Get to know our management, sales staff and music instructors before you ever step foot through our doors. Check below for more information and stay tuned for additional biographies on our exceptional staff to be added soon!

Forrest Brown
Guitar Instructor  |  Carlisle Location

Forrest has been a staple on the central Pennsylvania music scene for many years. He has been a member of a number of great area bands and has performed with some of the areas finest players. Over the past two decades, Forrest has been a leader and member of Blitz Dynette, worked with Shea Quinn in Clockwork, and had a stint with Rich Clare’s Pentagon, just to name a few. Currently he’s filling the guitar chair with Radiant out of Baltimore, MD.

Forrest spent time on the hotel / resort circuit, touring with several acts in the 70’s and the 80’s.
In the past few months he’s worked with Cruz Control, Bunch O’ Funk and The Impact Band. Although stage performance is his forte, he is equally at home in the studio, or in the pit. Forrest has recorded three albums with his band Blitz Dynette and has a number of musicals to his credit including “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline”, “Smokey Joe’s Café”, “Godspell”, “Tick, Tick, Boom”, “Grease” and most recently “Fame.” He spent one year at Berklee College of Music.

Forrest believes that a knowledge of fundamentals, not just for guitar but music in general, can provide a solid foundation for both the student who wishes to pursue a career in music and the student who just wants a casual relationship with an instrument. These fundamentals include, but are not limited to, sight-reading and basic music theory.

Della Cosey
Piano Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Della graduated from Messiah College with a BA in Behavioral Science and a BS in Music Education. She has been teaching beginning and intermediate private piano to children and teens in the Dillsburg area for more than 30 years. Della taught classroom music to elementary students in the Northern School District for three years. As a member of the Capital Area Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teacher Association, Della's students have participated in the CAC Piano Festivals and Piano Extravaganza, a multi-piano concert. Della has been the organist, pianist, and keyboardist at the Cumberland Valley Brethren in Christ Church for more than 24 years. Currently she teaches Recreational Music Making Classes for adult piano students at JW Music.

Alexis Del Palazzo
Flute Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Alexis Del Palazzo is an active performer and devoted teacher who has performed widely across the United States. With experience sharing her love of the flute with all ages and levels, Alexis brings that devotion into her studio to provide customized instruction for each student. Taking a holistic (but fun!) approach to the flute, Alexis teaches the fundamentals of the flute from the ground up, focusing on body awareness and musical expression while providing a solid foundation for her students to become independent musicians for life.

In addition to her teaching studio, Alexis is a member of the Shippensburg University Community Orchestra and freelances throughout the area. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree in flute performance with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma-Norman where she studied with Dr. Valerie Watts.

Mary Firestone
Strings Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Mary has twenty-three years of classical training in strings, with viola as her primary instrument. She studied music education and music performance at the University of Dayton, Ohio under Dr. Phillip Magnuson and Dr. Lyn Ritz.  While there, she rehearsed and performed in the University Orchestra, several chamber ensembles, and in regular solo recitals.  Mary is trained in music theory, aural skills, and pedagogy of the string instruments (upper and lower).  

Mary has performed with the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, and has served on their Board of Directors as the chairperson of their annual silent auction.  She teaches private string lessons in her home studio in Lemoyne. Mary and her students perform several times each year in student showcases organized around the Harrisburg area.

Carol Henry
Instructor Music Together Program  |  Lemoyne Location

Carol is the director of Touch Your Heart Music, an accomplished trombone player, and a registered Music Together teacher with a BS in Music Education. She taught Music Together for 3 years, took some time off to start a family, and is now ready to get back to sharing musical moments with children and their families.

Scott Hoon
Guitar Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Scott graduated in 2009 from Lebanon Valley College with a Bachelor of Music degree specializing in music recording technology. Scott studied jazz and classical guitar in college but focuses primarily on blues, fusion, and hard rock styles. Along with teaching at JW Music, Scott is a SESAC affliated songwriter and runs a small recording business based out of Harrisburg, PA.

Jan Helen McGee
Piano & Voice Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Jan teaches voice, piano and voice/piano. She has an M.A. in Humanities and a B.A. in Vocal Music. Her specialty is teaching voice and piano at the same time to anyone age 4 and up. Jan is performance oriented with two recitals yearly and she believes music should be fun. She previously taught music at Harrisburg Academy and speech communications at HACC Lebanon.

Lori Nowaczyk
Guitar Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Lori studied guitar with Berkelee College of Music alumnus Erich Shoemaker of Camp Hill, PA from 2003 through 2009. She was a guitar major studying Music Education at Messiah College with Randall Zwally, Senior Lecturer in Music/Guitar, from 2005 through 2006. Lori is currently teaching guitar out of her home studio and regularly performs as litergical guitarist at Ascension Lutheran Church in Harrisburg. She also served as choir director there for several years.

N. Abigail Smyser
Guitar Instructor  |  Carlisle Location

Abigail loves to teach.  Whether it’s the physics of sound, music theory, the history of a particular centuries old folk piece, or the history of an instrument, she is full of facts, philosophy, enthusiasm and humor for the subject and her students.

Growing up in a family with a piano player, a ukulele/flute/fife player, a baritone horn player, a drummer, and a trombone player, Abigail was surrounded by music. She started with piano at the ripe old age of three, and graduated to guitar in her teens. She now teaches beginner to intermediate level guitar, mountain dulcimer and autoharp; beginner bass, banjo and mandolin. She is influenced by Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Jazz, Dixieland, Barbershop, Gospel, European, African and American Folk music, and early Rock & Roll.    

Abigail’s main teaching goal is to have her students understand and absolutely love their instrument and the art of making music for the rest of their lives, whether they become professional musicians or reserve their talents for playing lullabies for their family’s next generation.