The MRM Staff – Meet the Monkeys!
John King – Owner
John has enjoyed being a professional musician and teacher for many years. He began teaching young children in a private English school and day care in Japan. During his 5 years in Japan he worked with and taught kids as young as 6 months old. John is proud to say that he can change diapers in more than one language.
As manager of this school, John had the opportunity to not only teach Japanese children, but to become a part of their lives by working with their parents and caregivers to develop a child centered approach to music education.
In studying Education at the graduate level, John has learned theory behind child development and education and puts his own spin on these ideas while teaching young kids to develop an appreciation for music.
Since returning from Japan, John has accumulated years of experience teaching music to young people ranging in age from 5 years old to as young as 5 weeks old! He has developed a style all his own in an effort to appeal to both the children and their caregivers with the goal of making and sharing music together.
Read About What Makes Monkey Rock Music Different
Kieran Howes – Teacher
You’ve heard “the hardest working man in show business”? Well Kieran is the hardest working man in Monkey Business. At least when it comes to Children’s Music in Ottawa. Kieran works 8 days a week at Monkey Rock Music doing classes, live shows, and is booked solid for day cares, private events, and of course Monkey Rock Music birthday parties.
Kieran has been surrounded by little monkeys his whole life, as he grew up in an in-home daycare that his mother ran as a small business owner. He has a passion for music and picked up his first guitar when he was 10 years old and hasn’t put it down since. Kieran writes and record his own non-Monkey Rock Music for grown ups too! You can often find him in open mics around Ottawa.
Kieran graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor degree in Political Science and History. Eventually he plans to obtain a graduate degree in Political Economy, but for now he has graduated maxima cum laude in Monkey Rockery! His larger than life personality blended with his unstoppable energy and warm and friendly personality make him Monkey Rock Music’s most popular instructor.
Githmi Gunapala – Teacher
Githmi eats sleeps and breathes music. She is just finishing up her Bachelor of Music with Honours, and manages to do that while filling her week with Monkey Rock Music classes and her weekends rocking out at little monkey birthday parties! She has a background not only in studying music, and actually loves musical theatre as well! She loves performing as often as she can as well and sings with the Carleton Youth Jazz Orchestra! In a previous life she worked as a camp counsellor at an overnight camp caring for, educating and entertaining little ones all summer long.
No longer the new kid at Monkey Rock Music she is already filling our inbox with praise and testimonials, people can not get over how far our sweet soft spoken monkey instructor has come in the little time she has been with us.
Taylor Hirsch – Teacher
Taylor is our most musically eclectic and rockiest Monkey Rocker. Our newest, most tattoo’d and longest hair’d instructor has always been fascinated with all types of music and both plays and teaches everything from Classical, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Fusion, Funk, and is even in a Death Metal band called DIABHOLICO! He’s also very excited to announce he is planning to create a jazz-rock fusion trio called Tricerabear!
He recently joined Monkey Rock Music, has been playing the guitar for over 7 years and like most Monkey Rockers is about to complete his Bachelor of Music with honours. Taylor is also interested in different facets of music, and plans to get a second minor in Psychology before moving onto a graduate degree in Music Cognition specializing in research on musical development in children. This is not his first time teaching young children in music, he spent years at a musical summer camp and now does private classes.
Not only interested in music. Taylor is passionate about Science (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Astronomy, Medicine) and Languages as well. He is fluently bilingual in English and French and has even studied and speaks ASL, Latin and German (his family’s native tongue). One of Monkey Rock Music’s newest and biggest advocates, Taylor often raves to everyone her meets that the absolute ‘best way in the world’ to get your day started is clowning around, educating and learning from the kids in his Monkey Rock classes!
Shanti Gonzales – Teacher
Shanti is the newest member of the Monkey Rock family, holding down the fort in Montreal! After having worked for five years as a barista, she is so grateful to have traded in those cranky coffee addicts for all these smiling monkey faces!
Shanti has been performing since the age of 7; she was trained as a child opera singer, took piano lessons for 10 years, and taught herself the guitar at age 13. Her passion for performance goes beyond music – she is an avid lover of the theatre, working as an actor/director on three to five projects a year. She even founded CoffeeSpoons Theatre Project, a community theatre company back in her hometown of Boston, MA.
Shanti is finishing up her Honours degree in Drama and Theatre and working as a research assistant at McGill University. A proud Indian-Mexican-American woman, Shanti is currently writing a one-woman-show about her very multicultural upbringing. She is fluent in Spanish and French (and English), and is also a die-hard Bruins and Red Sox fan; you’ve been warned!
Monkey Rocker by morning, full-time student by afternoon, theatremaker by night, and coffee-drinker at all hours, Shanti always has a big smile on her face. She often gushes to anyone who will listen about how much she loves Monkey Rock – where else can you spend your days singing and laughing with the best and brightest monkeys in Montreal?!
