Bio John
John
Bio John
John
John’s YouTube Ukulele Channel
John Allnutt has been teaching percussion and stringed instruments since 2008 and is an active educator and performer in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. He performs and teaches percussion, drum set, ukulele, and guitar.
John earned his Bachelor’s degree in percussion performance under the distinguished professor James Campbell at the University of Kentucky. Throughout his undergraduate education, he was a member of the Cavalier drum and bugle corps in 2003, ‘04, and ‘06 when they received two DCI World Championships, and a member of Rhythm X Indoor Ensemble in 2007. He then completed his Master's in Music Education at Southern Methodist University in 2012. John is currently a teaching artist with Innovative Percussion.
John’s students have many opportunities to perform locally from farmer’s markets and local businesses to places in need of musical cheer such as senior citizen centers.
Currently, John is very active with his Facebook Ukulele Group and YouTube channel - John’s Ukulele Cafe’. His passion is making instructional and audio reference videos from the Daily Ukulele series of books by Jim and Liz Beloff.
John resides in Richmond with his wife Laura and dog Sam. He enjoys cooking and growing food, meeting new people through their Airbnb, roasting coffee, and spreading joy through playing and teaching music.
Bio Laura
Laura
Bio Laura
Laura
Laura Allnutt, a graduate of University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Music in piano performance, teaches piano with passion, precision, and patience. She has studied piano with Alfred Mouledous at Southern Methodist University, Dr. Irina Vorobieva at the University of Kentucky, Sergei Polusmiak at Northern Kentucky University, and Dr. Rachel Taylor in Georgetown, Kentucky. Laura has received many scholarships to study and perform at universities and abroad. In the fall of 2007, she won first prize in the KMTA Bluegrass Young Artist Division and first prize in the KMTA Bluegrass College Piano Ensemble Competition. Laura adjudicated a piano festival for the National Federated Music Club in 2009. Currently an active collaborator, she has worked with the Allen High School ensembles and performed at the UIL State Solo and Ensemble contest in Austin, Texas in May 2012, 2013, and 2014. Laura and her husband, John, have played for several musicals since 2009, including Bat Boy, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Songs from a New World for John Paul II High School and the Art Centre Theatre. John and Laura played for Tarzan in fall of 2013 with Plano Children’s Theatre and were both featured on WFAA “Good Morning Texas” to promote the production. They premiered a local production called Broken: The Musical in 2014 at this historic Gilley’s venue.
Laura has experience teaching privately at her home studio in Allen, Centre for Musical Minds in Frisco, the Northern Kentucky Music Preparatory Department, the Central Music Academy in Lexington, and at the Seven Hills School in Cincinnati. Her pedagogical training is extensive, and she has attended the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in 2009, 2011, and 2013 in Chicago. At the SMU Institute for Piano Teachers, Laura presented a flash talk on incorporating yoga into piano lessons. She enjoys composing piano duets for beginners and making audio tracks to accompany her students.
Traveling with the King’s Brass across the United States gave her a renewed perspective of performing after 120 concerts from May of 2008 to May of 2009. Inspired from music festivals she attended in France and Austria as an accompanist in 2004-2007, Laura believes that teaching piano is beyond the right notes, rhythms, and fingerings; music is about communicating a message. Music is the most powerful means of expressing oneself, and Laura desires to inspire children and adults alike through learning the universal language of music.
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
