the world of professional music while still in high school, playing with Chicago blues musicians Half-Blind Mike, AC Turner, and "Killer" Ray Allison. Brian was awarded the Trustees Scholarship for music from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Highlights of his time at Cornell include being inducted into the PHI KAPPA LAMBDA national music honor society, being named to the Iowa All-Star Collegiate Jazz band, playing riverboat cruises with the Dick Jurgens Orchestra, and touring Europe as the principal bassist of the Cornell Philharmonic. In 2001, Brian graduated with a Bachelor of Music in String Bass Performance. Brian received an assistantship to study at NIU. His duties included performing in the NIU Philharmonic and acting as a low string specialist in the Sycamore school district. While involved in all of this, Brian studied with Bassist Marlene Rosenberg. He began playing with Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies, touring the US and Europe. He earned a Masters Of Music in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy in 2003. Today you will find Brian involved in several projects. The desire to express through music and achieve a high level of artistry never ends. He continues to perform to sold out audiences throughout the country with Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies. He is a proud member of the all original rock group Soundframe, which has had its music performed on the radio and been the feature of radio interviews. He is also involved in many other performing projects and teaches electric and acaustic bass as well as guitar.
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Marco Saporito - Guitar
Marco began playing guitar when he was 13 years old. It was around that time that he realized he had a passion for writing and playing music. As a singer and guitar player he started playing for a local church during his serior year of high school and started teaching guitar soon after. After teaching privately for a couple of years he started teaching out of a music shop in Geneva where he decided he really enjoyed seeing the progress his students were making. In 2005, Marco learned about Hix Bros Music and he's been teaching here ever since. Marco's main goal as a teacher is to keep it fun by giving his students multiple things to work on at all times. Usually this means some type of method book which teaches players to read music, scales and chords to build endurance and their chord repertoire, and then finally a song of their choice which he learns together with the student during their lesson. Personally he enjoys playing all types of music, but when its up to him he usually goes for the blues, jazz fusion-esque sound, which is what he's playing with his band at the moment.
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Nate Green - Drummer
Nate Green is currently the drummer for the Connexion Band, and he maintains a teaching position with Hix Bros Music. In addition, Nate is an active studio recording musician in the Chicago area working most recently with the Jeremy Bieber Trio, Dead Stock Audio, the Jin and Tonic country band, and Rosehip Studios recording artist Megan Krantz. Nate began studying percussion at the age of 12, and shortly after started studying with Detroit session player Keith Ottenbaucher. Following his high school graduation, Nate worked professionally with several Detroit-based music organizations and began teaching in local area schools. In 1996, Green moved to Chicago to attend the highly-acclaimed Northern Illinois University School of Music. At NIU Nate studied with Rich Holly, Jeff Stitely and Robert Chappell, with whom he developed his drumset and hand percussion styles. In 2000 he accompanied the NIU Steelband on its trip to Trinidad for the World Steelband Festival. Since earning his bachelor's degree in percussion performance from NIU, Nate has been busy teaching and performing in the Chicago area, including performances with the Champion Illinois Brass Band on its 2001 tour of England.
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Ric Larsen - Guitar
Ric Larsen started playing piano at age six and the guitar shortly thereafter. He was born into a musical family, with parents and two sisters who play instruments. Ric attended Minnesota State University where he spent his weekends performing with rock band, either touring the midwest or in the studio recording. In college he received classical training from James McGuire, renowned Jazz and classical guitar performer and instructor. After graduating college in 2005, Ric moved to Illinois to attend graduate school at Elmhurst College, to teach private lessons, and to train with world class concert guitarist Denis Azabagic. Currently Ric works as a private instructor at Hix Bros Music and as a private guitar and piano instructor at a local School for the Arts. He performs classical both as a solo act and as a part of a guitar/flute duet for private events.
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Ben Janik - Guitar
Ben Janik began playing guitar at the age of 14, and was entirely self taught until he bagan taking lessons in Jazz and Rock at age 16. He came to the area to attend Northern Illinois University to study Jazz, and he nearly completed his Jazz Performance Degree. He has been teaching for several years and enjoys dedicating his energy and effort into helping students learn any and all styles of music.
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John Swickert - Guitar
John has worked for Hix Bros Music since 1996, starting just after the great flood. His responsibilities include: Guitar Instructor, Receiving Manager, Data Entry, Website Help, Sales, Boss Baiting, Dog Catcher, and employee flogging. John has been involved in music since birth, hearing his father Jerry and Mother MaryLee sing and play various instruments including piano, guitar, banjo, sax and others. His first paying gig came before the age of ten playing guitar and singing with his dad at a local pub. John has had professional instruction in Guitar, Piano and Voice. In 1981, John had his first guitar lesson with John Hix, the founder and original owner of Hix Music. After just 2 lessons, he was shipped off to the evil Carl Hix for lessons that continue to this day. As an Aurora high school student john was a state finalist in voice and sang in organized choral groups all through school and after. John generally no longer songs, as a result of an unfortunate chipmonk watching expedition that went horribly wrong, scarring his vocal chords forever. He has played in various bands and done wedding gigs, buy no longer plays out as work and life with his lovely family of four keeps him very busy. John has an Associates Degree in an Applied Science from Waubonsee Community College and another year and a half of schooling at NIU, when in the middle of school, he was dragged kicking and screaming to teach at Hix Bros Music. John was also an accomplished amateur auto racer. He raced formula Fords on and off between 1982 and 1994 as finances allowed. In 1992 John finished third overall in the Skip Barber Midwest Formula Ford Championship and was chosen as a finalist in what was called "The Big Show". The ten best drivers from the continental US and Hawaii were brought to Sebring Florida for a shootout. The winner won a $100,000 racing scholarship. Alas, John did not win this obviously rigged event but is very satisfied with his Racing career and still enjoys watching and attending racing events. Playing with his daughter, teaching guitar and riding his motorcycle give John much pleasure today.
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Adam Bockman - Bassist
Adam Bockman is an electric bassist who teaches lessons four days a week at Hix Bros Music in Aurora. He is fluent in practically all styles of bass playing: traditional jazz, Beatles and Motown, prog rock and fusion, fretless Jaco-styleand Wooten-type thump, various latin styles, and rock from Allmans to Zeppelin. He has worked with a long list of notable musicians, many of whom he won't mention because they still owe him money. Currently he can be heard playing bass lines by Bootsy, Jamerson, Larry Graham and others with The Manhattan Project - a ten piece funk/soul band with horns.
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Jeff Swanson - Guitar
Jeff Swanson grew up in the quiet comfort of the midwest. Born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, Jeff began studying classical guitar at the age of seven. Enjoying and taking influence from much morethan just classical guitar, he was introduced to improvised music just before getting into high school. From there he decided to take his studies further and attend a Berklee summer program. There his horizons were broadened by the likes of such guitarists as John Stowell, Rick Peckham, David Fiuczynski and David Tronzo. It was there he was also given the name of an acclaimed Chicago guitarist and educator. As soon as he returned from the camp he got in contact and began studying with Fareed Haque. Jeff now attends school at Northern Illinois University where he continues his studies with Fareed as well as Art Davis, Robert Chappell, Ron Carter and other Northern Illinois Jazz faculty. Jeff has also been developing his skills as a teacher. He had his own studio out of his house through high school, and now continues to teach out of Hix Bros Music in Aurora.
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Joe Marinacci - Guitar
Joe Marinacci has been studying the guitar since the age of ten. After playing in jazz band throughout high school, he received a scholarship to study jazz guitar with Fareed Haque (Sting, Garaj Mahal), at Northern Illinois University's highly acclaimed music school. Joe studied under Fareed Haque for two years. He has been teaching professionally for four years and finds great joy and responsibility in educating. Joe enjoys all types of music and enjoys teaching jazz, beginner guitar,blues, music theory and rock/r&b.
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Matt O'Brien - Guitar
Matt has been playing guitar since he was 16 years old. He attained his Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 2001 at Roosevelt University. While in school, Matt focused on classical guitar and jazz, taking over 2 years of study in each style. His influences include classic rock, metal and classical music.
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Scott Evans - Guitar
Scott Evans has been playing guitar for 18 years, performing professionally for 16 years, and teaching guitar for the past ten. Originally self taught, Scott learned basic music theory in high school before attending Roosevelt University where he majored in Music Education with a minor in Jazz Guitar Performance. He has a wide range of influences and has played in nearly every style of music at a performing level including blues, rock, metal, jazz, funk, rap, country, Christian Contempoary, ethnic ensembles, and orchestral settings. Scott has a personalized approach in his lesson methodology, believing that "one size fits all" approaches do not properly accommodate students with differing backgrounds and musical experience. He prepares lessons in advance and often provides the students with extra materials to aid in the learning of a musical concept or a song. Always looking for a challenge, Scott likes to learn new concepts and instruments to gain new insight into guitar, his primary instrument.
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Steven Bitte - Drums
Steven Bitte started playing drums at age 14 with the help of his father. After persistent practicing, he joined the psychedelic death metal group, Pooch Carver, who went on to record two full length albums under Fantasy Owl Records. During the time he played with the group, he majored in music at College of Dupage. Steve enrolled in the PIT (Percussion Institute of Technology) program at Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California. Steve recorded with Hollywood rockers Elegantly Wasted and performed on a track with Alice Cooper's Ryan Roxie. After moving back to Chicago, Steve started teaching at Hix Bros Music. Recently, Steve has been studying with heavy metal icon Joe Nunez, drummer for the international heavy metal band Soulfly. With nation-wide touring experience, Steve continues to teach privately and play with various acts in the Chicagoland area mainly with the hard rock outfit Calling All Destroyers.
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Jeremy Reeves - Guitar
Jeremy Reeves was born at a very young age. Soon after, he began taking lessons at Hix Music. He then promptly moved to Appalachia to pick banjo in a Reggae band. Bitten by the Jazz bug, he moved back to Chicago to study at DePaul University. This was followed by playing engagements in the caves and kitchens of Southern Italy where he perfected his "Rustico" style. After a triumphant return to America, Jeremy began teaching at Hix Bros Music, and still plays today, even after all these years. Thank you and good luck!
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Ken Mandat - Guitar
Ken Mandat began playing the guitar at 8 years old. Over the next 10 years, Ken took private lessons from Michael Konopka, a renowned Chicago guitarist and producer, who owned and operated Seagrape Studios and Thundertone Audio in Chicago. During his teenage years, Ken played in, and recorded with several Chicago bands, including the local heavy metal band Damien Thorne. Ken spent 2 years studying Music Theory at Trition College, and then moved the LA to attend Musicians Institute. At age 20, Ken signed a contract with CBS/RoadRunner Records and spent much of the 1980's and early 90's touring the US and Europe opening for such acts as Metallica, Motorhead, Slayer and many more. Ken has four worldwide releases to his credit, with album sales of over 200,000 copies, and also has producer credits on three releases for the A&M/Cobra Record label. Between recording and touring dates, Ken has also worked as a Plant Manager for several manufacturing plants in the Chicago area as well. (gotta pay the bills). Ken now works for the Hix Bros as a salesman, website manager, teacher and is really the "Brains" of the whole operation. (second to Amy, of course)
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More coming soon....