Drum & Percussion Faculty
(Moraga only)
Jake Margulis-Kessel
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Jake is excited to be a music instructor at Amabile and has been teaching and playing music for over 20 years. He teaches all levels and styles of guitar, voice, congas and percussion, songwriting, production, composition, and artist identity development/branding. He also teaches drum set, piano, ukulele and electric bass. Additionally, Jake enjoys leading band direction for developing musicians.
Jake has an M.A. in Music Composition and has been a music instructor with Bay Area music schools such as Village Music School, School of Rock San Ramon, COVA, Star Power Music, Art and Soul Music Studios, Hayward Music Center, and ALMA. He was also Music Program Director at Mission Hills Middle School in Union City for three years where he designed and taught all music program classes to grades Pre-K through 8. Prior to that, he was the guitar and percussion instructor at St. Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland. Jake began studying jazz guitar at age 14 and majored in jazz guitar as an undergrad. His primary teachers were Steve Erquiaga, Dave Creamer, and Jack Wilkins. Jake also studied AfroCuban percussion for many years under the instruction of Josh Jones, as well as with Maestro Regino Jimenez, Sandy Perez and in Cuba with Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas and Daniel Rodriguez of Yoruba Andabo. He also studied traditional AfroCuban singing with Lazaro Galarraga and classical voice with Jane Sharp. Jake has performed or recorded with musicians such as Boots Riley, Kent Nagano, Ambrose Akinmusere, Thomas Pridgen, Dayna Stephens, Josh Jones, Michael Aaberg, and The Hogan Brothers. He has played at jazz festivals including Montreux, North Sea, Vienne and Umbria. Jake has also performed at venues such as Yoshi’s, Zellerbach Hall, Cleopatra's Needle and Small’s. He is also a songwriter, composer, and music producer. In his spare time, Jake enjoys writing comedy, reading, and the great outdoors. |
Jennifer Gapasin
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Jennifer is a musician/actress based out of the SF Bay Area, and she's excited to be teaching piano, voice and drum at Amabile. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Sacramento State where she studied opera with Michael Sokol, and since then has been involved in the performing arts for over a decade as an educator and performer. She studied acting/movement at Michael Howard Studios in New York, Waterfront Conservatory in Berkeley and Yat/Bentley Centre in Oakland. She began her career in music as choir director and piano accompanist for St. Anthony Church in Winters, and following that taught voice and piano at Natomas School of Music in Sacramento. She has performed onstage in many different modes, from rock, R&B and funk (as singer/drummer/keyboardist) to operas, plays and musicals. Notably, she was the drummer for the Beatles cover band, the Peptones. Favorite theatre credits include: Sue (Fefu and Her Friends), Leila (Iolanthe), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), and Satirino, Destino, and Echo (La Calisto). She is grateful to be joining the team at Amabile.
In her own words: Music is a great outlet to express oneself and develop practical skills such as focus, listening, coordination and timing. There is nothing quite like music that combines fun, complexity and discipline all at once. I am happy to share that experience with others as a performer and teacher. |