Avery Faust is a musicologist, vocalist, pianist, flautist, and teacher from New Jersey currently based in Baltimore, Maryland. Avery is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Musicology at the Peabody Conservatory in John’s Hopkins University. She graduated with the class of 2021 from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania with a bachelors in music, focusing on vocal performance.
Kimberly McNicholas Keehner inherited her love of music from her father, who played trumpet with a US Army Air Force band during World War II. Kim began playing flute at age 10 and was a member of bands and orchestras associated with Towson University’s outstanding music department. She earned bachelor and masters degrees in music education at Towson where she studied flute under noted instructor Robin McKey-Day.
During a 32-year teaching career with the Baltimore County Public Schools, elementary and middle school bands and orchestras under Kim’s direction received superior and excellent ratings at both county and state levels of competition. In addition she served as the elementary instrumental music representative to the Maryland Music Educators Association and has played flute and piccolo with the Gettysburg Symphony Orchestra.
Kim specializes in developing a lifelong love of music and performance in the youngest musicians. Although she excels at playing and teaching woodwinds (flute, clarinet and oboe), Kim is happy to work with students who are learning strings and brass. Quite simply, Kim’s passion isn’t just music, it’s teaching the techniques that guide beginning players to excel. Whether working with young musicians in several Howard County schools or as a part of the Mike’s Music family, Kim is uniquely qualified to nurture the sheer joy that comes from making music.
Elizabeth Robbins began studying the viola at age 9 and the flute at age 10, and has experience performing and teaching strings and woodwinds. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education at Ithaca College, where she studied flute with Kelly Covert. She spent one semester at the Ithaca College London Center, taking lessons with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music. After completing her undergraduate degree, Elizabeth moved to southern Maryland, where she taught pre-k through fifth grade band, strings, chorus, and general music for four years at St. Mary’s County Public Schools. While in Maryland, she earned her Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University. In 2010 she played Griffes’s Poem for Flute and Orchestra with the Chamber Orchestra of Southern Maryland In Concert as the winner of the COSMIC Young Artist Competition.
Elizabeth earned her PhD in music education at Temple University in 2019. While at Temple, she worked as a TA in the music education department, which included serving as a graduate conductor of the Night Owls Community Band and teaching Woodwind Methods to undergraduate and graduate students. She also taught as an adjunct and supervised student teachers at West Chester University. During her doctoral studies, she was a member of the viola faculty for the Music Education Pathways program at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, PA and was a member of the flute faculty at Ferrwood Music Camp in Drums, PA. Elizabeth is happy to be back in Maryland, teaching 4th-6th grade band and orchestra in Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Jill Thomassen began studying piano at the French School of Music in NJ when she was 8 years old. The following year she added private lessons on the flute. A graduate of The Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Ms. Thomassen studied modern and baroque flute performance with Timothy Day (then Principal flutist of the Baltimore Symphony). Her teaching and performing are also greatly influenced by her attendance and performance at many master classes taught by renowned English flutist Trevor Wye, one of the leading flute pedagogues in the world today. Other important teachers include Julius Baker, Christopher Krueger, Gerardo Levy, and Virginia Schulze-Johnson.
Ms. Thomassen has been teaching and performing as a professional soloist and chamber musician in the Baltimore and Washington areas for the past thirty years. She has been heard in many local concerts such as The Friday Morning Music Club, The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Concert Series, The Dickeyville Concert Series, and The Peabody Tuesday Noon Recital Series, and her chamber ensemble is in high demand for weddings and other private events. In 2012 her flute quartet was selected to perform Harmony in Blue and Goldby Eric Ewazen, commissioned by the quartet, at the annual National Flute Association Convention. The quartet was also invited to perform the piece in New York City at the Julliard School of Music. Ms. Thomassen was a winner of the prestigious New York Flute Club Competition. In addition to flute and piano, she also loves playing her Celtic harp.
Ms. Thomassen enjoys teaching all ages and levels (including adults!). Her flute students have held positions in upper level ensembles such as All County, All State, and the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra. Her teaching emphasizes effective and efficient practice techniques, and above all, she encourages her students to love and enjoy playing music, at every level.