Our music lesson program is open to all students regardless of experience, and scholarship funds are available. We offer one-on-one instruction for students to explore or deepen their knowledge of a musical instrument. Our instructors bring a wealth of talent and expertise.
Rebecca Sayles
Flute
Before moving to New Hampshire in 2018, Rebecca performed regularly throughout the New York metropolitan area in community orchestras and chamber music ensembles. A 2022 National Flute Association solo competition winner, she currently plays flute and piccolo with the Windham Philharmonic and TUNDI’s Wagner in Vermont Festival Orchestra in Brattleboro. She was featured as soloist in September 2022 with the Guilford Festival Orchestra (VT), performing Elaine Fine’s “Three Reflections for Flute and Strings.” She is a member of the River Mill Flute Ensemble, performing on flute and alto flute throughout New Hampshire and has been the flute instructor at The Putney School since 2019.
Rebecca holds an AB cum laude in sociology from Harvard and an MA in international and comparative education from Columbia University Teachers College. She is an independent fundraising consultant and writer on the arts. Her article, “From Women’s Clubs to MeetUps: Social Influences on Amateur Music-Making in America,” was published in the Oct/Nov 2019 issue of American Music Teacher.
I love teaching —and learning from—Putney students, who are always curious to try new things and eager to grow as musicians and human beings.” — Rebecca Sayles
Rob Freeberg
Brass
Rob Freeberg, trumpeter, moved to Dummerston, Vermont in 2012, after retiring from his position as Director of Bands at New Rochelle High School, NY, where he taught for 30 years. He has a B.A. in Music from Columbia University, and a M.A. in Jazz Studies from the Manhattan School of Music. Many of his former students have pursued careers in music as performers, conductors and composers. He also directed a community jazz band, the Rob Freeberg Big Band, and the Iona College Pep Band. Rob was selected as guest conductor for several all-county and regional music festivals in NY, and performed and recorded as a free-lance trumpeter in the metropolitan NY area. Since moving to VT, he has become active at the VT Jazz Center, directing the VJC Big Band for its annual Gala Concert and serving on its Board of Directors, and he performs with the Windham Orchestra. Rob directed jazz ensembles at the Putney School from 2013-2015, coaches chamber music ensembles and the jazz workshop at Brattleboro Union High School, and has taught a jazz improvisation class at Bellows Falls Union High School. He directed the Vermont District 6 Middle School Jazz Ensemble in November, 2015.
Although I have a solid background in classical music, and feel comfortable teaching all brass instruments, I have also developed techniques of learning jazz improvisation and music theory that can benefit all music students.” — Rob Freeberg
Jenna Rae
Voice
I’m a music teacher and opera singer who taught voice lessons at Putney for eight years before joining as the music co-director. Through my background in vocal training, as well as clarinet, I aim to instill a love for the performing arts while empowering students to discover their individual strengths. I feel truly blessed to have landed at a progressive school that values a growth mindset, where students and teachers believe in the capacity to learn no matter the starting point. With a deep-rooted passion for both performing and educating, I am dedicated to guiding students on a musical exploration towards creativity and excellence.
My mission goes beyond teaching notes; it extends to building confidence in each student and helping them discover and enjoy their unique voice. I love all aspects of the theater and am thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate on the yearly musical at Putney as well! My summers are filled with work in a professional opera company, TUNDI Productions, that runs the Wagner in Vermont Festival in Brattleboro, VT each August. I wear many hats for TUNDI including executive director, set builder, artistic director, costume designer and diva.
I know about voice types and all their glories and quirks, and I want to find and release the authentic voice in you. I love introducing students to methods and repertoire that will give them artistry, expression, and solid technique. I will be teaching from home, so that we all remain safe while learning the superpower of singing!” — Jenna Rae
Hugh Keelan
Piano
Hugh Keelan has conducted throughout the world, from the Residentie Orchestra (conducted by Toscanini) in The Hague, Holland, to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (in pioneering recordings of seminal American symphonies), the Saint Louis Symphony (with a world premier), and the Windham Orchestra (creating excellence and transcendence in community). He has collaborated with the great artists of our times, including Solti, Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Shura Cherkassky, Maurice Sendak, Tom Stoppard. In the future are a Ring Cycle, 2022, with TUNDI Productions, and Boudica, all co-created with Jenna Rae. During Boudica audiences will learn Celtic war cries, and from their seats participate in battle scenes with the Roman occupiers.
For Maestro, ‘Life’ and ‘Art’ are not distinct, just different words for a committed exploration of beauty and transcendence. He has performed piano concertos by Brahms, Beethoven, Janáček, Jacob Mashak, Ravel and Rachmaninoff over the years, and is currently learning ‘the’ Tchaikovsky.
I am interested in students discovering music at a deep and unexpected level; listening, which starts with me listening to you, and what you are interested, and in giving you a particular gift: that immersing in music will illuminate your personal interests and life goals.” — Hugh Keelan
Draa Hobbs
Guitar
Draa Hobbs is a professional performing artist on the guitar, playing in clubs and concerts throughout the Northeast including Boston and New York. He recently returned from a tour of Germany and has also performed in Paris. Draa is a dedicated teacher, familiar with a variety of different styles from Rock to Jazz. He has played Jazz professionally for years, most recently at the Liliy Pad in Boston performing all original material with associates from the Berklee College of Music faculty.
I try to get my students engaged in a creative way with the instrument as they learn the nuts and bolts of music on the guitar. You can be creative and express yourself right from the start. Regardless of the style, at every level of development, what matters is personal expression.”—Draa Hobbs
Sarah Carlisle
Bass
Sarah Carlisle began her musical studies on the double bass at the age of ten, and in 1998 attended the Peabody Conservatory on full scholarship. Having studied both classical and jazz music in college, she had the opportunity to perform with orchestras throughout Russia, Israel, and Brazil by the age of twenty. She spent her years after college primarily playing jazz in the Baltimore/DC area with such greats as Gary Thomas, Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Byrd, and many others. In 2009, Sarah was offered a full scholarship to attend a Masters program in Classical Bass at Temple University. During her years in Philadelphia, she toured and recorded with Sacred Chant Artist David Newman. From 2011-2018, she toured extensively and recorded with internationally renowned Kirtan Artist Snatam Kaur, including on her live studio album, Beloved, which received a Grammy nomination for “Best New Age Album” in 2018. Sarah has taught in various school settings, from the El Sistema-inspired programs Play On, Philly! and the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids to private and public schools at all grade levels. At The Putney School, Sarah teaches both upright and electric bass in all styles.
I love teaching at The Putney School. My students are all self-directed, enthusiastic and passionate learners, each with unique interests.” —Sarah Carlisle
Darby Wolf
Piano
Darby grew up studying with Mitch Chakour (Musical Director for Joe Cocker) and played professionally with different bands starting in high school. He studied jazz piano at Holyoke Community College and then UMass Amherst with pianists Ralph Whittle, Eugene Uman and David Berkman. Over the years Darby has toured, recorded, and written songs with many different groups. He has performed with acts such as Rubblebucket, Matt Schofield, Bettye LaVette, Ryan Montbleau, Reckoners (Boston-based all star group), Alan Evans (Soulive) and Eavesdrop. Darby also performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, at Millennium Park in Chicago with Makaya McCraven’s Global Unit, and at music festivals such as Bonnaroo, SXSW, High Sierra Music Fest, Festival International de Blues de Donnacona. He has been teaching for over 20 years and enjoys sharing his passion for music with his students.
Stefan Amidon
Drums
Stefan Amidon is a versatile drummer and a committed and engaged teacher. He has played the drums in contradance, jazz, rock, honky tonk, classical and blues bands. After attending Oberlin Conservatory he toured the country and the UK with The Sweetback Sisters, and more recently has been the touring drummer for The Devil Makes Three. Currently he is a member of Zara Bode’s Little Big Band, The David Ross Trio, T.U.B.A. Fletcher and the Pretty Likelies, and the Barn Raisers.
I aim to tailor my teaching to help the student on their own musical path, combining methods for good technique with ideas for how to play musically and appropriately within any given style.” —Stefan Amidon
Jennifer Morsches
Cello
Jennifer Morsches enjoys an international career as a versatile cellist, acclaimed for playing with “intelligence and pathos” (The Strad) and a “fine mixture of elegance and gutsiness” (Gramaphone). Especially inclined towards historical performance, she is the principal cellist of Florilegium (UK) since 2000, with whom she performs around the globe and has recorded numerous award-winning discs for Channel Classics Records. She is Co-Artistic Director of Sarasa Ensemble, based in Cambridge, MA, highly acknowledged for its outreach in youth detention centers in the Boston Metropolitan Area. World premieres of chamber music include works by David Matthews, Julian Grant, Michael Wolpe and Ben Zion Orgad. She is a founding member of Richter Ensemble (UK), tracing and focussing on the interdependence of today’s music with the past, focussing especially on the Second Viennese School. A longtime member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Les Siècles and Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, she has regularly toured and recorded with eminent artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Roger Norrington, Dame Emma Kirkby, Sir Michael Chance, David Zinman, François-Xavier Roth and Philippe Herreweghe. Jennifer graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, First Group Scholar from Smith College with degrees in Music History and German Literature, and was awarded the Ernst Wallfisch Prize in Music. She received her Master’s and Doctorate in Cello Performance as a scholarship student of Timothy Eddy at the Mannes College of Music and SUNY at Stony Brook in New York. Recipient of the CD Jackson Prize for outstanding merit and contribution at Tanglewood Music Festival she was featured on Wynton Marsalis’s educational music videos with Yo-Yo Ma. Awarded a Finzi Travel Scholarship and residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), Jennifer has focussed research on the ambiguous history of the five-string piccolo cello. She teaches Baroque chamber music at the Royal College of Music in London since 2006.
Coaching chamber music and giving cello lessons are an incredible form of communication on so many levels. It proves to me time and again that learning and pushing our comfort zones is time well spent, no matter our age group.”—Jennifer Morsches
Kris Yunker
Piano
Kris Yunker has been performing across the country and abroad with multiple groups for twenty years playing piano, Hammond Organ and other vintage keyboards as well as drums, percussion and Balinese Gamelan orchestra. He began studying piano at the age of four and went on to attend Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, CA for jazz performance under famed trumpet player, Ray Brown. He has shared the stage with Putney alumni Eric Krasno and his bandmates of Soulive, Neal and Alan Evans. Kris is a member of Alan Evans Trio with which he’s recorded two studio albums and toured in the U.S. and U.K. He’s also performed with George Porter of The Meters, Stanton Moore, Billy Martin, Glen David Andrews, Deep Banana Blackout, and many more. As well as working in recording studios as a session player, Kris currently tours nationally with Bearly Dead, a Grateful Dead tribute band, as well as his own trios and funk nights in the surrounding area.
I work with students to find their own voice on piano and in music. We explore song structure, chords, theory and improvisation as tools to have a strong foundation and build confidence so you can freely express yourself in all styles of music.” —Kris Yunker
Flynn Cohen
Mandolin/Guitar
A versatile string virtuoso, mandolin and acoustic guitar player Flynn Cohen tours with the award-winning Americana band Low Lily. He has 25 years of performing experience across multiple genres of acoustic music and has recorded five solo albums. He is a former student of Scott Nygaard, (Tim O’Brien & the O’Boys), Paul Binkley (Modern Mandolin Quartet), John Renbourn (Pentangle), and Davy Graham. Flynn has two guitar courses on Peghead Nation and is a visiting lecturer in Music at Lasell University.
