Our Staff and Instructors

Dawn Locke, Owner, Repair Technician

20+ years experience as a professional trumpet player, repair technician, and private instructor. Dawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in music degree from St. Mary's College of Maryland, a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University and completed Teacher Certification at Duquesne University.  She also attended Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and The University of Maryland.  Her private trumpet teachers included Dr. Robert Cameron, Emerson Head, and Vincent Cichowicz.

Kirby The Shop Assistant and General Helper

Miss Kirby has grown up as a "shop dog" and currently has 14 years experience assisting with everything from greeting customers to warning us of the arrival of the very dangerous UPS trucks and mail carriers. 

Kirby waiting to assist with a repair          Taking the all-important mid-afternoon break

 Cathy Thorsen, Office Manager/Sales

Cathy comes to us after many years with the Calvert County Division of Fire-Rescue-EMS.  She worked as division level liason between the county government and nine volunteer Fire-Rescue-EMS divisions as well as being an administrative assistant to the County Engineer.  She has extensive knowledge and experience handling financial statements, budgets and supervising support staff.  Cathy attended I.T.T. Business Institute in Annapolis, MD.

Vince Ciccinotta, Sales/Shop Assistant

Jessica Cammarata, Strings Instructor

Jessica started playing the violin at age 5 and began studying the viola while in high school. She studied at the Peabody Preparatory School and received a BA in Music Education with a major in Viola from West Virginia University. Currently, she is the Orchestra Director at Spring Ridge and Esperanza Middle Schools. Ms Cammarata teaches violin, viola as well as cello.

Becky Ellis, Piano Instructor

Sue Tayag, Strings and Piano Instructor

A graduate of Univ. of Maryland, Mrs. Tayag has 14 years of private teaching experience for beginning, intermediate and advance level strings and piano.  As a student, she has performed and toured various cities as principal cellist for a variety of youth and community orchestras in Southern California.  As a teacher, Mrs. Tayag has taught exclusively for 6+ years in the Southern Maryland area and uses both traditional and Suzuki methods to enhance the overall learning experience.  With emphasis on semi-annual recitals and Quarterly reviews, Mrs. Tayag also gives preparatory instruction exclusively for tri-county, all-county, and all state auditions for any student interested in auditioning for these groups.  Typically students should have had at least a year of private instruction before considering auditioning.   Mrs. Tayag is currently working towards her teacher's degree/certificate to become a certified music instructor.