About Our Team
Your subtitle goes right here.Ethan Shirey
Director of Operations and Senior Instructor
Ethan began the pursuit of music at a young age of 9, playing guitar in a Bluegrass Gospel band from ages 9 to 15 at festivals and concerts across Texas and Arkansas. The band had many accomplishments including Recording a full length studio album, appearing live multiple times on a Dallas based radio station, and sharing the stage with Grammy nominated acts like The Isaacs Family. In 2008 Ethan started an Alternative Rock band encompassing all original music. In 2009 the band was able to appear as the opening act for the Grammy nominated rock band After Edmund. In 2011 the band signed a management contract with a Dallas based booking agency. That same year the band released a studio single on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. August of 2014, Ethan graduating from the University of North Texas, with a bachelors degree in Finance.
June of 2013 Ethan co-founded Ampersand Music School along with his brother Benjamin. Together they operate Ampersand as business partners bringing music lessons to students throughout the Denton County area. Ethan’s passion is to inspire students with a love for music and to give his students the tools they need to create music on their own
- Design & UX 50%
- Web Programming 80%
- Internet Marketing 10%
Benjamin Shirey
Director of Curriculum and Senior Instructor
Benjamin Shirey began performing music at the early age of 9 playing double bass. He later went on to study voice, guitar, piano, drums and music composition. First and foremost Benjamin considers himself a composer. He received a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition in 2010 from University of North Texas and later received his Masters in Music Composition from the same university. His mentors include composers Jon Nelson, David Stout, Cindy McTee, Andrew May, and Panayiotis Kokoras. His compositional work explores acoustical phenomenology, art teleology, and the epistemology of music itself, expressed through a variety of forms such as installation art, experimental opera, textural counterpoint, intermedia performance and music for film.
In June of 2013 Benjamin co-founded Ampersand Music School along with his brother Ethan. Benjamin is very passionate about teaching the next generation musicians and composers. It is his hope to impart a love for music and a thirst for creativity in music.
- Customer Happiness 80%
- Tech Support 30%
- Community Management 50%
Marcus Kester
Marcus Kester has been playing guitar since 2008, and piano since 2011. He has played in church bands in DFW and southern Texas. Additionally, he has played with the Fort Worth guitar orchestra conducted by Michael Dailey—playing in venues such as the Fort Worth and Arlington Library where he has played solo and in ensembles. He has also played master classes with big names like Adam Holzman, Emma Rush, Isaac Bustos, and Grisha Goryachev. Currently, he serves as stand-in electric guitarist for Dallas native Jackson Eli’s band Those Cats.
Accomplished as a teacher, Marcus has taught various age groups ranging from elementary age children to adults. Stylistically, he likes teaching jazz, rock, and classical genres on both acoustic and electric guitar, One of his passions for teaching is helping his students beter understand how to read and interpret both music notation and rock/jazz charts, as well as how to write their own music.
- Design & UX 50%
- Web Programming 80%
- Internet Marketing 10%
Frank Revera
Frank began his love and pursuit of music at the age of fourteen through a guitar class during his freshman year in high school. Having had no prior experience in music, he quickly became intrigued with the study of classical guitar. Since then, he has competed in local, state, and collegiate level guitar competitions and has taught guitar lessons throughout his years of playing. Frank is currently enrolled at the University of North Texas pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance in Classical Guitar. His passion for music has inspired him to try and expose music to those who are not granted the opportunity to study the arts. His ultimate goal is to become a high school music teacher, in order to reach out to students and show them the world of music, the way his music instructor was able to do all those years ago.
- Photoshop 85%
- After Effects 70%
- Illustrator 50%
Ethan Dorsett
- Customer Happiness 80%
- Tech Support 30%
- Community Management 50%
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