Faculty


    Rebecca Hillary Smith
Rebecca Hilary Smith ("Becky") went to grade school in Sisters, high school in Redmond, and college at COCC before hopping the Cascades, graduating from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Music in 1986.Although involved in singing and piano playing from a young age, she took up study of the harp while at U of O and now counts it as her primary instrument. Her splendidly checkered music career since then has included 5 years of teaching as a music specialist in the public schools, directing a church choir, doing an after-school music program for young children, and playing folk and classical music in various small groups and orchestras. She and her husband just returned from 11 years in Hawaii where she freelanced full-time as a harpist and private teacher. When not relearning the many words for "snow" "ice"and "cold", she looks forward to finding many new friends in Central Oregon, finishing a CD, and teaching private harp lessons.


    Rebecca Locklear
Rebecca Locklear, M.A. is a music and English teacher who has taught grades PK-12 in public, private, alternative and international schools.  Her degrees are in piano, voice, choral conducting and theatre, and at the Cascade School of Music she teaches piano and choral music.  Her teaching is innovative and creative because of her breadth of knowledge in many fields. She also has a passion for developing curriculum and completed three books in 2010.


    Ann Stanley
Ann Stanley has been teaching flute for the Cascade School of Music since shortly after the school was formed. She believes that learning music should be fun and interesting, while challenging the student to constantly improve. Her classes tend to be a blend of exercises and chamber music. Ann comes from a musical family. She grew up playing chamber music every Sunday with her pianist mother, cellist brother, and violinist sisters, as well as orchestra and band at school. She studied with such fine teachers as Edwin Putnik at Arizona State and Diane Chassman in Los Angeles, but eventually switched from classical music to jazz. Currently, she performs around Bend in the world beat dance band Tropicante and acoustic funk group Lucid Blue.


    Marianne Thomas
Marianne Thomas is a classically trained pianist and vocalist who holds both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Music Teaching and Performance from Brown University and is also an Oregon Certified Music teacher.   Marianne has 20 years experience as a private piano and voice instructor and has taught Voice, Choir and General Music in public schools for several years.   She is a singer/songwriter/pianist and recording artist. Marianne also spent 10 years as the lead vocalist for several busy bands in Boston performing all styles of music from rock to dance to jazz. She was also a member of the Obsidian Opera Company in Bend and played the Principal role of Peep Bo in their 2006 production of The Mikado.   Her voice lessons focus on developing the building blocks of a healthy and confident voice which include correct, supportive breathing, posture, singing vowels, and the personal confidence to sing out! In her piano instruction, Marianne teaches from an extensive classical and music theory background. She has an easy-going teaching style and focuses on the needs and wants of the student, while covering the correct basics.


    Crystal Cheney
When Crystal Cheney was nine years old her grandmother offered for her to start taking piano lessons, and Crystal was very enthusiastic from the start.  20 years later she is still excited every time she sits down to play.  Her repertoire mostly revolves around classical music, but she recently began to broaden her horizons.  She has performed in many different lights, spanning from high school musicals and choir concerts to spotlight performances at the Tower Theatre and Willie Hall.  Currently Crystal is performing in various senior communities around Central Oregon. She has been teaching piano for four years now and has experience with all age and skill levels.  Crystal tries to encompass all aspects of piano playing from theory to composition, without losing the fun along the way.


    Michelle Van Handel
Michelle is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the former Director of the University of Oregon Vocal Jazz Ensembles. She is a past winner of the Oregon Jazz Society's Best New Jazz vocalist award. She has been performing at festivals, clubs and concerts for many years, including numerous jazz festivals such as The Eugene Celebration, The Oregon Coast Jazz & Blues Festival , Bend's Summer & Winter Festivals & The Sisters Jazz Festival. She works as a studio musician singing radio jingles & teaches privately. Her discography includes Watercolor Music & Blue Vista. She performs with several progressive bands, including Blue Vista, The Michelle Van Handel Quintet; The Groove Merchants, Cascade Brass; and 5 Bones & Rhythm.


    Sue Mudge
Suzanne Mudge is a trombonist, conductor, and educator.She is Principal Trombone with the Central Oregon Symphony, teaches Band at Seven Peaks School, and has a private teaching studio.She is also the Founder of the new chamber ensemble Proteus Chamber Players. Every summer she performs with the Carmel Bach Festival in Carmel, California, where she is on staff as the Director of Tower Music and the Artistic Committee and plays in the Festival Orchestra. Her original composition for Brass and Percussion, Fanfare 2010, had its premiere there in July. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The University of The Pacific and a Master of Music degree from The University of Arizona. Her teachers have included Byron Peebles (Los Angeles Philharmonic) and Tom Ervin.During her 22-year residency in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sue was Principal Trombone with the Modesto Symphony and the Women’s Philharmonic and founder of the Seraphim Brass Quintet. She was a member of St. Mary’s Cathedral Brass Ensemble and the Masterworks Orchestra. She also performed regularly with the Marin, Berkeley, San Jose, and Fremont Symphony Orchestras, Festival Opera, Diablo Ballet, and West Bay Opera. In 1992 she performed the world premier of No Trumpets, No Drums by David Jaffe for Trombone, Organ and Percussion at Stanford University. She has toured, as a civilian, with the Air Force “Band of The Golden West” and guest conducted at their Spring Conducting Workshops.Sue has performed at the Rheingau Music Festival in Germany, written articles for the International Trombone Association Journal, and recorded at Skywalker Ranch for the Koch and Albion labels. She is an avid road cyclist, chef, and wine enthusiast, and enjoys spending time with her three beloved Border Collies and cat.


    Chris Cochran
Chris expressed an early interest in music when he sat down at his first set of drums when he was ten years old.  At the age of fifteen he learned to play the guitar.  After a three year stint as the drummer for Street Legal Blues Band featuring Bobby Sims, Chris' music became dominated by the guitar.  In January of 2006, Chris discovered the world of bluegrass flatpicking and traditional folk music.  The camaraderie of sitting down with friends and enjoying an afternoon of picking and strumming captured Chris.  This began his passion for bluegrass music and Chris became a student of the genre.  Some of the biggest influences in Chris' bluegrass music include Tony Rice, David Grisman, Billy Nershi, Scott Law, Ricky Skaggs and Bryan Sutton.   It's the delight of a close setting and creating a little music with friends that makes bluegrass so relaxed and enjoyable.   His enthusiasm for learning and teaching music is contagious.


    Matt Gwinup
Matt Gwinup started his musical life at age five, on the piano, which he continued to study until age sixteen.  During those years he participated in numerous festivals and competitions, mostly in Bend, Oregon where he grew up.  At age twenty Matt moved to Ashland, Oregon to pursue his Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from Southern Oregon University, which he received in 2007. Most recently Matthew has decided to move back to his hometown of Bend OR, where his new music studio is in Southeast Bend at the Lisnup recording studio located above Blue Spruce pottery.  In 2011 Matt started teaching guitar classes and lessons at the Cascade Community School of Music.  


    Roland White
Roland White  first experienced fiddle music in 1976, performed by the Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers at a small country grange hall. He was instantly captivated by the sound of Traditional Fiddle Music.   Since that time Roland has studied and learned hundreds of fiddle tunes and styles that include Irish, Celtic, American and other ethnic fiddle traditions. Over the years he has attended numerous fiddle workshops taught by such masters of fiddling as Kevin Burke, Byron Berline, Carol Anne Wheeler, Mark Savoy, Frank Ferrell, Alan Jabour, Benny Thomasson and attended a Masters Class with world renown fiddler and recording artist, Mark O’ Conner.  Roland is the current Oregon State Senior Fiddle Champion and placed 10th in the Nation of the Senior Division in the National Fiddle Contest this past June in Weiser Idaho.


    Diane Allen
Diane Allen is the director of Chamber Music at the Cascade School of Music. She is also the Director/Instructor of SuzuKEY NOTES of Central Oregon, the largest suzuki violin studio in Bend. Diane is an active member of the Central Oregon Symphony, the Obsidian Opera Chamber Orchestra, the Cascade Festival Orchestra, and the Cascade Chamber Players. Diane has had an active teaching career for 17 years. When not teaching or performing you can find Diane in her garden.


    Julia Bastuscheck
Julia Bastuscheck recently moved to Bend after retiring from a 21-year career teaching beginning strings and orchestra at the middle and high school levels in Juneau, Alaska.She established the Juneau Youth Symphony, a full orchestra for both students and adult beginners.Julia was principal violist of the Juneau Symphony from 1988-2009, and played for many local opera productions as well as numerous solo and chamber music performances. Julia received her Bachelor of Arts in music at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where she studied viola and chamber music with Barton Frank and Charmian Gadd.She enrolled at the University of Washington in 1985 to pursue teacher certification, where she was a student of acclaimed violist Paul Coletti.Long, dark winters in the Tongass rainforest brought Julia and her husband, Nathan, to Bend, where they both enjoy the many benefits of living in the High Desert.Currently, Julia performs with the Central Oregon Symphony and enjoys as many chamber music opportunities as possible.As conductor of the Desert Sage Orchestra, she is excited to work with an enthusiastic group of dedicated musicians.She is also available to teach private violin and viola students and coach chamber groups at all levels.


    Scott Foxx
Scott Foxx is a lifetime professional musician. He studied classical guitar as a music major at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.Scott has performed for forty years in every state except for Hawaii and Alaska . He has also been a private music instructor for the last twenty years teaching guitar, slide guitar, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. He has many happy students ranging from eight to sixty years of age.


    Marc Saccoman
Marc Saccoman is a graduate of the legendary Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.  While attending Berklee, Marc studied jazz bass with many great players including Bruce Gertz and Anthony Vitti.  Upon graduating, Marc played, performed, and recorded throughout the northeast with several different projects including jazz, rock, and blues bands.  Since arriving in Oregon in 2002, Marc has earned a masters degree in Music Education from Oregon State University.  He is a state certified music teacher, and has taught music at both the elementary and middle school levels.  In addition to the bass, Marc plays the guitar and trumpet, and has been teaching privately for over 10 years. 


    Dillon Schneider
Dillon Schneider is the principal founder and Executive Director of the Cascade School of Music. Dillon holds a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College, and a B.Music degree in jazz studies from Western Washington University where he studied with bassist Chuck Israels. His principal instrument is guitar, and he has been teaching music for over twenty years. Dillon performs regularly in Central Oregon with the Michelle Van Handel Quintet and with his own trio, the Groove Merchants.


    Michael Scott
Michael Scott has been a professional musician for 44 years, including 25 years as an orchestra  teacher and elementary music teacher for Bend/Lapine schools.  He played bass with the Central Oregon Symphony and the Cascade Festival of Music for 20 years.  His ability to teach technique and music interpretation, while believing in the many benefits of making music in enembles has made his beginning adult strings class and Desert Sage String Orchestra very popular. Currently Michael teaches adult beginning and intermediate strings.


    Andy Warr
Saxophonist Andy Warr was introduced to the local jazz scene in 1997 when he came to Bend.  Before long, he was in high demand as a performer and session musician.  His experience comes from over 20 years of work as a composer and sideman.  His classical training began at a young age, and provided a solid foundation for his later explorations of jazz and other forms of modern music.  He is often seen as a clinician and guest soloist with local schools, choirs, and orchestras.  Andy has composed and recorded for television, film, and multimedia productions and is signed as a composer for Harpo.  He can be seen with several local jazz groups, and performs regularly with funk-jazz gang Slick Side down.



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