MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS
Angela Moniz
Voice, Guitar,Piano & Songwriting
Angela Moniz is the Director at House of Jam, and has been teaching music on Cape Cod for over ten years. She first learned from her father, local music legend Reggie O'Keefe. She then studied at the Cape Cod Conservatory and the Musicians Development Institute. She continued her studies of music theory at Eastern Nazarene College and is currently enrolled at Liberty University pursuing a degree in Education. She was previously a vocal instructor at Mode-4 Music Lessons in Hyannis. Angela has been performing locally and regionally since 1999. She has experience singing and playing in multiple genres including the Broadway musical 'Tommy', and has opened for nation-wide acts such as R&B group 112 and hip-hop legends KRS One and the Pharcyde. She has gained the attention of the world music label Putumayo and has performed with many local bands including Mighty Ceej, Roots Down Below, Shango Axe and 57 Heavy. Angela is a classically trained vocalist who can also teach students how to perform today’s music. Her teaching style includes a well-balanced mix of classical and pop vocal techniques, anatomy of voice, music theory and music analysis. Her students have opened for national acts such as Brandon Heath, and have gone on to become instructors themselves. In addition to teaching and continuing education studies at Liberty University, Angela is a worship leader at Living Hope Family church. She is happily married to her husband Chris and has three children.
Adam Gomes
Guitar, Bass,Ukulele & Music Production
Adam is a guitarist and bassist, as well as a songwriter and educator. He is currently completing his studies at University of Massachusetts, with a double Bachelors in Music Education and Jazz Guitar. He has taught private lessons out of Umass, and is currently the bassist and back up vocalist of the band Immuter. He has experience performing in Boston and other popular areas around Massachusetts, and also collaborates with different artists, working on singles, mixing, recording, vocals, etc. Though Adam loves to play music, his passion lies in the teaching of it. His primary focus is jazz improvisation, which won him the ‘Outstanding Soloist’ award in 2013 at 17 years old. He also has a great amount of experience in playing classical, as a fourth generation Andre Segovia student. His goals for students involve building a strong bond and appreciation for the art of music, while giving them free artist’s reign over their music of choice to compose, play, and share with the world.
Bret Saylor
Piano & Composition
Bret is an accomplished composer, arranger, teacher, and pianist. He attended the Julius Hartt School of Music from age 10, starting with classical piano lessons and music theory classes. He went on to earn a B.A. in Music Composition and Theory and a P.B. Music Teacher's Certification from Westfield State College (now WSU). Bret has been performing solo piano and as keyboardist in rock bands here on Cape Cod since 1990 and is well versed in all musical styles. He has been passionately guiding piano students of all ages and varying interests in developing their skills, always bringing excitement, fun and discovery. Among Bret's many credits is his arrangement of "A Medley Of Gershwin Tunes", scored for full orchestra with jazz quartet, featured at Pops In The Park 1996, Orleans, MA. He composed the music for and co-directed with Joan Spilman the musical drama "Why?" at Brewster Baptist Church, Brewster, MA 2005. He has given concerts of original works for piano, string quartet, sarode, and backing tracks and has done extensive composing and production work with Dani Dalinian, Nandlal Nayak, and Eric Raynaud (Fraction) and has developed a larch archive of totalistic, world, and computer based music, utilizing his own tonal systems and other unique devises.
Samantha Higgins
Voice, Piano & Percussion
Sam Higgins has been a dedicated musician and talented performer since she was very young. For 16 of her 23 years, she’s studied drums, percussion, voice, and piano under private and big-band instructors, including multiple Berklee trained professional musicians. Her most trained genres include classical, theatrical, and jazz, and she’s studied rock, popular styles, and indie extensively. Her performance experience ranges from playing leading roles in musicals to performing with orchestral bands to singing and drumming in casual gigs. She has experience teaching fellow musicians of all ages from 7-70 in each genre, working hard to encourage a love of music and passion for learning and enrichment in each student.
Ron Williams
Ukulele, Voice, Guitar & Piano
A lifelong performer and teacher, Ron teaches Voice, Guitar, and piano. Ron Williams is a graduate of Duke University where he studied Vocal Performance. He also studied voice at Wesleyan University and at the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA. Ron has performed as a featured soloist for the Middletown CT Chorale and the Barnstable Comedy Club. Other performances on the Cape include the V.I. P Reception for Boston Pops By The Sea concert in Hyannis, Featured artist for Cape Artist Performing For Education; Feature Artist for the Cape Cod chapter of American Association of University Women, and a recital for Voice and Piano with Deborah Geithner at the OLD WHALING Church of Martha’s Vineyard. Ron is a long-time resident of Cape Cod and currently lives in Brewster, MA. He has taught music at Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable, MA as part of Project Forward, taught individual and group voice lessons at Cotuit Center for the Arts, and has private students in voice and guitar throughout the Cape Cod area. Ron is also an established music performer. His approach to guitar playing is called Finger-Style Jazz Guitar. In this style of guitar, many elements of Classical Guitar are applied to jazz, Latin and other popular compositions. He performs a variety of Easy-Listening Favorites, which includes familiar instrumentals by Dave Brubeck, Oscar Hammerstein, Giuseppe Verdi, J.S. Bach, Scott Joplin and others. He also sings the "Great American Songs" of the 1930's to the present by composers such as Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael.
Amalia Ververis
Singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist, Amalia Ververis, decade washashore from Connecticut began her music journey at a very early age. She was seven years old when she made her first debut performance. From the beginning, music captivated Amalia in a way nothing else did. Growing up in a home where her mom played piano, and her father guitar, she started writing and creating more each and every day. She took piano and guitar lessons in her formative years, from around seven years old to sixteen. She is the co-creator of Cape Cod born band, Melic Moon. Since the release of their debut album Natural Thing, Amalia has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year for the New England Music Awards multiple years in a row, and her band nominated for Best New Artist. She writes her original music on her guitar, ukulele, or piano. And she is currently in the works of her own debut solo album. She taught vocals, guitar, and piano at Downright Music for two years in Connecticut while attending school at Connecticut School of Broadcasting. There she studied audio production at Connecticut School of Broadcasting, where she had teachers from the Recording Academy, and mentors from many well renowned media companies. In 2008 she auditioned for an elite group at Hartt School of music, and with the acceptance was given the opportunity to tour France performing at numerous historical landmarks including the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, and Normandy Beach. In 2013 Amalia auditioned for TV show The X-Factor (with her then bandmate) and made the top 50 in the country. She worked at iHeartRadio and CBS Radio for three years before making the move to Cape Cod. In 2022 one of her Cape Cod dreams came true, and she was the featured artist for the Cape Cod Womens Music Festival. Music is her voice, is her vulnerability and her soul. Every instrument and every moment in the performance is precious. We know music brings us all together, but the closeness she feels through the music with others is irreplaceable.