Davin’s attitude toward private voice instruction is that the teaching of singing should be a fun process that takes place in a safe space. His teaching emphasizes vocal health and discovering a student’s voice in its purest form. This is achieved by dedication to proper vocal technique. Whether gearing up for an audition or just beginning with little intention of performing, Youngs is at ease tailoring lesson to his students needs, strengths and abilities. His intention is that his students will become better singers and also grow as people."
Musical Chairs was founded in response to Lisa Borelli's perception of a growing need for quality music instruction that children actually enjoy, not dread! After hearing numerous stories involving teachers who made music lessons rigid and inflexible, Lisa envisioned a group of handpicked, engaging instructors who would team up to share resources, best practices and offer a superior musical experience for their students.
Lisa Borelli has been playing the piano since she was five years old. Her studios were under the direction of Lucretia Peterson of Salt Lake City, Utah where she played competitively on a state level throughout Junior and High School. She received numerous honors in piano performance and played publicly throughout the inter-mountain area. She also participated in the music and vocal program at Lewis and Clark College of Portland, Oregon.
A mother of three musical children, she currently has twenty-two thriving students and is thrilled to augment her program with the diverse and quality instruction of the other Musical Chairs instruction team. Lisa believes music was the single biggest childhood experience that has shaped her life and feels blessed for the opportunity to pass this on to other children. In addition to teaching, Lisa is the accompanist for the Queen of Angels Cherub Choir and an active Real Estate Agent with Rubloff Residential Properties and was awarded as "Top Producer" for 2008 by the Chicago Association of Realtors.
Kent Jager has 25 years of experience in music instruction. In addition to his collaboration with Musical Chairs, Kent is the Director of Music at Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Parish in Chicago where he oversees a graded choir program, serves as organist and teaches music in the parish elementary school.
At Queen of Angels Mr. Jager has establish three new vocal groups, the Cherub Choir for children in grades 1 – 3, the Choristers for children in grades 4 – 8, and a folk group for adults and high school students and continues to build the Queen of Angels Singers, the parish choir which focuses on more traditional choral music. As the school music teacher he has introduced a Kodaly program for grades K – 5 and established a hand bell program in the middle school.
Prior to coming to Queen of Angels, Mr. Jager worked in numerous parishes in the Chicago area and Iowa including Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago and First Presbyterian Church in Evanston. Mr. Jager received his Master's in Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where he was a student of Grigg Fountain. He attended Central College in Pella, Iowa for his Bachelor's of Arts in organ performance where he studied with Davis Folkerts.
Caitlyn Bodine joins the Musical Chairs team with extensive experience working with children in both music and non-music capacities. She began learning piano at the age of 5, voice instruction at 14 and received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Spanish from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX with concentrations in both voice and piano. Drawing on her fluency in Spanish and excitement for foreign languages she then went on to work with children ages 1-10 as the Program Director for the Language Stars Lincoln Park Center.
Her heart brought her back to music, however, and in additional to her current piano students, Caitlyn assists the Frances Xavier Warde Elementary school in their choral program. She is a passionate and dynamic teacher who loves to have fun with her students, all the while striving to instill a genuine appreciation for music and musicality while equipping students with the proper techniques to play the piano.
Jonas Friddle is a North Carolina native with a history in the Appalachian music
tradition. He plays the guitar, mandolin and banjo. After graduating from Berea
College he spent a year abroad as a Watson Fellow studying community building
through traditional music in Ireland, Scotland, Australia and Canada. He
currently lives in Uptown Chicago and also works part-time with The Old Town School
of Folk Music.
Paul Rodriguez has been studying and performing music since he was 9 years old. He started his musical career as First Trumpet/Coronet in the Wood Dale Jr. High Concert Band. Paul studied Classical Voice and Musical Theater for 7 years with Mary Fletcher-Gomez of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. During his time at Fenton High School, Paul taught himself guitar for three years and then enrolled for class guitar lessons. Paul graduated from Elmhurst College in 2001 with a Bachelor of Music Degree after receiving numerous scholarships and honors with emphasis in Classical Voice, Classical Guitar and Electronic Composition.
In addition to his collaboration with Musical Chairs , Paul has been teaching music lessons in Wheaton, IL, at Suburban Music Center since 2000. He currently teaches over 40 lessons each week at that location to a wide variety of students, several of whom have continued their music studies in college. Paul strives to instill a love of music in his students and to encourage discipline through study of music. His goal is for students to become musicians, not just guitarists or song-players". As a performer, Paul plays guitar, melodica, and sings in suburb-rockin’ band, “The Funky Miracle”. He is also a member of “The Arbenz”, formerly “Solares”, and played with “Four Card Stud” from 2005-2006. He performed on WBBM-TV, Chicago’s Channel 2 in 2006. He has had the privilege of performing with Jukebox Johnny Szymanski of Chicago’s “My My My”, Spanish-language rocker Luis Solares, beatboxer extraordinaire Smooth Lou, and Latin-funk drummer Rob Wimmers.
John Szymanski has been playing guitar since the age of five, and has since become proficient in many other instruments. He began studying percussion in the beginning band at Leigh Elementary School in Norridge, IL and picked up piano and bass skills along the way. John has a Bachelor of Music degree from Elmhurst College where he studied with many luminaries including Doug Beach, Judy Grimes and Bob Rummage. As a general music teacher at Queen of Angels School in Chicago, he combines all of his musical experiences to teach children in a relaxed yet informative manner. He feels that learning music is often more fun when a student has hands-on experience reading music, figuring out rhythms, and playing instruments - making it a more personal and gratifying education.
Outside of teaching, John is a very active performer playing guitar, bass, drums and keyboards in four different Chicago-area bands. He is also currently working on several projects as a composer, studio musician, audio engineer, photographer and video editor. He believes that music is the best form of personal expression and enjoys sharing this with others as often as he can.
Edgar Campos, Trumpet Edgar, originally from Costa Rica, is a member of four Chicago Civic Orchestras. He also performs with the Chicago Symphony, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Edgar has performed with a variety of orchestras in the area as well as the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and the World Youth Symphony.
Edgar received a Master of Music Degree from Roosevelt University and his Bachelors Degree from Conservatoire de Musique de Quebec. His trumpet teachers include Adolph Herseth of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Marc Ridenour of the CSO, Channing Philbrick of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Robert Platt from the Berlin Philharmonic. The Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation awarded him with a second prize in National Competition and third prize in the National Music Festival.
Davin Youngs, Voice A 2003 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and student of Richard Miller, baritone Davin Youngs has carved a successful niche for himself as a professional vocalist and teacher in Chicago and abroad. Classically trained, Youngs is equally at home in many musical styles from Sacred to Musical Theatre to Jazz. For the past five years he served as the solo vocalist for the consort in residence at Grace Chicago Church. He has also performed as a soloist and member of the William Ferris Chorale for four years as well as in various churches throughout the city of Chicago and the Midwest. His broad repertoire and large musical vocabulary make Youngs a unique and vital contributor to the Chicago music scene.