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Now accepting applications for the Karper Creatives Scholarships
The Cat and The Fiddle offers private classes on a variety of instruments both in person and online. On this page you can meet our teachers and choose the class you want to sign up for.
Dakota Karper - Old Time Fiddle, Clawhammer Banjo
Dakota Karper - Old Time Fiddle, Clawhammer Banjo
Dakota Karper was born and raised in rural West Virginia where she grew up surrounded by Appalachian Old-time music. From a young age she took to this music with great abandon. Absorbing as much as possible, she apprenticed under master fiddler Joe Herrmann, spent weeks at Augusta Heritage Center, participated in various music festivals in and around West Virginia and studied classical violin at the Shenandoah Arts Academy in Winchester, VA. After spending 7 years in Baltimore, MD, Dakota moved back to establish her home base in Capon Bridge, WV where she now teaches Appalachian fiddle and performs regularly in the surrounding region.
Influenced heavily by a culture that values its roots and heritage, Dakota has created a voice of her own that combines clear haunting melodies, driving bow strokes, and settled rhythmic grooves. Dakota was a founding member of the 'Short Mountain String Band', and "Hay Fever", 'Hemlock and Hickory' and with Gabriel Furtado and Ellen Gira in the band 'Vandalia'. In 2019 Dakota opened her own traditional roots music school called 'The Cat and The Fiddle'.
Contact: dakotakarper@gmail.com or call 443-860-2461
Cost: $35 per half hour class
Age Levels: Children and adults (Age 7 minimum)
Available for Classes in Person or Online through Google Meet or Zoom
Victoria "Tori" Stanish - Woodwinds, Brasswinds, Piano, Voice, Beginner Strings
Victoria "Tori" Stanish - Woodwinds, Brasswinds, Piano, Voice, Beginner Strings
Tori is the band director at Romney Middle School and a graduate of West Virginia University, where she earned her degree in Music Education. Originally from Pennsylvania, she studied saxophone as her main instrument but also enjoys playing and teaching clarinet, flute, trumpet, trombone, and many other brass and woodwind instruments.
Tori has taught private lessons for several years in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia, helping students of all ages grow as musicians. She also has professional performance experience, playing woodwinds in orchestras for musical theater productions across both states. Her teaching style combines strong musical training with a supportive and encouraging approach, so students feel confident while learning.
She currently offers private lessons on woodwinds, brasswinds, piano, voice, and beginner string instruments.
Contact: Victoria at Victoria.tori.stanish@gmail.com or 814-673-2263.
Cost: $25 per half hour for piano, voice, and strings. $35 per half hour for woodwinds and brasswinds.
Age Levels: Children and adults (Minimum age 5yr)
Johanna Murray - Piano, Voice
Johanna Murray - Piano, Voice
Johanna Murray has been a piano and voice teacher at The Cat and the Fiddle since 2021. She grew up in Omaha, NE and received her BA in studio art from Grinnell College (2012). Johanna has been playing piano and singing for over 26 years. As a child, she studied under instructor Phyllis Dunne and performed for 8 years in the Nebraska Choral Arts Society under the tutelage of world renowned conductors including Dr. Z Randall Stroope. She has continued practicing music and performing throughout her adult life, collaborating with other musicians including her husband Michael Everson.
Johanna is a knowledgeable and passionate educator with a variety of teaching experiences that range from the public school setting, to private lessons, to non-profit educational programming through organizations such as The River House and Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.
Johanna is a great fit for beginner to intermediate students looking to learn the fundamentals of piano technique and understand basic music theory. She assists her students in following their own musical interests whether that be through studies of classical, traditional, or popular tunes.
Contact: jomurray.music@gmail.com
Cost: $25 per half hour class
Age level: Children and adults
Mike Everson - Guitar
Mike Everson - Guitar
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Mike Everson started playing guitar 15 years ago in his hometown of Omaha, NE. Initially self-taught, he played blues and rock music as a hobby in high school. In 2008, he was accepted into the University of Nebraska-Omaha School of Music, where he began playing jazz-guitar as a student of guitarist Jeff Scheffler. During his college years he was routinely playing in bar-band gigs, and began teaching guitar at the School of Rock-Omaha. He also collaborated with a few friends in a band called “The Penrose Stairs”, releasing the album Apophenia (2013). Upon graduation in 2012, Mike continued to teach and became Music Director of SOR-Omaha until his departure in 2014.
After one year of traveling and working as a farmhand, Mike moved to Hampshire County, WV with (his now wife) Johanna Murray. Together they released the album Mother Tree (2017), which featured original songs inspired by their travels. Currently residing in Capon Bridge, WV, Mike continues to perform as a solo artist, in a duo with his wife called “Mike&Jo”, and as a guitarist and vocalist for local rock-band “The Bad McCrees”.
Mike teaches and explores the acoustic roots and evolution of blues, rock, and jazz music with his students. He understands the initial struggles of beginners, and appreciates the company of intermediate or veteran players who want to learn some new tricks.
https://thepenrosestairs.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia
Contact: mpeverson.music@gmail.com
Cost: $25 per half hour
Age level: Children and adults (8+ yrs / 3rd grade min)
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