Our Teachers

Grisell Báez

Grisell Báez, Singer and Music Teacher, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance at Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and a certification in the Despertal Musical concept, a special program of the Conservatory. Grisell has been teaching vocal technique and elementary music education since 2004. Her love of singing and teaching brought her to California in 2010 to complete her Master’s Degree in Music Education with emphasis in Kodály Method at Holy Names University, Oakland.

Recently she has completed Level I of Orff Schulwerk, Certification Program from San Francisco School. Grisell enjoys developing both curricula utilizing traditional English and Spanish folk songs with singing games, rhymes, dances, percussions instruments, and music concepts. She is member of NCAKE (Northern California Association of Kodály Educators), OAKE (Organization of American Kodály Educators), and MENC (The National Association for Music Education).

Bryant Bolling

Bryant Bolling has been singing, teaching, directing, lecturing and sharing his love for music with audiences throughout the United States and internationally for over 30 years. He is a native Washingtonian who lived in Baltimore, MD for over 20 years. There he received his B.S. degree in Music Education and M.A. degree in Musicology from Morgan State University. While living in Jamaica, WI, completing his thesis research on Rastafarian Music, Mr. Bolling was commissioned by the Jamaican Schools of Music, Art, Dance and Drama to write and direct a cultural musical combining students from all four schools. In addition, Mr. Bolling has worked with many community youth theatrical organizations as artistic director and writer.

While working as an adjunct Music Professor at Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore, Mr. Bolling received a Fullbright-Hayes Scholarship. This scholarship enabled him to study and travel throughout Kenya and Tanzania. In 1993, Mr. Bolling moved to New York City to continue his career in the arts. He worked as a community health coordinator and jazz vocalist, artistic director, and performer in and around NYC.

In 2002, Mr. Bolling and his family moved to California. He worked as a social worker with foster care and mental health agencies in and around the East Bay. He continues to perform with his jazz combo, “The Bryant Bolling Quartet."

Holly Burnett

Holly Burnett is a native of St. Louis, MO and has lived in the Bay Area for three years. She graduated from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee in 2005 with a Bachelors degree in Music Education. Holly teaches at El Dorado Elementary in San Francisco for Music in Schools Today, she is also a Miracle Chorus conductor for the Oakland Youth Chorus as a part of their OYC for Music Education program for K-5th grade students. Holly is an active member of the East Bay alumnae chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional music fraternity that promotes and supports music education and organizations in the community. In her free time, she enjoys playing the flute, guitar, and piano.

Michelle Chang

Chiung-Wen (Michelle) Chang has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from University of Florida, a master’s degree in music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree in music education from National Taipei University of Education in Taipei, Taiwan. She is a classically trained pianist, a French horn player, and a vocalist. Her specialty includes piano performance, critical pedagogy, and cross-cultural studies. Michelle taught the elementary school music classes and directed instrumental band and choir for children in both Taiwan and the United States for several years. She also taught the undergraduate World Music class at the University of Florida. Throughout her career, Michelle has dedicated her innovation, creativity and enthusiasm to music teaching and pedagogical research. She has incorporated a combination of the Kodály and Orff approaches into her music classroom teaching.

Galen Grant

Bay Area drummer Galen Grant became passionately involved in music at age 10, and has since committed himself fully to the art! Galen was born an East Coaster, in Pittsburgh P.A. After competing and performing both locally and in Europe during High School, Galen decided to answer the calling of the West Coast that rang true since his time in Seattle as a kid. While in pursuit of a New College of San Francisco degree in Art and Social Change, Galen had the opportunity to take full advantage of Berkeley California's 'Jazzschool'. During this time Galen cultivated his eclectic rhythmic sensibilities at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music studying under tabla guru Swapan Chaudury. Galen's direction has always been molded by many musicians.  He is constantly in search of the 'New Music', drawing from the rhythmic concepts of Jazz, Jungle, Latin, Indo-Jazz fusion grooves, and the entire Funk diaspora. Grant has worked professionally with many Bay Area musicians. Galen is a music educator in the East Bay/San Francisco area, teaching both privately, and in the Piedmont School District. He is also currently coaching a Rock/Pop ensemble class called GrooveLab for MUST. Galen is continually in search of diverse musical partnerships to expand and fulfill his generations craving for a rich cultural identity!

Michelle Jordan

Michelle Jordan began teaching for MUST in 2012, joyfully bringing a positive musical experience to all participants. She is currently contracted with Prescott-Joseph Center in Oakland, directing the Voices of KING, as well as providing private lessons at Oakland Public Conservatory. In her vocal programs, Michelle emphasizes positive, uplifiting music.

In 1994 she became the choir director at East Bay Church of Religious Science. Under her leadership, the East Bay Choir has ministered at Asilomar Conference, and in Atlanta, Agape, and Africa. In 2011, she formed the Global Heart Choir of San Jose CSL after a year of a being their guest artist. As a solo artist, she is affectionately known as Queen Michelle. With her rich musical theater background, she has been on many stages in the Bay Area and beyond. Michelle's motto is, "I sing not because I'm happy, I'm happy because I sing."

Yari Mander

Yari Mander is a gifted music educator with a patient, supportive, professional teaching style honed over more than 15 years working with children and adults. He is also a professional drummer who has performed onstage with Joan Baez, Gamelan X, Reverend Michael Beckwith, Agape Choir and many other artists. His instruction is informed by Orff Schulwerk, an approach to music education emphasizing community music making, in which he is certified. He has trained with master teachers in Ghana, West Africa and amazing musicians in Brazil, Cuba and Bali. Yari’s musical travels led him to discover that rhythm is universal way to connect people, transcending culture and language.

He has taught professional workshops and facilitated rhythm events at San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Oakland Unified School District, Association of Independent Schools, Oakland Mile Project and many more. Yari’s mission is to facilitate joyful, active and transformational musical experiences for diverse individuals and communities. He enjoys guiding groups to greater levels of connection, confidence, unity and teamwork through making music together.

Ami Molinelli

Ami Molinelli is a professional percussionist and educator who received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in World Music with an emphasis in percussion. She has been a teaching artist for over 12 years and has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic both as a teaching-artist of percussion and in curriculum development. Ami has collaborated with the Pasadena POPS Orchestra in a series of school workshops on choro and jazz and was also an artist–in-residence with the Los Angeles Music Center for over seven years with her percussion curriculum, “Recycled Rhythm” which utilizes non-traditional, household items as percussion instruments. In the Bay Area, Ami has been currently working with the San Francisco Based “El Sistema” music program modeled after the successful and award winning program in Venezuela.

Her extensive performance and recording credits include theater, television (NBC) and live performances. She has served on the faculty for percussion at JAZZCAMPWEST, California Brazil Camp for pandeiro, and at the University of California at Santa Cruz Mandolin Symposium as an accompanist.

She has co-lead her Brazilian choro ensemble, Grupo Falso Baiano, for the past nine years, released two albums with them that have been features on Pandora and NPR. Grupo Falso Baiano is an assembly artist through Young Audiences.

Kat Parra

Since leaving her corporate job at Cisco Systems, Inc four years ago, Kat Parra, a San Francisco Bay Area-based Latin/World Jazz vocalist, has released three CDs to critical acclaim. Along with being voted Best Latin Jazz Vocalist of 2010 and 2008 by the Latin Jazz Corner, and her CD “Azucar de Amor” having been nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album of 2008 by the Jazz Journalist Association, Parra has also received many excellent reviews around the world, including a feature article in Latina Style Magazine and a glowing review in Billboard Magazine. Parra has toured both nationally and internationally. She has performed at top-tier venues of the Bay Area as well as in Amsterdam, Brazil, Mexico, Southern California, Illinois and Washington State.

Kat Parra has leapt beyond the boundaries of the typical Latin Jazz singer. With her thirst for the exploration of world rhythms and tonalities, she has developed a style of music that encompasses sounds that both transcend and bend the stereotypical definition of Latin Jazz. Utilizing the rich and varied tonalities of Latin America, the Middle East and Spain, Kat has created an engaging and unique repertoire with fresh and exciting new arrangements. Parra sings fluently in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Ladino (Judeo-Espanyol). With this multi-lingual and multi-musical experience, Kat Parra is able to transport her audiences to an exciting and vibrant journey of World and Latin music.

Ron San Miguel

Ron San Miguel, Singer/Songwriter and Performing Artist, has been performing music throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond for more than 20 years. Fully bilingual in Spanish and English, his performance venues have included Día De Los Muertos, Oakland; Cinco de Mayo Festivities in Oakland and San Francisco; U.C. Berkeley; Stanford University; several Bay Area Radio and Television stations, and Oakland Raiders performances. He plays a number of different styles of music, so when pressured to identify his genre of music, he says “World Folk” – which helps him promote his love for cultural diversity.

Ron has worked with at-risk youth, in and out of Juvenile Hall, as well as with youth choirs and with senior citizens in assisted living programs throughout the East Bay. Over the years he has worked with children, youth, and adults in a variety of settings, including public and private schools, churches, non-profit community organizations, and Oakland Parks & Recreation Department.

In addition to music, Ron is a T'ai Chi Ch'uan Instructor, with thirty-two years of practice and decades of teaching under his belt. He currently teaches at East Bay Aikido, Jack London Square, Oakland Hills Tennis Club, and Kaiser Hospital in Oakland.

Sandy Seufert

Sandy Seufert most recently worked at the Music Center: Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County as the Manager of Curriculum and Teaching Artist Development and now is leading a new statewide network for teaching artists called the Teaching Artist Support Collaborative of California. Sandy is also working as a consultant in program design, curriculum writing, and professional development in arts education. Prior work experiences include LA Opera, the Da Camera Society “Chamber Music in Historic Sites”, and 11 years of working in special education for Los Angeles Unified School District. She is an active professional musician and plays jazz and classical music on the cello and Scandinavian folk music on the fiddle.

Tracy Welsh

Tracy Welsh is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter who has traveled the world as a musician, educator and environmentalist. He has multiple degrees from New York University and has received training from numerous art centers, Master Teachers and Music Therapy programs. He has been teaching for over twenty-five years and has served in the full range of arts and education organizations, community centers and schools. For the past ten years Tracy has been a featured teaching artist with Music In Schools Today, where he has been the principal teaching artist on the Understanding Cultures project. Understanding Cultures is an artist in residency program that integrates SFUSD curriculum standards in social studies and the arts, with an experiential world musical opportunity.

Tracy is truly what one would call a musical cross-training teacher. By incorporating the complementary styles and techniques of theater, dance, circus arts and storytelling, Tracy has mastered an approach to teaching that is both dynamic and magnetic.

Sarah Willner

Sarah Willner has extensive experience working with children and adults in musical education. She holds both Multiple Subject and Music Credentials, and is a certified Orff Schulwerk teacher, an approach which integrates music, language, movement, and drama. She has helped develop a variety of music integration programs, working with Music in Schools Today, Oakland Unified, Alameda County, the Oakland Youth Chorus, and Harvard's Project Zero. Sarah helped found the Arts Integration program at ASCEND School in Oakland, and has recently finished creation of an ELD/Music Integration curriculum with Yari Mander. Sarah has played viola and violin professionally for over twenty years, and is a long-time member of the internationally acclaimed Balinese music and dance troupe, Gamelan Sekar Jaya. She is also a performer and producer with San Francisco's nationally known ShadowLight Productions theater ensemble. In 2006, she became one of the first teaching artists to receive the west coast Fund for Artists grant for continuing study and exploration in music. Her chapter 'Musical People/Musical Schools' is included in the arts learning book, 'Artful Teaching', which will be published by Teachers College Press this coming year.

Michael Wynar

Michael Wynar has been playing the guitar for twenty two years and has been teaching for ten years in a variety of settings from music studios, day treatment centers, affordable housing communities, and public schools. Michael attended Northern Illinois University, where he worked on a master’s degree in jazz studies under the tutelage of Fareed Haque. During this time Michael had the great opportunity to play and learn from some of Chicago’s finest musicians. After leaving the windy city to come back to his native California, Michael immersed himself in the bay area music scene performing with live hip-hop groups, neo-soul singers, and funk and jazz artists. Michael is currently instructing a guitar ensemble at Hillside Elementary in San Leandro for Music in Schools Today as well as teaching general music to 4th and 5th graders at Hillside Elementary School. He currently performs with the +One Trio which will be getting ready to release an upcoming recording.

Valerine Yuzon

Valerine Laxamana Yuzon was born in Pittsburg, CA. Growing up in a big family, music and dance have always been a part of her life. She grew up watching and learning dance from exposure to music and dance by her family. She graduated from CSU East Bay with a BA in Liberal Studies and Minor in Dance in 2010. She has performed in several performances at CSU East Bay, Berkeley Theater, and Richmond Theater. In 2004, she traveled to Utah for the American College Dance Festival Association Northwest and performed “Wired.” Valerine also works as a Para Educator for John Swett Unified School District to help children with learning disabilities. She works as an Afterschool Program Teacher at Rodeo Hills Elementary teaching Dance and Cooking. She is currently teaching Hip Hop/Dance at Hillside Elementary. Valerine is married with three children that fully love and support her.