Meet your Instructors

Ila Cantor - Co-founder

Ila has been teaching music worldwide in institutions (Stanford, Frank Sinatra High School), workshop settings, and privately for over 17 years. Growing up in NY, she had access to study with some of the most legendary musicians (John Scofield, John Abercrombie) and became highly trained in jazz, playing professionally by the time she graduated high school. Ila has published 4 albums and multiple singles of original music and has toured extensively in the US, UK, and Europe with her own bands and as a side(womb)man (Aaron Parks, Marcus Shelby). She’s also composed music for short films and documentaries, multi-media performances, and has been awarded multiple grants (Van Meir Fellowships, Open Arts Foundation) and commissions (Maginus Project) for composing. 

Ila’s teaching style is passionate, distinct, and uniquely developed with care over the years. She believes that all of us have an inherent connection with the language of music, and by understanding concepts intellectually as well as training coordination skills physically, we can unlock the unlimited potential to sing and play any of our hearts’ desires.

Spencer Handley - Co-founder

Spencer Handley is a professional guitarist and nomad. He has been playing guitar for over 20 years and has taught workshops and performed internationally. He teaches guitar technique and world music to an audience of guitar nerds on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube.   18 years into his musical path, after studying music at UCLA, and practicing for many thousands of hours, he got stuck at a 2+ year plateau. After going through about a dozen teachers he finally met Ila and his playing was completely transformed. He is committed to helping other guitar players discover just how wonderful this approach is, so that anyone who wants to play music at a high level can do so. He is passionate about architecting learning paths and building systems that allow people to learn skills in an accelerated way. Previously, Spencer was a Software Engineer at Patreon where he helped artist’s make a living doing what they love.

Horace Bray - Mentor

Horace Bray is an NYC based singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. During his time in Texas he graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Jazz Guitar and Music theory, and was a member of the One Oclock Lab Band (Grammy nominated). Since moving to NYC Horace has become a staple in the music scene, playing regularly with artists like John Splithoff, Michael Blume, and Sirintip. Over the past year, however, he began to flourish as a songwriter and session guitarist. Horace is comfortable playing in many styles of music and has been teaching regularly for the past 7 years.

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Brian Green - Mentor

Brian Green is a guitar player and producer based out of Los Angeles, California. He has toured, performed and/or recorded with artists including John Legend, Michael Bublé, Nayo, and Kat Mcphee. Brian has also worked as a guitar player for television and award shows including Dancing With The Stars, American Idol and the Emmys. Additionally, he records and performs with the band Pomplamoose, releasing weekly videos with guests including Inara George of Bird and the Bee and Kina Grannis. As a producer, Brian has worked with various artists, including Rozzi Crane, VINCINT and Lily Kershaw as well as making commercial music for major brands and production music houses. Brian also releases music under his own name, including his latest instrumental release, Impressions For Headphones.

Curt Henderson - Mentor

Curt Henderson is a Nashville-based guitarist, producer, and educator. After completing a degree in Jazz Guitar in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada, Curt made the move to America to pursue bigger opportunities. He has since become a regular fixture in Nashville’s music scene, and can be heard playing, recording, and touring in a variety of genres with label artists (John King, Roosevelt, AHI) and American Idol finalists (Jonny Brenns), as well as working on his own projects. He is also passionate about his work as a featured guitarist and collaborator with brands like Fender and D’Angelico guitars, Supro amps, and many other gear companies. Curt has been invested in teaching for nearly 10 years, and takes pride in helping enthusiastic students develop their skills on the guitar and their careers in music as a whole.

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Dr. Molly Miller - Mentor

Since Dr. Molly Miller, picked up a guitar at age seven, she’s been captivating audiences with her sophisticated and raw style. Miller is the chair of the Guitar Department at Los Angeles College of Music. She’s one of Los Angeles’s most sought-after musicians, recording and touring with artists such as Jason Mraz, Black Eyed Peas, Donna Missal, and Morgxn at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Hall, Red Rocks Ampitheatre, and Summerfest. She is featured on multiple songs on Jason Mraz’s 2018 album Know. When Miller’s not on tour or in the studio, she heads her own trio, showcased on NPR’s Fresh Air.

Her debut album, The Shabby Road Recordings, released July 2017, includes the all-star rhythm section of Jay Bellerose (B.B. King, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt) and Jennifer Condos (Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks).

While Miller was developing her “uniquely captivating and exciting” voice on guitar, she received her Doctorate in Musical Arts from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.

For more information such as tour dates and music, check out her website: www.MollyMillerMusic.com

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Nicholas Veinoglou - Mentor

Born on June 6th, 1993 in Great Barrington, MA, Nicholas Veinoglou began his hopelessly romantic exploration of the guitar at age 10. Highly influenced from Blues, Classical and Jazz, Nicholas created a unique and flavorful approach to his instrument which paved the road to his musical journey. Nicholas graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 2015 from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Guitar Performance and a minor in Harmony, releasing his first album "Love Languages" January 13th, 2016 shortly after. Currently, Nicholas is touring both nationally and internationally with Jordan Fisher and Atlantic Records recording artist Bazzi, opening for artists such as Justin Timberlake, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Alessia Cara, Calvin Harris, Khalid, The Chainsmokers, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Meghan Trainor, Plain White T’s, The Commodores, JoJo, and Allen Stone along the way.

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Arianna Powell - Mentor

Arianna Powell is a professional guitarist based in Loa Angeles, CA. She holds a Bachelor of Jazz Guitar degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has played hundreds o live shows, independent projects, private events, tribute shows, and local and international acts as a versatile guitarist with experience in jazz, rock, folk, pop and more. She is also a songwriter whose music has been featured on radio, blogs, and live songwriting shows. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Arianna began her career on the east coast and now resides in Los Angeles, California where she continues to perform regularly with a variety of acts. She is best known as the front guitarist for the international recording artist Nick Jonas and is currently the front ‘woman’ as the guitarist for the Black Eyed Peas band.

Rotem Sivan - Mentor

Rotem Sivan’s guitar skills are heralded across the globe. The New York Times has praised him as “more than a very good young guitar player.” Downbeat Magazine has called him “a remarkable talent. ” And universally beloved music platform, Treble FM, has described him as a “bonafide guitar god with rugged Israeli sex appeal and skills that make us swoon.” Rotem tours with his band most of the year playing in world-renowned festivals and clubs. He has performed in countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Israel, UK, Canada and India among others, and has given workshops around the world in top universities and schools.

He has performed at many clubs and festivals around the world such as Polanco Festival, Chutzpah Festival, Marseille Festival, Nice Festival, Exposure Festival, Montreux Festival, Utopia Music Festival, Bern Festival, Ottawa Festival and Sonora Festival to name a few.

Rotem has developed a strong online presence with over 44k followers on Instagram alone. The album "Antidote" (2017) & “My Favorite Monster (2018) were both charting on Billboard Jazz, and # 1 iTunes iTunes charts and top 100 on iTunes.

Sus Vasquez - Mentor

Sus Vasquez is a professional female guitarist based in NYC. Whether performing live or in the studio, she’s most known for her ability to adapt to different styles of music and settings. She’s currently the guitarist for the top selling and Grammy winning Latina artist Karol G, where she performs in major festivals, tv and radio shows as well as important venues across Europe, US and South America. She was the guitarist for the Anuel AA and Karol G on the Culpables Tour 2019 playing sold-out arenas and stadiums across 11 different countries in Central and South America.

In 2019 she also performed in the Billboard Sessions with singer Lolo Zouaï

In 2016, she was one of the Top 5 finalists of the Kiesel Guitar Contest.

Sus is currently featured as an LsL instruments artist and sponsored by Gibson, Dunlop, Elixir, Fractal Audio, Eventide, Analysis Plus, Vertex effects, Walrus Audio and among others.

Ryan Lerman - Mentor

Since graduating from the studio/jazz guitar program at USC in 2009, Ryan Lerman has toured with Vanessa Carlton, Joshua Radin, A Fine Frenzy, Ben Folds, Michael Buble, Tallest Man On Earth, John Legend, Darren Criss, and Lea Michele as guitarist, bassist, singer, music director, and arranger. He has released three solo records under his own name, Pinstripes, The Sky (2012), Friends (2017), and Noisy Feelings (2019), co-written singles on the last two Michael Buble albums, and collaborated with Vulfpeck as a writer, guitarist, and engineer (and videographer!). In 2017, Ryan co-founded the funk cover band Scary Pockets with his best friend from high school, Jack Conte (Pomplamoose, Patreon). Scary Pockets currently has over 65 million views on YouTube and tours internationally. These days, Ryan spends the majority of his time running Scary Pockets, working on his own music, writing/producing for others, and drinking the best damn coffee he can find.