M eet  Our  Team!

click    here  to   meet  our
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 student   Teachers!

Kat & Elijah  

Meet Kat and Elijah! Kat and Elijah own and manage Stickandstrum Academy! Kat also teaches guitar, piano, ukulele, banjo, & much more! She has been teaching private lessons since 2015 when she first joined Stickandstrum. She has experience working in schools with various Pre Schools, Elementary and Middle Schools. She also and loves working with students of all ages and getting to do what she loves most! Elijah had 5 years of retail and a few years of management experience before making the move to Stickandstrum. Kat and Elijah also own and manage Serendipity Studios, their second location in McCalla.

​Aside from teaching and doing day-to-day business, Kat (vocals and guitar) and Elijah (drums) also play live music in the Birmingham/ Tuscaloosa area on the weekends.

In their spare time, Kat and Elijah enjoy hanging out with their son, two dogs, traveling, hiking and eating lots of tacos!  

SaM

Sam teaches drums, guitar, and piano at  Stickandstrum Academy! He developed his love for music at a very young age and went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Music Technology from UAB. While in college, he co-founded Iron Giant Percussion, a quartet that performs and writes chamber music, works hard to collaborate with other musicians, and puts on educational programs. Iron Giant has performed with many experimental rock musicians as well as several world renowned percussion groups!

Sam has also performed percussion in many musical theater productions with companies such as Red Mountain, Birmingham Children’s Theater, Birmingham Southern, and UAB. He has been teaching in the greater Birmingham area since 2009. 

A few fun facts about Sam: When he isn’t playing music, Sam enjoys being outside with his dogs Artie and Butters, and has been deeply involved with Camp McDowell for most of his life.

Eli

Eli teaches piano, acoustic guitar, ukulele, and vocals here at Stickandstrum Academy! He graduated from  Ole Miss with a Bachelor's in Music with a minor in Education! Eli also did music theatre, and he has been a piano accompanist at churches!

In his spare time, Eli loves spending time with his cat and playing  Dungeons and Dragons. Eli can also speak Russian!

Ryan

Ryan teaches acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar and drums here at Stickandstrum! Ryan plays gigs and shows all over the  greater southeast. He has played in multiple nationally acclaimed jazz bands and classical ensembles.  He also studied music  and played in the band at the University of North Alabama. If you know any Mongolian throat singers - Ryan would love to get in touch.  

A few fun facts about Ryan: he is  a certified scuba diver and a professional whistler.     

Mason

Mason teaches guitar, piano, drums, ukulele and saxophone with us at Stickandstrum! Mason is currently in grad school at UAB, continuing to study music Education! Mason is originally from Huntsville, AL, but moved here to learn more about what he loves most, music of course! His favorite hobby is making electronic music and composing pieces of his own. A fun fact about mason is that his favorite food is pasta! One more super thing about Mason is that he has perfect pitch. Come sign up for lessons with Mason!!!