Our History
- 2013 Musically Creative (Creative Music, LLC) was formed to offer affordable and professional music to all ages. Beginning Band and Worship Guitar were offered.
- 2014 Second and third year band were added to the courses offered.
- 2015 Young Guitar classes were added, targeting 7-10 year olds.
- 2016 Beginning Strings were added in the Summer and Classical and Worship Keyboard were added in the Fall. Creative Music brought on three new directors.
- 2017 Musically Creative expanded and offers classes in Prince William, Fauquier and Fairfax Counties. Musically Creative increased to seven active directors.
- 2018 Enrollment continues to grow as we start to establish a Fairfax County guitar studio in Vienna. Musically Creative adds mini-musical theatre for our vocal classes.
- 2020 Due to the CoVid - 19 crisis, we went 100% online during this time and in the summer started a large band program in small groups with three directors.
Directors
Brian Hubler
Guitar and Band Instructor Owner |
Brian is the owner and original director for Musically Creative (Creative Music LLC). He has a passion for teaching students and directing. He is a Northern Virginia native that grew up in Fairfax County and graduated from Chantilly High School where he participated in District and All-State Bands as a French Horn player. He went on to study Music Education at Arizona State, and then graduated from James Madison University with a Music Education degree and holds a VA Teaching License for K-12 Music. He learned guitar in college and soon after volunteered to lead a high school praise team at a local church. After graduating he taught 5th-12th band and strings at a private school in Manassas, and additionally worked as a part time Minister of Music. He then taught, primarily in Elementary Band, for more than eight years in Fairfax County Public Schools in the Vienna area. In addition to teaching band, as a conductor he taught several years with the Vienna Band Camp, and taught private and group brass and guitar lessons. For five years he was on staff as a Music and Communications Director at a local church, and is now employed as a Technology Support Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools. He has enjoyed launching this new business providing additional opportunities for group instrumental instruction to students and adults primarily in Prince William and Fairfax but also to all of Northern Virginia.
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Patrick Gillespie
Band (Brass) Instructor |
Patrick Gillespie has been performing and teaching in the Washington D.C. area for over 20 years. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from West Virginia University and a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of North Texas. Former teachers include Michael Wheeler, Dr. Keith Jackson and Tony Baker. Mr. Gillespie has performed with the West Virginia Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Jimmy Dorsey Band, Denton Public Theatre, Virginia Grand Military Band, Annandale Brass, The White House Quintet, and Manassas Chorale. He is an established private teacher in the northern Virginia area for over 15 years. Yearly, his students are selected for the Virginia All-State Band and many past students hold full time performing and teaching jobs throughout the USA.
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Andrew Bannan
Band (Percussion) Instructor |
Growing up in Haymarket, Virginia, Andrew Bannan started his musical journey playing the chicken dance on the drums for his second grade talent show with his little sister. Throughout high school Andrew played as a percussionist in the symphonic band, wind ensemble, percussion ensemble, orchestra, and marching band. Much of Andrew’s senior year of high school was spent auditioning for the Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps where he would spend two years touring the country playing drumset in the front ensemble. It was through band and drum corps that Andrew was inspired to become a band director.
Andrew is now studying music education at Belmont University and plays in the university’s premier jazz band and wind ensemble. In Nashville, Andrew works as a percussionist for musical theatre productions at local theaters and schools. He also teaches the front ensembles for the marching band and indoor drumline at Battlefield high school in Haymarket, Virginia and Brentwood high school in Brentwood, Tennessee. |
Ashland Murphy
Guitar Instructor |
Ashland has a true passion for teaching string instruments. She is motivated to revive and reconstruct the approach to teaching music to make the experience more positive and personal for all students. Part of reviving music teaching is providing more opportunities for students to learn the guitar. The guitar is the easiest way that we can reach out to children (and adults) and get them involved in music because of its cultural relevance.
Ashland majored in music education at James Madison University where she received high marks in all classes for the bachelor of music education degree and the Joy Holler- Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to only one student in the music education program per year. After teaching grades six through eight string orchestra and guitar in Stafford, VA for three years, she moved to Prince William County where she currently teaches fifth grade strings at Alvey, Haymarket, and Tyler Elementary School. During the summer of these years teaching she took classes at Florida State University and obtained a Master’s degree in Music Education where she also received the FSU Study Abroad Achievement Scholarship and studied guitar with Edward Prasse, a popular guitar method book writer and educator. She continues to be involved in developing her skills as a professional musician by playing the guitar at weddings and other formal events. |
Michelle Rupert
Band (Woodwind) Instructor |
Michelle Rupert fell in love with band when she began playing the saxophone at age 10. She told her parents that one day she was going to be a band director! Ms. Rupert has now been working with young band students for the past 23 years with the same passion for music that she had when she was a young girl.
Ms. Rupert’s love for teaching and “music making” recently brought her to Saunders Middle School in Manassas, Virginia where she currently all their bands. Previously, she has taught at Herndon High School, Dogwood Elementary and Lake Anne Elementary in Fairfax County, Virginia. In 2017, Ms. Rupert received the "Elementary Band Director of the Year" award by the Fairfax County Band Directors Association. As a bassoonist, Ms. Rupert has enjoyed performing with the Shenandoah Valley Philharmonic, Roanoke Symphony, Rockbridge Symphony, Riverside Wind Symphony, Capital Wind Symphony and Brevard Music Center Orchestra. She has performed under the direction of Keith Lockhart, director of the Boston Pops, toured California with Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse and the New England Symphonic Ensemble, and was a regular performer at Carnegie Hall for several years. Ms. Rupert was the guest conductor for the Prince William County Middle School All District Band in 2007, the Prince William County Eighth Grade All County Band in 2011, was the Assistant Conductor of the Manassas Symphony Orchestra from 2009 – 2012, and has taught at the Bocal Majority Double Reed Camps in Virginia since 2013. In addition to her position at Benton, Ms. Rupert serves as the Assistant Director of Marching Band at Battlefield High School. She also performs with the Manassas Chorale and teaches private lessons. Ms. Rupert is proud to be a product of Virginia schools. She attended Chantilly High School before receiving a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from James Madison University and a Master of Arts in Conducting degree from George Mason University, under the tutelage of Professor Anthony Maiello. She resides in Haymarket with her husband, Greg, and their three sons. |
Carrie Sullivan
Guitar Instructor (Prince William) |
Carrie Sullivan is the guitar teacher at George Hampton Middle School in Prince William County Virginia. She is a graduate from West Virginia University where she obtained her degree in music education in 2017. She has taught general music, secondary band/orchestra, and guitar in Maryland and Virginia. While she specializes in low brass instruments she has loved playing guitar since high school and studied with Scott Elliott at West Virginia University. She is very excited to be joining the musically creative team this summer!
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Nita van der Walt
Piano & Vocal Instructor |
Nita van der Walt was born in South Africa and received her degree in Opera performance with Piano as a second instrument from the Technikon of Pretoria with honors in 1999. She passed her Piano and Vocal Performance licentiate exams with honors at the University of South Africa. She has sung several roles in student and professional productions including: Blondchen, Entfuhrung aus dem Serail; Sophie, Rosenkavalier; Despina, Cosi fan Tutti; Monica, The Medium; Adele, Fledermaus; Kathie, Student Prince and Christine, Phantom of the Opera. She has performed as soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Faure’s Requiem and several Christmas and Easter Cantatas with orchestra.
Nita released her first CD "New Songs to Sing" in the fall of 2009; An album of Classical Christian songs she has written and composed herself. She professionally performs a wide range of repertoire from Show Tunes, Broadway, Pop, Celtic and light Opera and frequently sings for local outreach events. Nita has been teaching piano, voice and drama extensively over the past 17 years. She has also written and directed multiple “Mini- Musicals” to assist, challenge and grow young singers in the art of musical and stage performance. She has trained hundreds of students in discovering their own unique sound and growing their musical gifts and talents for the purpose of making a difference in the lives of their community. Many of her students have gone on to pursue careers in Musical Performance and Teaching. |
Alan Webb
Guitar & Ukulele Instructor |
Like many people I picked up the guitar as a teenager and set out to teach myself or learn from friends. One such school mate, Stewart Copeland, went on to play drums for the Police. However, after hearing many great guitar players and styles, I realized that I didn't know much. I figured lessons would be a shortcut to learning.
After attending UVA for a year I transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston Ma. Berklee is world reknown for contemporary music studies. I graduated with a B.M. in Instrumental Performance. I also studied privately at Charlie Byrd's House of Music and jazz lessons with Rick Whitehead and Frank Vignola. I have played professionally in a variety of bands and venues as well as solo guitar. I performed at the White House, Off Broadway shows, with Swing Big bands and various Jazz, Blues, Country, and Top 40 groups. I established The Guitar Studio in Manassas Va. and have been an adjunct professor for the Manassas and Woodbridge Campus of NVCC. I have created guitar courses for Continuing Education classes at NVCC college, Burgandy Farms Country Day School, Music and Arts Center, and now Guitar and Ukelele for Musically Creative. My students have succeeded with the guitar on several levels. Many have gone to college and major in music. Some are now working musicians and/or also teach guitar.One former student is producer and plays guitar for the Bret Michaels Band. Another student teaches the guitar classes for Manassas City Public Schools. Current students are out playing in their school ensembles, church praise bands, and local groups. Others are still "pickin' and grinnin'"! |
Alyson Wyckoff
Strings Instructor |
Alyson Wyckoff is a Strings specialist in Prince William County where she instructs fifth grade students on the violin, viola, cello, and bass. This is her first year as a public school teacher, but she has taught private lesson in the area for several years. Alyson received her undergraduate degree from James Madison University in music education and a minor in family studies. In addition to teaching privately and in the public schools Alyson has worked at several summer camps where she taught different age groups in orchestra. Alyson believes that music should be apart of everyone’s lives and would like to be apart of the process of bringing music to everyone.
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