Our Team

José Valencia

Jose Valencia is a Guitarist with a background that extends to the mediums of classical, rock, blues, and other forms of music. Jose began his musical training at the age of 14 under Jazz musician, Jerry Topinka. At the age of 21, Jose continued his musical training over at Kean University, where he studied with classical guitarists Chris Keniff and Brett Grigsby. At Kean, not only did he grow as a guitarist, but as a musician be trained in Music Theory, Sight Signing, and Piano. He has performed at various venues throughout the New York and New Jersey area including the Blender Theater, Rockefeller Center, The Bitter End, Le Poisson Rouge and Maxwell’s among others. He is involved in a number of personal side projects, including two bands entitled Tactylics and 7Envy.

Bob Muskus

Bob Muskus teaches drums and computer recording at the Cranford Guitar and Music Center. Bob began playing drums at the age of 9. At age 13, Bob performed with the rock band The Inspirations at the New Jersey Garden State Arts Center taking second place in a state talent competition. Bob also played snare drum in the Cranford Patriots Drum and Bugle Corps. for 2 ½ years. At the age of 14, Bob studied with famous jazz drummer Joe Morello of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. At age 17, Bob studied with rock drummer Carmine Appice of the Vanilla Fudge. During high school, Bob was the winner of the New Jersey All-State, All-Eastern, and McDonald's All-American Band competitions. Bob also performed with popular local rock band Albatross where he and guitarist (now bassist) Bruce Szczygiel first met. Bob earned a Computer Science degree from Union County College and worked at AT&T for 17 years as Computer Programmer and Senior IT Project Manager. Bob has spent the past 3 years combining his music and computer skills bybuilding and utilizing PC desktop and laptop computers for digital multi-track recording. Called Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), they are essentially digital multi-track recording studios all on a home or portable computer. When asked about his work in this area, Bob stated "It's amazing what you can do with a PC these days. What once required rooms full of expensive equipment can now be done at home with software and a few mouse clicks."

Dave Mondragon

David Mondragon has been playing music since he was 9 years old. He originally started on the clarinet and piano, then fell in love with the guitar at age 11. As a teen and young adult, Mondragon was a member of the hard rock/heavy metal band E.town Concrete, touring the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. The band's music videos were featured on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball, several Playstation video games, and on a Budweiser commercial for the 2004 US olympic team. Mondragon has since returned to school, completing his Bachelor's in music studying the classical guitar at Kean University.

Dan Bulich

Dan Bulich started playing guitar when he was 13 under instruction of jazz guitarist Frank Varrichio. He then received his BA in music at Kean University. He studied classical guitar under the instruction of Chris Keniff. While going to Kean he began teaching guitar privately in Cranford. He also currenly plays shows around New Jersey and New York with his bands Level 1 and 7Envy.

Ian Farrington

Guitar instructor, Ian Farrington, attended Morris County College where he studied classical guitar with Carol Hammersma and blue grass guitar with Todd Collins. Farrington is currently persuing a bachelor's degree in Music Education at Kean College studying guitar with Christopher Kenniff and performing with the Kean jazz ensemble under the direction of Andy Fusco.

Kelly Bennett

Kelly Bennett has been performing for over 15 years as a vocalist and actress. She began her music career performing in various community musicals, with leads in shows such as Godspell, A Chorus Line, Pirates of Penzance as well as many others. She continued to study at Kean University under the direction of Katherine Harris where she obtained her degree in 2009. As a student, Kelly performed as a soloist in opera scene productions of Hansel and Gretel and Amahl and the Night Visitor, as well as performing in full operas such as Don Giovanni. She currently performs with local rock band 7Envy.

Joe Ferraro

Joe Ferraro is regarded by his peers as one of the areas premiere guitarists. Joe began studying jazz guitar at the age of 10 and played in his first band, Charlie and the Tuners, at the age of 13. Soon after, Joe joined the group The Fanatics with one of the original members of the 1910 Fruitgum Company. At the age of 17, Joe founded the popular original band Thulcandra which opened rock shows for such bands as Kiss, J. Geils Band, Rod Stewart, Pocol Harum and Deep Purple. At the age of 18, Joe pursued a Classical Guitar music degree at Jersey City State College. Joe toured the East Coast performing with the late, great jazz organist Larry Young. Joe's current project is an original rock fusion band called Prymaxe with Bob Muskus on drums, Bruce Szczygiel on bass, and Joe Ferraro on guitar.