Ethan Sass Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Show Director
Ethan Sass is a NYC-based guitarist and songwriter who has been playing for over 10 years. He received a bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music, where he studied with some of the top musicians in the country and immersed himself in diverse styles of music. After Berklee, Ethan moved to NYC, where he is now a dedicated teacher and plays in a few different bands as a songwriter and guitarist/bassist. As a guitar teacher, bass guitar teacher, drum teacher and piano teacher at School of Rock Brooklyn, Ethan teaches a variety of students. He is also our show director and group band leader. He keeps his lessons fun, informative and relevant.
Cory Sterling Guitar Teacher
Originally from Portland, OR, guitarist Cory Sterling moved to New York City in 2010 to attend The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Cory has performed with Dave Weckl, Melvin Davis, John Stowell and Scott Whitfield, and has appeared at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, Port Townsend Jazz Festival and Mount Hood Jazz Festival. In 2009 Cory won the Berklee College of Music Battle for Berklee guitar competition in Boston, MA, and performed at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA as a finalist in the 2010 Yamaha Six String Theory International Guitar Competition. In 2011 Cory won first place in the jazz category at the 2011 Yamaha Six String Theory International Guitar Competition, an all ages/genres event whose judges included Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Gary Tallent and Scott Goldman of the Grammy Foundation. Cory is a guitar teacher at School of Rock Brooklyn.
Crystal Speros Guitar Teacher, Piano Teacher, Singing Teacher
Crystal Rose Speros is a singer, educator and songwriter whose recent musical explorations have been rooted in the idea of branching out and expanding in subject and sound. In her role as an educator, she aspires to always provide the tools necessary to help her students grow and develop their individual voice. She has learned the value of support and guidance through her education with musicians such as Nick Hakim, Jamie Leonhart, LaTanya Hall, Scott Kettner, Kevyn Lettau and Glen Fisher among others, during her time earning her BFA in Jazz and Contemporary Music from the New School. Crystal Rose currently has private students in voice, songwriting and guitar.
Crystal Rose started singing with her mom in Filipino karaoke restaurants and in the church. Through a scholarship with the First Friday Music Club in San Diego, CA, Crystal Rose was able to take guitar and voice lessons, as well as perform in many venues and events around San Diego. She grew up learning the ropes of performing in Revolt-age, a rock and roll/soul cover band which consisted of her friends and FFMC students. She moved to NYC in 2015 and has performed in various venues around the city in jazz, singer/songwriter and R&B settings.
She was able to be a supporting and featured vocalist on jazz singer Kevyn Lettau's most recent tour in Manila, Philippines during September 2018. Crystal Rose released her EP “Summer Shoes” in February 2019, and plans to release another EP in 2020.
It is Crystal Rose's goal to help students tell their own personal stories by developing creative and deep connections to the songs that they may sing and/or play. She is a guitar teacher, piano teacher and vocal instructor at School of Rock Brooklyn.
Hannah Scholnick Studio Coordinator
Hannah is originally from Madison CT. She has been working with School of Rock Brooklyn as a studio coordinator for a little over a year, but she also worked for School of Rock in her hometown as a front desk assistant when she was in high school. She has always loved singing, and participated in various acapella groups in college. She also dabbles with the guitar, ukulele and songwriting. She is currently in graduate school to get her Masters in Social Work at Yeshiva University.
Colin Taylor Drum Teacher, Show Director
Colin Taylor started drumming at the age of 7, playing throughout middle and high school in regional and all-state jazz bands, as well as in bands across New England. After graduating high school in 2012, Colin received merit and performance-based scholarships to attend the prestigious music school, the Drummers Collective, in NYC. Here, Colin developed dozens of different playing styles, giving him a broad spectrum of proficiency on the instrument. After completing his studies, Colin began making music, recording and performing regularly with his colleagues and as a freelancer at popular NYC venues such as Joe’s Pub, Bowery Ballroom and Rockwood Music Hall. In 2017, at age 22, Colin was chosen as the drummer for the 1st National Broadway tour of “On Your Feet!,” along with the Miami Sound Machine.
Riccardo Belletta Drum Teacher
Riccardo is a drummer from Milan, Italy. After studying at "Accademia del Suono" and playing in the local music scene in Milan for several years he decided to move to New York and continue his studies at the Drummer's Collective. After graduating in 2013 he has continued to pursue his passion for drumming playing locally with various artists as well as national touring acts.
Elora Aclin Singing Teacher, Piano Teacher
Elora, a native New Yorker and daughter of two visual artists, fell in love with performing when she joined a drama program in middle school. In high school she became heavily dedicated to choir, opera, and musical theatre. She was accepted into the NYSSMA All-County, All-State, All-Eastern, and All-National honor choirs, along with founding her schools jazz choir which she lead as a student. During this time she began privately studying vocal jazz with Patti Dunham and later studied opera with renowned vocal teacher Catherine Green.
For college, she chose to dedicate herself to jazz at The New School where she received a partial scholarship. During this time Elora began working on her musicianship and soon discovered her love of composition. Through The New School she has had the pleasure of studying voice with Jay Clayton, and composition with Kate Davis and Vilray.
Today, Elora’s original music draws from jazz, folk, and indie rock. Elora leads her own band that performs in various venues around the city and has recorded and produced an EP of her original music at home. She is comfortable teaching all ages and all levels. Her background makes her an extremely diverse teacher with professional experience in many areas of music. Elora is also well versed in teaching electronic music production, ear training, music theory, vocal improvisation, and composition.
Kolby Koczanowski Bass Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Keyboard Teacher, Singing Teacher
Kolby Koczanowski, MME, MT-BC is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, and board-certified music therapist from Overland Park, KS. In 2014, he graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelors of Music in Percussion Performance and went on to complete his Master’s of Music Education & Music Therapy from the University of Kansas.
From 2012-2019, Kolby was a member of the professional NFL drumline of the Kansas City Chiefs, Chiefs Rumble. In 2013, Kolby won 1st place at the University of Central Missouri Concerto Competition and in 2014 won 1st Place in Collegiate Marimba Division at the Mid-Missouri Percussive Arts Trophy Competition. In 2015, he traveled abroad to Thailand to study music therapy at Mahidol University.
In 2019, Kolby released three albums and three EPs worth of original, self-produced music under the artist name Pair of Sloths. His original compositions can be heard on the Mushroom Revival Podcast, the Men of Doozy Podcast, and the parody web-series Chewie Chats. Most recently, Kolby can be heard playing drums on the live WXPN radio session with singer-songwriter Naheemah Maddox.
Michael Eliran Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher, Piano Teacher, Singing Teacher
Born and raised in New York City, Michael Eliran has been playing music for well over 18 years. A pianist, guitarist, bassist, vocalist, and songwriter, Michael's focus as a teacher is on applying technique, music theory, and harmonic analysis to encourage students to explore their own creativity and express themselves through music, in addition to learning songs that they like and will help them grow.