Music Staff & Coaches
Melanie Gunn
Band & Orchestra
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Ms. Gunn started at Whitman during the 2021-2022 school year. She really enjoys having a position where she can teach both Band and Orchestra, as she has been playing violin (including Suzuki training) and a number of band instruments since elementary school.
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Ms. Gunn is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music, receiving her Bachelor's in Music Education. She later received her Master's in Percussion Performance from SUNY Buffalo and is completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from the University of Washington.
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Ms. Gunn's work has been nationally recognized by the GRAMMY Museum by being nominated as a quarterfinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award for 2023.
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Ms. Gunn has two corgis, two cats, and enjoys a good mix of practicing aerial silks, reading, and board games in her free time.
Audrey Stangland
Jazz Band
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Audrey Stangland is a graduate of Central Washington University and currently plays a variety of genres with multiple bands in the Seattle area. Audrey is a multi-instrumentalist but specializes in jazz and classical trombone, and teaches classes and private lessons.
Christopher Taylor
Drumline
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Christopher Taylor is an architect and Whitman parent with over 25 years of experience playing percussion and drums of every kind, and 5 years of experience teaching drumline at the high school level. In his free time, he can be found spending time with his family, up on the mountain rebuilding trails with MRNPA, or telling someone about his pit bull rescues.
Kevin Emerson
Drumline
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Kevin Emerson is an author, musician, and Whitman parent. He writes novels for middle school and YA readers, and has toured internationally as both a jazz and pop drummer. He currently plays in the Seattle band Model Shop. Before writing, Kevin was a K-8 science teacher, and has taught creative writing at Hugo House and through Writers in the Schools.
Storm Benjamin
Percussion, Theory Coach
Please email Ms. Gunn if you have questions for our coaches
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Storm Benjamin is a percussionist from Seattle. He is actively involved in performing with re•create percussion, striking music, The Sound Ensemble, and the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, including other various orchestras and art music projects around the northwest.
Ove Hanson
Oboe Coach
Please email Ms. Gunn if you have questions for our coaches
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Ove Hanson received his Masters in Oboe Performance from the University of Washington, where he studied with Laila Storch. In addition to freelancing, he was the principal oboist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra for approximately 30 years.
Currently he is teaching private oboe lessons as well as coaching oboe classes in Seattle Schools. He continues as the principal oboist of Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, and Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey.
Jill Jaques
French Horn / Brass Coach
Please email Ms. Gunn if you have questions for our coaches
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Jill believes music is a unique and direct form of communication and connection, and she teaches from that viewpoint. She has been teaching private french horn lessons since 2004 and has taught students as young as 9, adults in their retirement, and all ages in between. She also has experience coaching small groups and orchestra sectionals. Her professional playing career has brought her to the Virginia Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, and Oregon Symphony. Locally, she has played with the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the 5th Ave Theater. She can also be heard in many movie and video game soundtracks.
Dallas Neustel
Clarinet & Sax Coach
Please email Ms. Gunn if you have questions for our coaches
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Clarinetist Dallas Neustel is a principal teaching artist of the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, a founding member of the Agermos Chamber Music Project, and a former US Air Force clarinetist. Dallas is an active performer and teacher in the Seattle area, having coached young musicians as a teaching artist with the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and performed with the Saratoga Orchestra, and the Esoterics. In 2018, his children’s composition Incidental Music to the Tale of Peter Rabbit was performed in the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival Family Concert.
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Dallas holds the Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the Washington State University School of Music. He has toured in concert throughout Europe and the United States, has appeared as a guest clinician in 65 university master classes, and has maintained a private clarinet studio for over 15 years.