flute

John O'Leary

John O’Leary

is a professional saxophonist and music educator with over 15 years of performing and teaching experience on piano, saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He received his Bachelors of Music from Florida State University and obtained his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music both for jazz saxophone performance.

During his time at MSM, he studied directly under many jazz legends and was fortunate to perform in some of the biggest jazz clubs in New York City. Over the years, between playing on cruise ships for a year, and moving between NYC, Miami, and Atlanta, John has had a lot of amazing musical adventures: from teaching summers in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, to playing lead alto for an international Broadway Tour, to holding a weekly Bossa Nova Brunch in South Beach Miami, and touring Canada with a NYC-based funk band. He’s got plenty of stories to tell, and more importantly, many life lessons to share!

As an educator, John is influenced by his work as a contemporary musician with conservatory training. Because of his education and varied performing experience, John puts the focus on practical, real-world techniques that are rooted in traditional methods. This way, you’re not only learning all the “classical” skills like reading music, analyzing theory, and technical mastery; you’ll also develop your ear so you can play without sheet music, you’ll learn about songwriting and improvisation so you can write your own music or jam with others, you’ll study current music styles/trends, so you can understand not only the foundations of music and how to play your instrument, but how to play music like today’s top performers, and how to have all the tools necessary to do anything you want musically!

INSTRUMENTS.

Band Coaching, Clarinet, Composition, Flute, Music Theory, Piano, Saxophone, Songwriting, Woodwinds, Audition/Performance Prep.

STYLES.

Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues, Funk, R&B, Soul, Brazillian, Classical

REQUIREMENTS.

Students all ages & abilities welcome!

CONNECT.

TESTIMONIALS.

"His teaching style balances fun and productivity perfectly"

- Jessey

“‘John Woodwinds’ was a great mentor. He taught me a lot about saxophone, jazz performance, and theory."

- Louis

"He was fun, helpful, and renewed my interest in music"

- James

"John is an amazing teacher who has helped me hone in on my skills on tenor sax and build confidence in playing jazz music and improvising."

- Jess

"I loved working with John because he made me feel confident and excited about music and my passion for jazz"

- Rebecca

LISTEN.

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Jennifer Hanna

Jennifer Hanna

Jennifer Hanna has been teaching voice and piano lessons for over 15 years.  She is an early childhood music specialist and has been a teacher at Eclectic Music since 2007. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Millikin University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Georgia State University. She continues to be an avid student and takes continued training in guitar, voice and advanced music education. Jennifer teaches music at St. James Preschool in Buckhead.  She also directs the Cherub Choir at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Buckhead, where she is also currently a staff singer.

Jennifer began studying piano at the age of 9, flute at age 11 and voice at the age of 13. As a child and teenager she enjoyed performing in recitals, musicals and choirs.  She sang in the Ohio All State Choir and played flute in the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. While an undergraduate at Millikin University, Jennifer performed in operas, including Pirates of Penzance, Down in the Valley, Die Fledermaus, and The Marriage of Figaro. In 2005, she moved to Atlanta to complete her Master of Music Degree at Georgia State University.  She played the roles of Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’ Hoffmann and Harry in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring at GSU.  She later professionally played the role of Mozart in the opera Wolfy at Theatre Decatur. Jennifer participated in the Harrower Opera Workshop at GSU and La Musica Lirica Opera Festival in Urbania, Italy, performing roles in opera scenes including Hansel and Gretel, Cosi fan Tutti, Louise, Alcina, Fastaff and The Mikado to name a few.  

Jennifer takes a holistic approach to teaching music. She believes the process of learning to sing or play an instrument helps students to develop important life skills such as improved work ethic, self-confidence, optimism, faith, interpersonal and communication skills, and leadership potential.  She keeps this in mind when working with each student.  Jennifer teaches piano and voice to both children and adults.   She teaches a variety of musical styles, including classical, pop, musical theater, rock, ragtime and jazz. 

 As a voice teacher, Jennifer focuses on building a strong technical foundation. Her goal is to help students to develop a strong, effortless, pleasing tone while communicating a meaningful thought, idea, or emotion. With her piano students, Jennifer strives to keep the learning process fun and rewarding. She continually uses new approaches depending on the unique interests and inherent gifts of the students. She often incorporates singing, rhythm sticks, bells, egg shakers, drums, ukulele and guitar in her lessons. Her goal is to help each student not only learn to read music, but also to play by ear and improvise. Jennifer encourages her piano students to sing, and her singers to play. Jennifer believes that just as playing an instrument makes us better singers, so does singing make us better instrumentalists!

INSTRUMENTS.

Piano, Voice, Flute, Playground.

STYLES.

Classical, Pop, Musical Theatre, Rock, Ragtime, Jazz.

REQUIREMENTS.

Students all ages & abilities welcome!

CONNECT.

TESTIMONIALS.

“She was such a warm, fun, flexible teacher. I think it was a perfect balance for age 5 of skills and fun. He left class with stronger music appreciation. I would definitely recommend Playground and Jennifer to anyone with kids PreK-1st grade.

- Halley, parent

TIME TO LEARN MORE!