Our Instructors
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Tamara Maddaford
Director, Music Together®, Flute
Director and owner of Music Academy of the Rockies, Tamara Maddaford began her musical journey at age eight taking flute and piano lessons. She went on to receive her BM from San Jose State University and her MM from the University of Iowa both in Flute Performance.
While in undergraduate school, Tamara was introduced to the world of early childhood music and fell in love with teaching young children. She had taught on and off for years before her first child was born and she fell in love with teaching young children all over again. After teaching in Denver for three years, she decided to open her own center right where she lives, here in Castle Rock, opening Music Together of Castle Rock. Over the years, we expanded locations into Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch.
Her vision for music was always one that reached beyond early childhood music and she has found a way to expand that vision with the Music Academy of the Rockies. Focusing on group lessons for students of all ages, Tamara is excited to bring on talented teachers to teach group voice and guitar lessons for older students in addition to her Music Together offerings and her own private flute teaching.
Mrs. Maddaford is also principal flute of the Stratus Chamber Orchestra and has a private flute studio where students participate recitals, in the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program, become members of youth orchestras and are leaders in their schools. Her students have won the Colorado Flute Association’s Student Honors Competition, been selected for the All-State Bands and Orchestras, and have gone on to major in music performance and education. She performed and toured with Areon Flutes and their recordings can be found on iTunes and Amazon Music.
Chandler Hoffhines
Music Together®
Mr. Chandler is just joining Music Academy of the Rockies, although he’s been teaching Music Together groups for 18 months. He grew up in a musical family in Elizabeth, CO and has loved singing and dancing since he was a little boy. He likes to play guitar, ukulele piano and drums. Mr. Chandler joined Music Together originally as a parent—he and his son John enjoyed what we do so much that he signed up for our teacher training and soon came on board as a teacher! Mr. Chandler really believes in the power of music to connect us, to help us learn and grow, and to have a more full experience of the world.
Rayma Carter
Music Together® & Rhythm Kids®
Rayma Carter is brand new to the Denver metro area but not to Music Together! Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Rayma completed a bachelor's degree in Music Therapy at Mississippi University for Women then worked as a music therapist for seven years across Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia.. Her experience includes music therapy assessments and sessions in school classrooms, early childhood music groups, a school for the deaf, nursing homes, a private school for students on the Autism Spectrum, NICU/Pediatrics, and many more diverse settings. Rayma's love for early childhood led her to pursue more knowledge through certifications for Neurologic Music Therapy, Music Together teacher training, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit- Music Therapy, and Bereavement Training: Perinatal Death. Rayma's Music Together experience includes leading Family Classes(Mixed-age and Babies), Music Together Within Therapy, and Generations. When she's not strumming a guitar and singing silly songs to her husband, you can find Rayma crocheting, baking, or roaming the aisles of a thrift store for the best bargains.
Peter Burkholder
Clarinet & Saxophone
Peter Burkholder began listening to jazz music before he could walk, bouncing to the beats of David Sandborn as a one-year-old. It was only a matter of time before he caught the bug. He started playing the saxophone in 2007 taking lessons at the Levine School taking lessons from Navy Commodores unit leader, William C. Mulligan. He continued to study classically into high school and began studying jazz as well under prolific Maryland educator and performer Paul Carr. He met Paul on scholarship to his well-known "Jam Camp” at the Jazz Academy of Music. Peter received the scholarship by winning one of two “Outstanding Soloist Awards” at the 2011 Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival. His senior year Peter played lead alto in the Yorktown H.S. Jazz Band in Arlington, Virginia, and was awarded the “Louis Armstrong Award for outstanding achievement in the field of jazz” by program director Brian Bersh.
The passion Peter developed for jazz in high school extended into his undergraduate studies. At James Madison University, he pursued an undergraduate degree in music, studying under sax professor David Pope. Highlights of his performances as Lead Alto in the JMU jazz ensemble are viewable below. After graduating from JMU, Peter pursued a Master's in music performance at Denver University’s Lamont School of Music, studying under pianist Eric Gunnison, trombonist and director Steve Wiest, and professor of saxophone Art Bouton. He won an outstanding soloist award at the Greeley Jazz Festival for his role as the “Dragon” in Steve Wiest’s composition “Ork Vs. Dragon.” This performance is also viewable on the Lamont School of Music’s YouTube channel. In May 2020 Peter graduated from the Lamont School of Music and a few months later accepted a teaching position at the conservatory. When he is not teaching you can find him leading local jam sessions in downtown Denver as well as performing in local theatre production companies playing various woodwinds in the pit orchestras.
https://m.soundcloud.com/peter-burkholder https://youtu.be/OZxF8mpC_FM
