Daniel De Lorimier    

Early Childhood Instructor

Daniel is a multi-instrumentalist from central California and has been teaching music to students of all ages for over 7 years. With an early foundation of music appreciation he gained from family, church choir, and piano lessons, he fell in love with the guitar at age 13. He attended San Francisco State University where he received a BA in Jazz Guitar. While in the Bay Area, he performed and recorded with numerous pop/rock bands, regularly touring up and down the coast. Daniel teaches private lessons on guitar, bass, ukulele, piano, voice, and drums. He's also taught music in the classroom from grades Pre K-5th grade, as well as Rock Band and Choir at Lycee Francais de San Francisco. His musical journey recently brought him to Chicago where he is pursuing a Master's degree in Music Education. 

  Amber Farish    

Early Childhood Instructor

Amber Farish grew up in Orlando, Florida, and has been living in Illinois since 2014. Her love of music and play allowed her to take to the Music Together curriculum like a fish to water, and under the mentorship of Julie De Grandpré, she completed her training in 2021. When Amber is not leading group classes at Merry Music Makers she teaches private voice and piano lessons in the suburbs at Des Plaines School of Music. Amber earned her Master’s Degree in 2016 in Vocal Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 

   Bernadette Garza

Voice & Piano Instructor

Bernadette has over 15 years of professional experience teaching and a genuine excitement to develop musical growth at any age through ear training, pitch recognition, rhythmic structure and harmonic expression. She has performed throughout the regional Midwest in the classical, musical theater, and contemporary genres, including Chicago Opera Theater's Nixon in China, American Chamber Opera’s Madame Butterfly, and Porchlight Theater’s Ragtime. Bernadette  works with several different groups as lead vocalist, performing for live music venues, jazz series, festivals, and private  events. She has a Masters of Voice degree from the Chicago Conservatory of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

   Joelle Mendoza 

Early Childhood Instructor

Joelle grew up in Santiago, Chile where she sang in choirs from the age of 6 onwards. She also played the cello, guitar and piano from a young age. Her fondest childhood memories all center around music. After receiving a degree in theater from Middlebury College (VT) she moved to Chicago. She has spent several years performing as an actor and improviser while working in early childhood education at Near North Montessori School.

Early Childhood Music Instructor

  Camille McClain 

Executive Director and Early Childhood Instructor

Camille McClain has been teaching and managing the daily operations of Merry Music Makers since 2016. Prior to that, she spent most of her career in arts marketing--most recently at the Chicago Sinfonietta and Lyric Opera of Chicago. As a musician, it was important to her to find the best music class for her children, so shortly after her first child was born she did some research on the available options and enrolled her daughter in Music Together class. She became such an advocate for the curriculum that she quit her job downtown to accept the role of Marketing Director for Merry Music Makers in 2014. She still sings and plays her flute at church for the love of performing and to make sure that her degree in music is put to good use!

  Kristen Regester

Early Childhood Music Instructor

A percussionist, dancer, and singer, Kristen Regester has been teaching and performing around Chicago since 1999. She started her career at Sherwood Community Music School and received her Music Together certification in 2000. She went on to create early childhood curricula and served as Children’s Program Chair at Columbia College. Kristen now spends her time applying the principles of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a unique kinesthetic approach to music education, to the students at four different music schools. She is very passionate about working with children who are differently-abled, and finds that music is the bridge connecting her to them. Kristen holds a BA in Instrumental Music Education from the University of Michigan.

  Sam Sharp  

Violin Instructor

Sam Sharp is a music teacher, violinist, composer, arranger, and very mediocre juggler. A full-time teacher since 2010, Sam uses his Suzuki training, therapy and healing work, and performance experience to create a unique and highly personalized learning environment. His vision as a teacher is to guide each student in a way that allows them to find their own creatively fulfilling path with music. Sam's performing activities include outreach concerts at hospitals and schools and shows with his Beatles string quartet. He loves playing classical, blues, bluegrass, and Irish music and has been exploring improvisation as important element of learning the violin.  He holds violin performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University.

   William Smith 

Guitar Instructor

William's teaching career began soon after he took up the guitar at age 11, offering instruction to peers and family friends. This passion for teaching continued at Ball State University where he taught fellow students. After graduating in 2013 with his Bachelor of Music Performance degree, William moved to Chicago where he earned his Master of Music degree at DePaul University. William also teaches after-school guitar classes through AES’s Guitar Stars program and assists with Suzuki instruction within DePaul’s Community Music Division. William enjoys performing with various ensembles in the Chicago area, gigs with his bands, composes/arranges works for the guitar.