Faculty/Staff

Our Staff Rocks!

Our staff here at the Fort Washington SOR is made up of professional musicians who not only enjoy sharing their knowledge with our students, but who continue to go out and create music, which often gives our students the opportunity to see their teachers play.

Bio Picture Jim Love
Music Director -> Drums, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Jim is an active performer, studio musician, educator, and clinician. He can be seen performing regularly on the east coast with funk/blues-based rocker Laura Cheadle, singer/songwriter Valerie Oswald (Dreamscape Records), Philly songsmith Adam Monaco, VH1 soul artist Joshua Hill, and his own jazz/funk group Jim Love & The Blue Groove. He...
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Bio Picture Eric York
Guitar/Bass Instructor
Eric is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music with a dual Major in Music Performance & Music Education where he was the recipient of the “Berklee Entering Student Talent Scholarship” in 1998. He has studied with Al Pitrelli (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth), Jon Finn, Joe Stump, Dave Fiucynski, Brett Wilmott, Mick Goodrick, and Rik...
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Bio Picture Dave Whiteman
Bass Instructor
Dave has over 20 years of experience playing bass guitar in a variety of styles and situations. For the past four years he has anchored the low end with Drop Dead Sexy, one of the Northeast region’s best cover bands. With a performance schedule that averages 175 shows annually, Dave has played in top clubs to sell-out crowds from Maine to...
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Bio Picture Wally Smith
Keyboards Instructor
Wally Smith’s experience covers over 30 years of live performance and recording session work in the Philadelphia and New York areas. He studied piano & Hammond organ as a child, continuing into his twenties with classical studies at the Russell School of Music and private jazz studies later on. He recorded and toured with CBS artists Quincy...
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Bio Picture Darren Ellis
Drum Instructor
Darren has been playing drums for over 20 years. He studied drums and percussion in college and his experiences encompass a wide variety of styles with many different people and bands from Ohio, Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York. Darren has performed with the Dave Landeo Band, Stonewater Groove, Jagstar, Jason Allen Phelps and Donald Brown,...
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Bio Picture Chris Caulder
Drums/Guitar/Bass/Keyboards Instructor
Chris Caulder is a musical jack-of-all-trades. Starting his career as drummer for the underground rock band Downside, Chris went on to play guitar and sing for several hardcore bands in Florida, including Signal 13 and No Way Out. Most recently, he played guitar, bass, and piano in down tempo electronic-based duo Beauty’s Confusion. Currently,...
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Bio Picture Virus .
Guitar/Bass Instructor
Virus is a singer/songwriter/producer, who has specialized in guitar instruction and composition, for over twenty years. He is recognized worldwide for his lead guitar duties for the band Dope, which has released four albums (Epic/Flip/Artemis), sold 650,000 copies worldwide. Also, look for Dope on Guitar Hero 3, with their bonus song, “Nothing...
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Bio Picture Rik Alison
Guitar/Bass Instructor
Rik has over 25 years of professional performing experience and taught 65+ students a week for over 15 years. From traveling the Midwest in a road cover band, to playing his own music in some of the top venues on the eastern seaboard, including the Middle East in Boston, CBGB’s and the Continental in N.Y.C., the Trocadero, the TLA and J.C. Dobbs...
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Bio Picture Robin Hallman
Vocals Instructor
Robin has been singing professionally for over 25 years in the Philadelphia, Delaware and New Jersey areas. She has been involved with various cover band projects, singing musical styles of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and today. Her vocal range and style spans artists such as Aretha Franklin, Melissa Etheridge, Joan Jett, Patty Smith, Patty Smythe,...
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Bio Picture Patrick Crowling
Guitar/Bass/Drums/Keyboards Instructor
Patrick Crowling is a 20+ years performing veteran and lifelong musician, studying guitar and percussion at Virginia Commonwealth University. Patrick played his first pro gig at the age of fifteen with the Modern Groove Syndicate and has been a constant presence on stages up and down the east coast ever since.  He is also a dedicated...
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Bio Picture Will Alpers
Drum Instructor
Will Alpers has been playing drums and percussion for 18 years and holds a degree in music business from West Chester University. He has been teaching privately for 10 years, and is currently the Percussion Instructor at Elizabethtown Area High School. He is currently working with the Dylan McGuire Band, a pop rock band out of Philly. He also...
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Bio Picture Jeffrey Quattro
Keyboards Instructor
Jeffrey F. Quattro has over 25 years of professional musical experience. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music & Art from Edinboro University and is skilled in many forms of music from Jazz to Rock. An accomplished composer and arranger he plays the Piano, Organ, and Synthesizers, Trumpet, Guitar, Bass, and Drums. He also sings lead...
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Bio Picture Dena Epstein
Vocals/Keyboards Instructor
Bio Coming Soon!
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