Matt Alling

Matt Alling (percussion) is a drum instructor with more than 30 years of teaching, playing and touring through the northeast and Eastern sword. His background and experience include rock, jazz, classical, funk, punk, reggae, musical theater, opera, concert and marching bands, drum and bugle corps, pipe bands, fife and drum corps. Matt has previously taught at Virtuoso Music School in Nashua, School of Rock in Madison CT, drum lines at Branford High School in CT, Jonathan Law High School in CT, and Hamden High School in CT. Additionally, he is the curator for the drum collection at the Company of Fifers and Drummers Museum in Ivoryton, CT.

CCMS Alumna Kelsey Rogers Combines STEM and Music to Compose a Career in Architectural Acoustics

by Jeff SelesnickIt had been several years since Kelsey Rogers had taken a piano lesson. Yes, she had found time to play the instrument with some regularity. But she knew that her technique and execution weren’t quite at her peak from years ago. With a major performance looming, Kelsey reached out to her longtime piano teacher, former CCMS faculty member Gregg Pauley, to help sharpen her skills and dial in her interpretation of the selected pieces. And before she knew it, there she was on the stage at Symphony Hall in Boston, in front of hundreds of people, ready to showcase the craft she honed all those years ago at Concord Community Music School.As far as Kelsey was concerned, music has always been just as important as school. She started piano lessons with Pauley at the Music School as a grade schooler, then added violin to her repertoire. She reveled in the familiar cadence of finishing her school day, doing homework in various Music School nooks while she waited for her lessons, and playing her instruments in solo and ensemble settings. It instilled in her a deep love of music, something that she knew from an early age would be a lasting presence in her life. “Even though I didn’t see myself becoming a professional musician, I had a strong desire to keep music as part of my career path,” she says.Throughout school, Kelsey gravitated towards the STEM disciplines. As she approached the end of her high school years, she was determined to find a way to combine her strengths in subjects like physics and math with her passion for music. She was excited to discover the field of acoustics but frustrated to find that very few American colleges offered courses in the discipline, especially at the undergraduate level. Kelsey decided to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at Princeton University, hoping it would give her fundamentals in physics, engineering, and math that she could combine with music by the end of her collegiate career. The curriculum proved to be more rigorous than she had anticipated and there were moments where she questioned if she had made the right choice. “I wasn’t one of those students who got excited about robotics or building things in the machine shop or other things people in my major naturally gravitate towards.”After unsuccessfully attempting to find an internship in acoustics during her first two years at Princeton, Kelsey was able to secure an internship at the audio giant Bose as a junior and senior. Even after graduating with her undergraduate degree in 2014, she still needed additional education to pursue a career in the field. Kelsey took the advice of a Princeton alum and pursued a master’s degree in architectural acoustics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Upon graduation in 2015, she was offered a consulting position at the Boston-based acoustics firm Acentech.Kelsey’s favorite projects throughout her consulting career to date have been opportunities to design and create educational performing arts centers. From her time at CCMS, she knows first-hand the importance of these spaces and regularly reflected on her music school days while designing performance spaces at the Peddie School, Middlesex School, Phillps Exeter Academy, and beyond. “The best day on any of these (years-long) projects is the ‘acoustical checkout’ right before the building is turned over to the owner,” she notes. “We bring all our acoustical measurement gear to the building – all sorts of microphones, loudspeakers, computers, etc., but most importantly, our instruments and our ears. It’s the ultimate combination of STEM and art.”As a result of her own experience trying to get into acoustics as an undergrad, Kelsey began teaching architectural acoustics classes at Tufts University after a few years at Acentech. With an aim to help grow the program, Kelsey takes great pride in exposing students to the world of acoustics, especially when those students begin career paths in the field. “There are so many kids who have played instruments growing up or who like music and are interested in it in some way, and it can feel like a completely separate universe from the engineering and the STEM classes that they’re taking. I wanted to be a part of trying to show students all of the interesting intersections that they could find between those fields.”Kelsey’s newest project is a summer program called “Engineering of Music,” which debuts this July. The program exposes high school students to the intersection of art and engineering… and exposes the world to the unique program that Tufts offers.Kelsey was also the natural choice to feature on piano when the annual Acoustical Society of America conference came to Boston and attendees were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Symphony Hall. With abundant classical piano chops and expertise in the acoustics realm, she jumped at the opportunity to fill the air with music as her colleagues marveled at one of the world’s finest performance spaces. It was one of many culminations of her profound love of music, a mind for STEM, and a strong desire to marry the two.“Growing up, CCMS was as important to me as school was and so music needed to be as important as all of the STEM work,” she says. “That need to weave music into my profession would not have existed without my time at CCMS.”###
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CCMS Pays Tribute to Miles Davis on April 10, 2025

by Jeff SelesnickOn Thursday, April 10, The Bank of New Hampshire Stage will once again play host to what is quickly becoming a flagship event in the Concord Community Music School calendar. Continuing the tradition of the popular “Jazz in January” series, CCMS’s April Jazz Night, now in its third year and featuring the CCMS Jazz All-Stars, has taken on a life of its own. This annual event,held at the Bank of New Hampshire State in Downtown Concord celebrates legends of the genre and raises money for the Music School’s financial aid program.“This annual event is special for the school for many reasons – it gives our faculty an opportunity to perform together, showcase our enthusiasm for the genre to attendees, and socialize with the community before and after the event,” says CCMS jazz and popular music department chair Zeb Cruikshank, who is also the music coordinator for this year’s event, “A Jazz Milestone: A Miles Davis Tribute”.Cruikshank was drawn to Davis, one of the most iconic jazz musicians of all time, thanks in large part to Davis’s most famous album, Kind of Blue. He explains, “With its personnel of legendary jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly, and track list consisting of popular jazz standards like ‘All Blues’ and ‘So What,’ the album has had a lasting impact on fans and performers of jazz for decades.”Not wanting to just play the songs off Davis’ seminal work, Cruikshank implored his bandmates to help him fill out the set list. Because of the trumpeter’s prolific nature, the task was both intriguing and challenging.“Miles is one of those artists who never stopped innovating – starting out in the 1940s playing alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and ending his career working on a hip-hop record in 1991,” notes bassist Matt Hogan. “We’re going to try and cover as much as we can and hope to try and express in a small way just how much ground Miles covered during his incredible life.”The CCMS Jazz All-Stars is comprised of CCMS faculty, alumni, and friends, with an aim to not only entertain but educate eager concertgoers. The rhythm section includes Hogan on bass and Jared Steer on drums; both have played all three of the April Jazz Night performances. Cruikshank (playing guitar) is making his second appearance at the event, debuting at last year’s tribute to the music of drummer Max Roach. Andrew Grosvenor (keys) and Russ Ryan (trumpet) will be making their first appearance at the event.The group has become adept at not only performing exquisite jazz but utilizing the audio-visual capabilities of the venue to provide context to the music they perform. Displaying album artwork and historic images on a large screen behind the performers has become a signature style of the event, adding depth to the overall experience. Patrons can expect what has become a classic CCMS Jazz Night scene, replete with tapping feet, ah-ha moments, and a palpable adoration of jazz music.“Jazz Night owes so much of its success to the hard work of the staff behind the scenes – there’s so much involved in making this night happen on top of the work everyone is doing every day at the school,” notes Hogan. “It would be easy to treat this like any other event, but the staff really goes the extra mile to make the evening special.”To purchase tickets for “A Jazz Milestone”, visit ccanh.com.
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Shades of Green

CCMS folk faculty prepares for a Spring filled with lively Celtic music and new musical friendships by Jeff SelesnickLate winter is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for Celtic musicians. Venues are booking acts for St. Patrick’s Day shows, and guitarists, fiddlers, pipers, and others are getting called in for various sessions and events. Fortunately for our musical family, four members of our folk faculty – Liz Faiella, Dan Faiella, Audrey Budington, and Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki – devote significant time and energy each year towards developing programming presented here at the Music School.The four musicians are also CCMS alumni and their genuine friendship, respect, and admiration for each other is readily apparent. “The fact that all four of us grew up playing music together as students and friends through the Music School and are now doing the same as colleagues here is just so remarkable and really speaks to the nurturing environment of the school, says Budington. “Now we greet each other in the hallways and drop in to each other’s studios for the odd jam between lessons. Where else but CCMS would you ever find a place so kind and wonderful that former students want to come back to teach? We’re so, so lucky.”The capstone performances for these friends and in-demand Celtic musicians are this March Bach’s Lunches. This annual tradition highlights the CCMS folk faculty and celebrates the traditions of Celtic music from around the world. On March 6, Dan Faiella will present a lecture on the history of the beloved Anglo-Celtic folk song “John Barleycorn.” One week later, the Celtic quartet takes the stage for the annual pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration known as “A Celtic Journey.” Bach’s Lunches are free, open to the public, and made possible in part through the generous support of the Walker Fund.“Performing in these shows is a blast,” says Folk Faculty Chair Liz Faiella. “The audience’s energy is wonderful, and I love that we get to have basically a giant party in the recital hall midday on a Thursday!”“The exciting thing for me about folk music is how it connects you with the recent and the distant past, but also how it connects you with other traditions that influence your own,” adds Dan Faiella.The carefully curated setlist for the March 13 performance is still being finalized. It has traditionally included Irish classics, New England contradance pieces, and tunes from Cape Breton, Brittany (a Celtic region of France), and beyond. The quartet ensures that people will hear music they know, love, and associate with St. Patrick’s Day, along with a handful of lesser-known pieces. The Faiella siblings, Budington, and Tirrell-Wysocki also grew up in the same musical ecosystem, logging tunes and developing technique within the central New Hampshire folk scene. As a result, there is palpable intuition between the performers which allows for the creativity and spontaneity on display during the annual Bach’s lunch sets. The instrumentation of the group is also unique in folk/Celtic circles – often times there is just one fiddler who holds the responsibility of carrying the melody within a folk group. With Budington, Tirrell-Wysocki, and Liz Faiella all playing fiddle, it allows the quartet to explore variations, countermelodies, harmonies, and rhythms that they wouldn’t otherwise have the freedom to play. And Dan Faiella’s ability to seamlessly switch between chords and melody gives the quartet a nuanced, unique sound.Fans of the talented quartet will have additional opportunities to hear their music via the recently-launched “New England Roots and Branches” Series, which celebrates New England’s unique and beautiful folk music tradition. This three-part series, which is free and open to the public, is made possible in part through a Folklife and Traditional Arts grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. “The series is a wonderful opportunity for the four of us to do more together than the 50 minutes a year that we get at the Bach’s Lunch,” says Tirrell-Wysocki. “We get to explore various sides of New England fiddle music and even more importantly, we get to share the music with a wider circle of musicians since each concert is preceded by a jam session. This is folk music – it’s meant to be a community experience!””Roots and Branches” kicked off on January 25, 2025 with a Contradance Music session at Concord’s Citywide Community Center. The performance space was filled to capacity, with fans spilling out into the venue’s corridors. The next event in the series will be held at CCMS on Saturday, April 5. Titled “Transatlantic Tunes: Celtic and British Isles Folk Tunes,” the session will celebrate European folk music and feature a beginner-friendly slow jam, a concert, and a fast jam following the show.“My hope with this series is to build appreciation of (and participation in!) the really rich musical tradition we have here in New Hampshire,” says Liz Faiella. “Folk music can be such a social experience, and I’d love for people to get the chance to connect in that way, both with each other and with this tradition, no matter where they are on their musical journeys.”Above, L-R: Dan Faiella, Liz Faiella, Audrey Budington, and Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki at the inaugural “Roots and Branches” performance in January 2025.
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