Music
Music is the universal language everyone understands!
Music reaches across borders, bridges cultures and brings people together… and then, there’s more. Teamwork, improved memory and problem-solving are just a few of the many benefits of making music.
CSMA offers a wide range of courses for all ages, from learning a new instrument to being part of an ensemble.
Share in the joy of music…
Music at CSMA
Music Instruction Faculty
Emily Richards
Emily Richards is a graduate of the Ithaca College School of Music, and a mom to two amazing girls. She has been a director of the Ithaca Children and Youth Chorus, for which she currently serves as the Artistic Director, for over a decade. She specializes in working...
Beatrice B. Olesko
Beatrice B. Olesko is an Associate Professor of Music Education at Ithaca College where she teaches classes related to elementary general and vocal music. Prior to coming to IC, Beatrice taught K-4 general music and elementary choir for United Local Schools in...
Sarah Smokay Linfors
Originally a native of Florida, Sarah has taught elementary and middle school choirs, piano and general music and has served as an adjudicator for the Florida Vocal Association. Her passion is sharing a love of music, learning and finding beauty everyday. Sarah Smokay...
Nick Scollard
Nick Scollard (they/he) is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, and community organizer whose creative foundations are rooted in DIY spaces and accessibility. Nick is an Ithaca transplant, having grown up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. They later moved to...
Laik Uticone
Meet Laik Uticone, a dynamic and passionate young music instructor who brings a fresh and innovative approach to music education. Born with an innate love for melody and rhythm, Laik has cultivated a deep understanding of various musical genres from a young age. Laik...
Dr. Josh Oxford
Visit Dr. Josh Oxford to get your cure for a variety of music maladies! At CSMA, Dr. Oxford teaches classes and private lessons in jazz, music technology, music theory, and beat making. Electronisist, Dr. Josh Oxford, born in 1985, is a composer, arranger, and...
Ashley Ickes
Ashley (she/her) graduated with a BM in Music Performance, Jazz Studies from Western Michigan University in 2013. She has been performing professionally and teaching private and group lessons for well over twenty years. With experience in many styles including rock,...
Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum
Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum is a music teacher, choral director, performer and event coordinator with music education degrees from Ithaca College and Columbia University. In addition to serving on the faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts, she also teaches at Namaste Montessori School and sings with the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble.
Laura Campbell
Laura Campbell is on the faculties of Colgate University (where she teaches flute and is the personnel manager and principal flutist of the Colgate Orchestra) and Wells College (where she is the director of the chamber orchestra and jazz band). She has taught flute privately for many years in the Ithaca and Trumansburg areas.
Amy Opperman Cash
B.A. Piano, Ithaca College. Attended High School of Music and Art, NYC. Studied with Kendall Taylor in London, England. Over twenty years teaching experience.
David Allen Coester
David Allen Coester has been teaching the guitar to people of all ages and abilities for more than 25 years — formerly at the Crestwood Music Education Center in Westchester County and in his private studio in downtown Ithaca.
Ed Cohn
Ed began his musical journey early, starting on clarinet at age 9. He soon moved on to saxophone, guitar, and piano and gained experience on trombone, French horn, and flute before falling in love with singing and opera.
Hayden Frank
Hayden Frank was born and raised in Ithaca, where he became active in music and theater at a young age. Drawn to the deep grooves of ‘60s and ‘70s R&B/Soul music, he picked up the bass as a teenager and studied under local legend Doug Robinson, until departing for...
William Hurley
William Hurley is an Ithaca-based violinist/violist, teacher, and luthier. Violin – M.M., Violin Performance, Ithaca College. B.A. in Violin Performance, University of South Carolina.
Nolan Miller
Pianist Nolan Miller grew up in Ithaca, and is active in the area as a teacher and performer. He holds a BM in piano performance from Houghton College; an MM from Syracuse University; and a DM from Florida State University, where his major professor was Read...
Christopher Morgan Loy
Composer-pianist Christopher Morgan Loy has a catalog of compositions which includes works for piano, voice, chamber ensembles, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, and chorus. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from Cornell University where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, Karel Husa (1969) and Steven Stucky (2005).
Jan Nigro
Jan Nigro is a co-founder, songwriter for, and performer with Vitamin L, a youth choral group which performs extensively year-round at schools, education conferences, festivals, and camps. He is also the founder and musical director of Mostly Motown and has been an Artist in Residence (Songwriter) for the Empire State Arts Partnership Program in conjunction with the Hangar Theater and the Ithaca City School District.
Karen Melamed Smith
Karen Melamed Smith studied piano and composition at the Music Institute of Chicago while growing up and has taught piano and various music and movement classes in similar community schools in NYC and at CSMA for many years.