Enrichment Music Instruction

Registration for the 2022–2023 school year will open on August 29 (lessons start on September 19)

Waynflete’s Enrichment Music Instruction program provides students in grades 2–12 and adults (beginners as well as advanced musicians) with individual or small-group instrumental and vocal lessons. The program is open to Waynflete families as well as students and adults from the broader community. Our instructors are professional musicians with degrees in music education and/or performance—recording artists, composers, concert musicians, and teachers spanning all musical genres, including classical, folk, jazz, and rock.

Enrichment Music Instruction is divided into three sessions: fall session (11 lessons from September 19–December 21), January session (3 lessons from January 3–27), and spring session (13 lessons from January 30–May 26). All students must be registered online and tuition paid prior to the first lesson.

All lessons take place on campus and are taught in person. Lower School students may be registered for lessons after school. Middle and Upper School students may be registered for lessons during the school day (during a free period) or after school. Waynflete students receive scheduling priority.

Read instructor profiles below. Register for lessons after you have determined a schedule with an instructor. Contact Director of Performing Arts Mary Jane Pagenstecher with any questions.

GENERAL INFORMATION

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How to register

Contact individual Enrichment Music Instructors by email to arrange a specific lesson time (see instructor bios and contact information below). Questions about the program or instructors? Contact Director of Performing Arts Mary Jane Pagenstecher.

Once you have arranged a lesson day and time with the Instructor, register online and pay by credit card (VISA or Mastercard). Music lessons will not begin until the student has registered and tuition has been paid in full by credit card. No cash or checks. Questions about registration? Contact .

Register for lessons (after setting up arrangements with an instructor)

Rates and policies

View 2022-23 rates and policies

FAQs

View FAQs

INSTRUCTOR BIOS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

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Denise Calkins (piano)

With a degree in music from the University of Southern Maine, Denise has over 20 years of experience teaching, performing, accompanying, and directing music in the Greater Portland Area. In addition to teaching private lessons at Waynflete, Denise accompanies the school’s choruses, musical productions, and vocal soloists. She enjoys working with a wide range of private students at Waynflete and at her home studio.

Kelly Caufield (voice)

Kelly Caufield was born and raised in the great state of Maine. Kelly began her musical journey at Schoolhouse Arts Center in Sebago Lake, where she caught the musical “bug” and spent the majority of her adolescence into adulthood doing as many musicals as she possibly could! As a rising music student at the University of Southern Maine School of Music, Kelly studied with Ellen Chickering and Edward Reichert. The decade that followed was a beautiful blur of performances with Portland Players, College Light Opera Company, the Boothbay Opera House, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, The North Shore Philharmonic, Maine ProMusica Orchestra, Music Doing Good (out of Houston, Texas), Portland’s Good Theater among many others. Previously, Kelly was the director of vocal music at Hebron Academy and currently runs a private voice studio, The Intuitive Voice, where she specializes in finding the voice, then fusing classical vocal techniques with musical theater and popular repertoire.

Dale Churchill (piano)

Dale received a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Boston and taught in the Boston area before relocating to Maine. He has had an extensive career as a pianist, director, and teacher. He teaches at Waynflete, the Portland Conservatory of Music, and at his private studio.

Dale’s piano students develop essential musical skills by studying classical music as well as blues and jazz improvisation.

Mike Dank (drums, rhythm section, rock band)

Mike Dank’s extensive musical career inspires his work with students. He has spent more than 35 years studying, performing on the road, and teaching. Mike taught drums at Waynflete from 1988-1992. He took a break to concentrate on his own music, traveling the country, and recording. He returned to Waynflete in 2002 with fresh insight and devotion for teaching guitar, bass, and drums to students as well as rock ensembles.

Kris Day (guitar, ukulele, bass, upright bass)

Kris has been teaching music for over two decades in the Portland area and has performed in 38 states, Europe and Canada. He has performed with rock ’n roll legends Link Wray, Ronnie Dawson & Dale Hawkins among others. Kris maintains a presence on the regional music scene performing in a variety of ensemble situations and musical styles. As a member of award-winning local bands King Memphis, Jerks of Grass, Cajun Aces, and Hot Club of Portland, Kris has had the opportunity to play concerts as a supporting act for artists ranging from B.B. King to Little Feat to Boyz II Men. Kris enjoys teaching music to people of all ages and skill levels and feels everyone can benefit from learning to play a musical instrument.

Gene Gill (saxophone, beginning winds, beginning brass)

Gene Gill joins the Waynflete music department this fall as an Instrumental and General Music teacher. Gene directs the jazz ensembles in Middle and Upper School and teaches sixth grade general music. A graduate of Arizona State University, Gene started his teaching career in Bar Harbor, Maine. He recently relocated to the Portland area for more performing opportunities as a saxophonist with experience in jazz, pop, rock, and classical music.

Eddie Holmes (piano)

Eddie Holmes, piano teacher, is in his fifth year as the K-5 General Music & Chorus teacher in the Lower School. Eddie received his Bachelors of Music Education from the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College with a concentration in piano and has taught private lessons for nine years. He specializes in getting young musicians started on the piano and often incorporates percussion and singing into each lesson. Additionally, he enjoys incorporating music theory, composition, and songwriting into his lessons. Eddie is able to teach and coach classical, jazz, and popular genres as well as vocal accompaniment.

Suzanne (Sue) Remillard (voice and piano)

Sue graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education, with concentration in Piano and Voice. She holds a State of Maine music teaching certificate and taught music and movement throughout Maine schools—most recently in the Scarborough School Department. She currently operates private music studios in Scarborough and Portland, where she enjoys working with students of all ages and abilities. Classically trained, Sue’s teaching repertoire includes classical, musical theater, jazz, and popular music. She has music directed productions at local community theaters, high schools, and for The Best of Broadway, a yearly benefit performance for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital held at Merrill Auditorium. As a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor, she participated in festivals in Maine and Vermont, including serving on the board of the Maine chapter of The National Association of Teachers of Singing where she chaired vocal classical and musical theater competitions at Bates College.

Michael Sabin (trumpet, trombone, euphonium)

Michael is a professional trombone player and brass teacher who recently relocated to Portland. Michael grew up around Boston and has been performing in the area since he was in high school, where he garnered experience freelancing in the jazz, pop, funk, indie, and classical scenes. He has had a litany of brass students of all levels and ages and has been an instructor at a number of schools throughout the Boston area. Michael was a student at New England Conservatory where he received a BM in jazz trombone performance. He was fortunate to work with incredible teachers like Jason Moran, John Lockwood, and Marshall Gilkes. Michael teaches lessons in trumpet, trombone, and euphonium.

Sylvia Schwartz (violin)

Deeply inspired by the relationship between music, movement, and dance, violinist and teacher Sylvia Schwartz is a passionate chamber musician in both modern and historical performance practices. The power of music to heal and bring us together drives Sylvia to teach (using the Suzuki method) and perform wherever she can—from the Scarborough, ME COVID-19 vaccine clinic to Shostakovich Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia—and many places in between.

Sylvia is Waynflete’s Instrumental Music Teacher in Strings. She also currently teaches at Palaver Music Center, Portland Conservatory of Music, Stone Coast Music, and Powers Music School.

Sylvia is an active and committed performer, who greatly enjoys the ways performing and teaching inform and enrich each other. In March 2020, she rose out of the ashes to play a new monthly, live-streamed concert (alongside cellist/gambist John Ott) for a growing community of fans across the globe. Sylvia has also performed with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Los Angeles Baroque, LA Master Chorale, Harvard Baroque, Eudaimonia: A Purposeful Period Band, the Portland Bach Experience, and as a guest artist with Palaver Strings.

Sylvia earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Longy School of Music, where she studied violin with Laura Bossert and historically-informed performance. She also earned a B.S. in Engineering from Olin College, where she was Concertmaster of the Olin Conductorless Orchestra.