Meet Our Teaching Faculty

Spencer Layne is a 27-year-old professional multi-instrumentalist musician/producer with 16 years of experience. His resume includes sold-out performances at The SF Fillmore, Santa Ana Observatory, and Catalyst Santa Cruz, opening for Green Day, and a Hollywood-recorded debut album with his band Carpool Tunnel. Spencer graduated with a B.A. in Guitar Performance from Berklee College of Music and intends to continue dedicating his time and energy to all things music.

Spencer teaches private lessons, band workshops, and group classes at Fort Mason and is Blue Bear’s All Star Band director. He’s available for lessons on guitar, bass, drums, voice, and ukulele.

 

Taylor Phelps is a versatile guitarist and dedicated music educator with over eight years of teaching experience. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music in Studio Music and Jazz from the University of Tennessee. His musical journey began at just four years old with his first guitar, sparking a lifelong passion for creativity, performance, and sharing music with others. Throughout his career, Taylor has taught students of all ages and skill levels across a variety of instruments, including guitar, piano, bass, drums, and ukulele. His teaching philosophy emphasizes patience, curiosity, and joy, encouraging students to build a strong foundation while exploring their own unique voice. In addition to his work as an instructor, Taylor has extensive experience performing in a wide range of musical settings, including jazz combos, rock bands, touring acts, studio recording sessions, and collaborative songwriting projects. He brings this real-world experience into each lesson, helping students connect their practice to authentic musical expression.

Now based in San Francisco, he’s excited to connect with new students and be part of a vibrant and creative music community.  Taylor teaches private lessons and group guitar on Wednesdays at Mission Bay, and private lessons, band workshops, and group guitar on Thursdays at Fort Mason.

 

Joan Torres was drawn to music from an early age. After choosing the bass as his main instrument, he diligently worked to understand the art form and its many flavors. He studied Jazz with a list of great musicians such as Puerto Rican legend Tony Batista (William Cepeda), the four-time Grammy-winning bassist and educator Oscar Stagnaro (Paquito D’Rivera), and Matthew Garrison (Joe Zawinul), considered one of the most technically gifted jazz musicians of his generation. Torres’s skill was recognized by musical institutions such as Berklee College of Music, which awarded him several scholarships to attend both its summer programs and the college as a full-time student. He developed his musicianship by studying and performing a wide variety of music, including Salsa, Rock, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Funk, Fusion, Jazz, Classical Choir music, and even Brazilian Capoeira music.

 

After years of playing and sharing with other musicians, Torres decided to revisit some of the music he had written over the years to start his own project, Joan Torres’s All Is Fused. While composing, producing, and leading the ensemble from 2011 to the present day, Torres has consistently pursued opportunities to collaborate with like-minded artists of different genres and skill levels.

 

Through his work with All Is Fused, Torres has earned two nominations for Best Jazz Producer at the Independent Music Awards, the group itself having earned ten nominations throughout the years and two wins, including most recently Best Fusion Album in 2020 for their album Revolution. All Is Fused has performed in one of Puerto Rico’s biggest festivals, “Ventana al Jazz” (2014), at venues such as the SFJAZZ Center (2018), shared the stage with performers such as Michael Manring, Felix Martin, Richard Trinidad, The Wrong Sides, and have collaborated with artists such as Paoli Mejias, Bubby Lewis, and Elena Hedrych.

 

Since relocating to San Francisco in 2014 torres has collaborated with many local artists in a variety of styles including Cuban timba (Eduardo Corzo, The Cuband), Salsa (Julius Melendez), Jazz (Calvin Keys), Latin Fusion (LOUDA), African Fusion (Piwai, Nathan Okite), Rock (6 Speed Supernova), as well as remotely with artists in the Prog Metal scene such as The Wrong Sides, Felix Martin, and Rodrigo Pagavino. Through these projects, he has shared the stage with the likes of Steven Adler, The Ocean Collective, Ando San, and Tesseract. Beyond collaborations with artists, he has also collaborated with brands such as DR Strings, Fishman, and Raven Straps as an artist endorser.

 

 

As an educator, Torres has taught lessons and workshops across the globe to people of all ages in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Singapore, and world-renowned institutions such as the Puerto Rico Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Musicians Institute Tokyo. His approach of music-first, instrument-second has allowed his students to improve their ability to perform, compose, improvise, and communicate with other musicians.

 

 

Amanda VanderMeer graduated with high honors from Portland Community College’s Professional Music Program and has been playing and writing music for twenty-five years, touring the globe and releasing two studio albums. Since 2006, she has taught a wide range of ages in drums, piano, vocals, music theory, and songwriting. She plays drums in her current band Deathtrap America.  Amanda teaches online private lessons in piano, drums, and voice.

“Uncle” Ray Wilcox is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, producer, and band leader. He loves sharing his passion for playing music with a group of people. It’s the most present you can be in a not-so-present world.

Transplanted from New Jersey in 1987, Ray formed noise pop pioneers Zircus and went on to play with East Bay funk monstrosity !Tang and dozens of other bands. Ray records and has produced 15 albums for his independent label, Pacific Soul Records. He was a San Francisco teacher for 35 years before he switched exclusively to music in 2022. Ray loves to collect vinyl and tinker in his home Logic X studio. You can always find Ray playing his brand of psychedelic soul around town, at the farmers market, in the clubs, or at your favorite dive bar.