Meet Our Teachers!   
All our teachers at Lowell Learns have a high degree of skill and experience along with a passion for sharing their love of music and art with students of all ages. Our programs are strengthened by many wonderful volunteers who help to create a safe and fun learning environment.

Janet Barry
Co-Director
Janet ​is the current Minister of Music at Christ Church United, and is very excited about the Lowell Learns initiative! She holds a BM in organ performance, and an MFA in poetry. She has been a church musician for over twenty years, has sung with Concord Chorale (NH) and with the world music group Village Harmony, and is a published poet. Janet has a love for all forms of music and is passionate in her belief that everyone can make music, especially in community, experiencing the joy of learning and creating together

Mel Steiger
Co-Director
Mel received her bachelors in music education in 2009 from Buffalo State University, where she also completed her Masters degree in 2015. She also holds a masters degree in curriculum and instruction. Melissa has been teaching K to 5 music education since 2011. 

She also enjoys writing musical children's books and creating wacky songs and games for her music classroom. She has a focus on inclusiveness and inviting everyone to enjoy music together: her classes feature simple tricks to help everyone learn.

Mel teaches Mini-Mozarts, Kids Ukulele, Group Ukulele and updates the website!

Kimsokun Ket
Kimsokun  is a graduated student of Sutra Studio in 2016. she is currently a Registered Yoga Teacher with 200 hours in fluid yoga. Her teaching methods reflect the life she embraces: adventurous and always exploring the unknown. Yoga enhances her mind in finding peace and cultivating love throughout her practice. Having fun is an important aspect in her teaching as well. If there is one goal she would like to accomplish, it would be to show how time is very precious. She would love nothing more than to help others find peace internally and help spread positive energy out to the world.
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​Michael Mageau
Michael is a community minister and teacher from Providence, RI. He is a life-long student of the guitar and continues to study both solo nylon string guitar and jazz theory. He currently teaches beginning and intermediate steel string and nylon string guitar among his current students at Christ Church United in Lowell. His musical philosophy is a commitment to developing one’s guitar playing as beneficial for both mental and emotional well-being and the pure joy of making and performing music for oneself, with friends and for others. Lessons are offered on Wednesday afternoon at CCU in Lowell. 

Erin Dubois
​Erin is a freelance flutist, teacher, and collaborative artist in the Greater Boston Area. She holds a Bachelor of music degree in Flute Performance from the University of Southern Maine where she studied with Jean rosenblum. In 2014 she completed her Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.


She has performed in the past in many different settings, including performances with The Tim Janis Ensembles, a Massachusetts-based Contemporary Concert Seriest with pianist Andrew D’Antonio, as First Flute with the Refugee Orchestra, on-call flutist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, substitute piccoloand flute with the Lowell Philharmonic, substitute piccolo with Symphony New Hampshire, in chamber orchestras for Forstiana by Randall Thompson, and in her chamber music duo Duo-Dubois with her percussionist husband Kyle Dubois.


Along with teaching lessons at Lowell Learns, Erin is on staff at Let’s Play Music & Make Art, LLC, she leads the Litchfield Public School District Flute Choir, and she teaches privately out of her home.

Laurie Simko  
Laurie is an oil painter with a subject matter that explores the natural world. She received a BFA at the California Institute of the Arts and participates in on-going workshops and classes. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, Copley Society of Art, Rockport Art Association and has a studio at Western Ave Studios in Lowell.

Bruce Palmer

Bruce is a percussionist of 19 years and a graduate of UMass Lowell’s Music Business program. Bruce aims to instruct, encourage, and inspire students in their pursuits to learn this intuitive and visceral class of instruments. Having picked up the sticks as a toddler and started lessons by age 7, his repertoire is far reaching and continuously expanding. Bruce’s experience in his hometown’s school band program, grades 4 – 12, granted him invaluable experience in an orchestral setting. Branching from this, his experience in Marching Band and Percussion Ensemble lend him an edge in technicality. His studies in music at UMass Lowell have immersed him in the worlds of Jazz and Funk, and his personal interests tie all these styles together, with the inclusion of Rock and Metal.


Bruce believes that percussion is everybody’s instrument; if you have a hand or foot to spare, you can play. With a hand, stick, mallet, spoon or just about anything else, learning drums and percussion can be fun and empowering. Bruce aims to instill long lasting confidence and inspiration in his students as he guides them along their paths in percussion and musicality.

Virginia Cramer

Virginia has been teaching in public schools for over 30 years. She holds a duel certification in classroom education K-6 and in Art Education K-12. She has taught Art at both the middle and high school levels and is currently teaching middle school art in Chelmsford. As a practicing artist she is a member of the Arts League of Lowell, a former member of the Westford Avenue Artists Association, and now maintains a home studio in Chelmsford. She has exhibited work in Cambridge, Brookline, Lowell, Lincoln, Westford and Chelmsford. 

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