Emily Casey

Emily is the director of Hootenanny and a local mama. She teaches Music Together, private lessons, Kids Choir and Guitar for grown ups. Emily likes to bring a light hearted and casual approach to learning music and feels like she’s less of a teacher and more of a permission slip giver for folks to express the unique music that already lives within them. In this spirit, Emily likes to keep any instruction in the spirit of "living room learning"-- educational but low pressure, accessible and most importantly, joyful.

Emily holds a BA in Theatre from Hope College where she also studied voice, played a lot of guitar and made a ton of mix CDs. She was raised taking piano lessons, violin lessons and after-dinner guitar lessons from her Dad. You can find song of Emily’s original music on Spotify under the name Wind and the Why.

Emily is also an actor, writer and songwriter- she can’t wait to make some music together with you!

Oghenero Gable (Oghie)

Born and raised in Brooklyn New York, Oghie has always had a passion for music and the arts. He’s been studying acting since the 6th grade. He has a B.F.A in acting from Ithaca College and does both theater and film. Oghie has also worked as a Substitute paraprofessional with the NYCDOE. Additionally he plays guitar, bass, piano and pretty much whatever he can get his hands on. Oghie produces/composes eclectic music of his own and will be releasing his first full project in the summer of 2023. Oghie is very excited to start teaching with Music together and getting the chance to encourage the next generation to love and appreciate music in their own special ways.

Anath Benais

Performer and educator, Anath holds a bachelor's degree in Hebrew Literature and Civilization from University Paris VII. She has been teaching language (French and Spanish) as well as music at preschool and elementary levels in New York City private schools since 2010. A registered "Music Together" instructor, Ms. Benais has formally trained in music and dance in styles and countries as diverse as classical and jazz in Israel to Middle Eastern dance and Arabic music in Egypt and France. In films, on stage, and on recordings, she has performed internationally as a vocalist, songwriter, actress and dancer, including at the BlueNote and City Winery in New York City. She is the musical curator of "The Rough Guide to Bellydance" (a CD/DVD set) as well as the narrator of the documentary "Corpus Christi." Having taught classical Egyptian dance for over a decade, Anath continues to build her own portfolio of musical compositions in Brooklyn, where she resides with her husband and young son.

www.anathmusic.com

Stephen Taylor

Stephen Taylor grew up listening to Sesame Street Jamboree records in Newton, Massachusetts and played in bands at Milton Academy and Middleburg College. He has been teaching Music Together since 2002 and has taught music at Poly Prep Lower School since 2007. He now lives in Kensington and loves making music with you and your family.

Gretchen Poole

As a current Hoot parent, Gretchen can’t wait to start teaching at Hootenanny! Gretchen Poole is a native Arkansan who’s called New York home for almost 20 years. She’s a classically trained singer and also a theater and screen actor with extensive experience in NYC improv, sketch comedy, and musical improv.

Gretchen’s previous teaching experience was as a volunteer vocals and drum instructor for Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (now Willie Mae Rock Camp). Prior to her Music Together teacher training she completed level 1 Orff-Schulwerk training.

She firmly believes that, like a spoken language, music is simply a language that literally anyone can learn. She’s excited to start teaching that language to parents and children!

Frank Gallo

Frank has been playing music since he received his first guitar from his father at the age of two. Following in his parents’ footsteps, he began producing records during his freshman year of high school, and has since put out over 30 albums, including eight children’s records with his band Rolie Polie Guacamole. Over the last 15 years, when not touring the country with Rolie Polie Guacamole, Frank has spent his time teaching music at schools throughout Brooklyn.

Olivia Kuykendall

Olivia is a senior at NYU Steinhardt studying vocal performance. She has been singing and playing piano since she was very young, and her passion for music and performing has taken her to Carnegie Hall, the Vatican in Italy, and the Sydney Opera House. She has been teaching private piano and voice lessons for almost 4 years now and has since fallen in love with teaching! Additionally, she has had extensive childcare experience so she is very patient with her students but loves to challenge them and push them out of their comfort zones.

Ben Moss

Ben Moss (he/him) is an Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning music director, performer, songwriter, and orchestrator. He recently performed in and music directed Heather Christian’s acclaimed "Oratorio for Living Things" at Ars Nova, and has worked on Broadway and beyond, including at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and with ensembles around the world. He is the music director of the upcoming Broadway adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time." He is a native of Westchester, NY and a graduate of Harvard University.

Cameron Scoggins

Cameron Scoggins or “Cam” is interested in music as a mode of storytelling. He grew up in North Carolina before moving to NYC in 2007 to attend the Juilliard School for Drama. He has been  working as an actor in television, film and theater for over 15 years. Raised in the musical traditions of folk, bluegrass, gospel and country, he has been playing music professionally for over 15 years as a songwriter and musician in various acts. His first solo record (under his name) came out in 2019. His latest musical project is the band “Yeller Tooth”formed with Iranian-American singer and actress Sahar Milani. Their first EP will be released in the fall of 2023.