The Catoctin School of Music

CSM's "Full Circle Summer Alumni Series" is a summer podcast series where Mr. Wayne will be hosting weekly Zoom meetings with some of our fantastical CSM alumni and friends. 

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So come join in and hang out online with us, listen to their stories, get the details and the truth from many hard working musicians in various fields inside of the music industry and beyond.  Yes they all grew up right here in Loudoun County and at CSM.  You are more than welcome to join us, say hi and ask questions too!

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Please jump on in and join any event by following the link at the bottom of each alumni bio below.  Or for any more info please email Wayne@CSMinspires.com

 

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Our recent Alumni chats this summer of 2023 have included:

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Thurs June 22nd at 8pm - Meet Brian Jones, a producer and bad-**s musician in LA.  He studied electric and upright bass at CSM in the "way back" with Mr. Wayne. Brian graduated CSM in 2012, went to LA to the Thorton School of Music at USC in their "Popular School of Music program," and then graduated and was hired as a bass player for Gwen Stefani, touring worldwide. Brian has been in numerous professional projects since then on bass, vocals and guitar (Luna, Lorde, Vampire Weekend and most recently Paramore). He's been on all three late night shows with Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel multiple times. Brian was a drum major at Briar Woods HS in Ashburn his senior year, he was selected for the VA all-state jazz band on upright 3 years in a row and was in VA All State orchestra too. He played and taught in our CSM summer camps in the way back and played in several local bands and in church while still here in Loudoun many years ago. Brian's super sweet and a workaholic. Please check out some of his recent work at:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naygrknW6wc

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrJqjXsuvI

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFm5TiNTiIU

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Wed, June 28th at 7:30pm - Meet Alexa Silverman  She is a band manager, jazz musician, entrepreneur and student counselor and Lord knows what else she isn't doing inside of the music industry scene these days.  Recently she has been traveling from Boston to LA for several artist development events out west and showcasing some of Boston's Berklee talent on the west coast.  She has studied piano, jazz and the music industry at Eastman, Rochester and the Berklee School of music and is currently also managing artists and social media accounts for various up and coming artists.  Alexa graduated CSM around the year 2017 and she was a pianist here in our very own "CSM jazz lab band" and was also the lead jazz pianist and a composer in her local Loudoun HS.  She also hosted a weekend filed trip and booked our CSM jazz labs some gigs in Rochester while doing her undergrad.  Currently Alexa works with "Ground Up Music" https://www.facebook.com/groundupmusicworld who manages Snarky Puppy and other amazing artists.  Alexa is also amazing, charismatic, fun and down to earth and has lots of great stories and advice for young musicians.  At this time she is working hard at creating her very own artist management firm, and she hopes to have it up and operational in the very near future.

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Wed, July 5th at 7:30pm - Meet Zach Rickers, who was a favorite student of ours in the way back.  He started some of the extra curricular guitar programs with Wayne years ago here in CSM, on Wayne's back deck.  He was a student teacher assistant here at CSM before he flew the coop and did his undergrad in guitar at local Shenandoah University.  He settled back in Leesburg for a few years and taught guitar at CSM, but then he left again to get another degree, this time in music law at the University of Miami.  He then settled in Nashville and started practicing law, then his company moved him back into the DC area.  Zach has since shifted directions and is currently practicing law outside of music in the private sector and lives in Atlanta and he still enjoys practicing on his nylon classical guitar and also his Tele.  He's a super nice guy, and great golfer and has a lot of wisdom to impart, as he's seen so much and traveled to many different cities and had many fun jobs in law and music.

 

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Thurs, July 13th at 8pm - Meet Sammy Dugos who is going to join Wayne and talk about his experiences with his undergrad program on classical upright bass at Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory and then his graduate degree at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.  He is a tenured section upright bassist with both the Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet Orchestra.  He's currently in Chicago this summer (2023) where he won a one year contract to perform in the sensational "Grant Park Music Festival."  He is amazing and fun and was a stellar music student here with Mr. Wayne and CSM and at his HS Briar Woods.  He performed in the VA All State Orchestra and VA All State Jazz bands and loves to plays some electric bass still in some fun gospel gigs and enjoys jamming on jazz with his friends!!!

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Wed, July 19th at 7:30pm - Meet Bryan Dawley who plays every instrument under the sun and sings.  After he was a student here at CSM he did his undergrad degree in upright bass studies at Shepherd University.  He came back and taught bass and guitar at CSM for a few years, while touring with some local groups here in DC.  Then he left us for the town of Nashville, where he's more happily married and is also a touring musician, writer and producer in Nashville.  He's been on the road touring as a musician with several Nashville acts.  Check him out here performing at Red Rocks at:  https://youtu.be/TnF0SugZ4js

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Wed, July 26th at 7pm - Meet Abi Flowers - Abi lives and works in Nashville, TN with her husband Quentin (a session double bassist) and their adorable new baby James. Her main instruments are voice and baritone ukulele, and her day to day work ranges from live performance to songwriting, recording, arranging, production, teaching, and more. She is a Lanikai Ukuleles artist, which means she lucked her way into a LOT of free instruments :) Some of her favorite credits include singing background vocals (https://youtu.be/nsqtNovzQ5w), arranging and performing others' songs (https://youtu.be/60a5HPM9UFQ), writing (https://youtu.be/0cm85F00sxU) and recording (https://youtu.be/3qZS61BLKRg) children's music for Quaver Ed, and releasing her own original music (https://youtu.be/PnkL-f-GhO4). She studied piano, guitar, and theory at CSM ("Wayne's World", once upon a time!) while she was in high school at Stone Bridge, and credits those lessons with giving her the confidence to survive music school at Belmont University! 

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