Get to know our management, sales staff and music instructors before you ever step foot through our doors. Check below for more information and stay tuned for additional biographies on our exceptional staff to be added soon!

Forrest Brown
Guitar Instructor  |  Carlisle Location

Forrest has been a staple on the central Pennsylvania music scene for many years. He has been a member of a number of great area bands and has performed with some of the areas finest players. Over the past two decades, Forrest has been a leader and member of Blitz Dynette, worked with Shea Quinn in Clockwork, and had a stint with Rich Clare’s Pentagon, just to name a few. Currently he’s filling the guitar chair with Radiant out of Baltimore, MD.

Forrest spent time on the hotel / resort circuit, touring with several acts in the 70’s and the 80’s.
In the past few months he’s worked with Cruz Control, Bunch O’ Funk and The Impact Band. Although stage performance is his forte, he is equally at home in the studio, or in the pit. Forrest has recorded three albums with his band Blitz Dynette and has a number of musicals to his credit including “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline”, “Smokey Joe’s Café”, “Godspell”, “Tick, Tick, Boom”, “Grease” and most recently “Fame.” He spent one year at Berklee College of Music.

Forrest believes that a knowledge of fundamentals, not just for guitar but music in general, can provide a solid foundation for both the student who wishes to pursue a career in music and the student who just wants a casual relationship with an instrument. These fundamentals include, but are not limited to, sight-reading and basic music theory.

Della Cosey
Piano Instructor  |  Lemoyne Location

Della graduated from Messiah College with a BA in Behavioral Science and a BS in Music Education. She has been teaching beginning and intermediate private piano to children and teens in the Dillsburg area for more than 30 years. Della taught classroom music to elementary students in the Northern School District for three years. As a member of the Capital Area Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teacher Association, Della's students have participated in the CAC Piano Festivals and Piano Extravaganza, a multi-piano concert. Della has been the organist, pianist, and keyboardist at the Cumberland Valley Brethren in Christ Church for more than 24 years. Currently she teaches Recreational Music Making Classes for adult piano students at JW Music.

N. Abigail Smyser
Guitar Instructor  |  Carlisle Store

Abigail loves to teach.  Whether it’s the physics of sound, music theory, the history of a particular centuries old folk piece, or the history of an instrument, she is full of facts, philosophy, enthusiasm and humor for the subject and her students.

Growing up in a family with a piano player, a ukulele/flute/fife player, a baritone horn player, a drummer, and a trombone player, Abigail was surrounded by music. She started with piano at the ripe old age of three, and graduated to guitar in her teens. She now teaches beginner to intermediate level guitar, mountain dulcimer and autoharp; beginner bass, banjo and mandolin. She is influenced by Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Jazz, Dixieland, Barbershop, Gospel, European, African and American Folk music, and early Rock & Roll.    

Abigail’s main teaching goal is to have her students understand and absolutely love their instrument and the art of making music for the rest of their lives, whether they become professional musicians or reserve their talents for playing lullabies for their family’s next generation.