Music Staff Bios
Kelli Workman (piano, voice, Kindermusik) has been teaching music at The Renaissance Center since 2003. She teaches voice, beginning piano and all of the Kindermusik classes. She also teaches a studio singing workshop, which is a crash course in the vocal number system, studio technique, and creating background vocals. Before working at the center, she was a freelance session singer and background vocalist in Nashville, and the vocal director for the staff vocal group at the Media General Broadcast Services jingle factory in Memphis. She was a Music Theory major with a concentration in piano at the University of North Texas.
Jeff Martin (piano) is the director of Music Technology, instructor of Piano and Composition and resident piano technician at The Renaissance Center. A native of Henderson, Ky., Martin has worked as a high school band director and church music director and is the owner of Brookstone Music Publishing. He is currently Praise Band director for First Baptist Church in Dickson. He obtained his Bachelor of Music Education from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and conducted post-graduate studies at the University of Memphis and Florida State University. A songwriter, publisher and demo studio engineer, Martin has released two gospel piano CDs and an adult contemporary CD. He has served as Musical Director for productions of Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, Oklahoma, Annie and Bye, Bye Birdie, as well as pianist for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Jesus Christ Superstar. He resides in Burns with his wife, Christine.
Adjunct Instructors
The Music Department of The Renaissance Center employs a variety of instructors to meet the diverse needs of students through both private and group instrumental and vocal instruction. Most instruments are offered covering a variety of styles including classical, jazz and improvisation.
Marilyn Fair (voice and performance) has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a minor in Vocal Production and has performed primarily in musical theatre throughout her 20-year career. Marilyn studied voice for seven years in New York City with Emile Renan of the New York City Opera Company and acting with Elizabeth Browning of Circle Rep and performed in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including a four-year run in The Fantasticks. Marilyn began teaching private voice at The Renaissance Center in the fall of 2003 after making her home in Middle Tennessee with her husband, singer/songwriter Joe Fair, and their son, Nicolas.
Charles Anthony (Tony) Hendrix (drum Instructor) studied at Indiana University, Southeast, under Theodore Otten, percussionist with The Louisville Symphony Orchestra. Tony has more than 20 years of experience teaching and playing the drums. He was drummer for Grand Ole Opry artists during the 1980s and percussionist for Skeeter Davis. He played drums on tour for David Houston and Jim Ed Brown. Tony has played in concerts in Scandinavia and the Caribbean. A Dickson resident, Tony plays drums in the music ministry at First Baptist Church in Dickson.
Leslie Hudson (piano) holds a Bachelor of Music from Belmont University, where she majored in Piano Pedagogy. She studied piano with Robert Marler and Pedagogy with Linda Ford. Leslie began taking lessons when she was seven years old and though she knows she has talent, she has had to work and practice hard to develop into the musician she is today. This learning process makes her more understanding and creative as a teacher and she loves discovering solutions to musical challenges presented to her and her students.
Karen Pendley-Kuykendall (violin) has taught violin and fiddling at The Renaissance Center since 2005. Karen has extensive experience as both a teacher and performer. She has taught Orchestra programs in the Nashville-Davidson County schools for several years, as well as private violin instruction at Hermitage Arts Academy. Karen continues to work as a professional fiddle player and singer, backing up and touring nationally and internationally with many well-known country artists, and well as with her own bluegrass group, The HeartStrings. Karen is good teacher for students looking for a good classical violin foundation, with the ability to combine it with the commercial art of fiddle playing. For further information on Karen, you can visit her website at www.karenpendley.com.
A native of Houston, Texas, Lauren Winkens is a free-lance clarinetist, saxophonist, and flutist in the middle Tennessee area. Currently, she teaches private woodwinds lessons in Clarksville at Mary’s Music and her home studio, as well as in Dickson at The Renaissance Center. Lauren earned bachelors and masters degrees in clarinet performance from Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX) and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Greensboro, NC), respectively. She was a winner of the 2004 UNCG Concerto Competition. Also while at UNCG, Lauren helped to found Una Voce, the university’s award-winning clarinet quartet. Una Voce was the 2003 and 2004 North Carolina division of the Music Teachers’ National Association Chamber Competition winner, a finalist in the 2004 Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, California, and a performer at the 2005 Clarinet Fest in Tama City, Tokyo, Japan. Mrs. Winkens has performed with the Carolina Pops, Greensboro Ballet, Fayetteville Symphony (NC), UNCG Opera Orchestra, and the Houston Young Artist Piano Competition Orchestra. An accomplished doubler, she has also played in the pit orchestras with The Temple Theatre (Sanford, NC), The Renaissance Center’s Gaslight Dinner Theatre, The Greensboro Day School (Greensboro, NC), and various other venues. Before moving to Tennessee, Lauren taught private lessons in central North Carolina. She currently resides in Clarksville with her husband and newborn son.
Connie M. Haun (piano) received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from UT Knoxville, and an M.S. in Piano Pedagogy from The George Peabody School of Music in Nashville. She is a member of The National Piano Guild of Teachers, and The Nashville Piano Teachers Association. She has served as Pianist for The Cheatham County Community Theatre (2001-2006), the South Cheatham Chorale Society (2003-Present), and as Pianist for The Renaissance Center’s production of 2 Nights, 2 Acts, 2 gether (2007). She currently serves as Pianist for Kingston Springs United Methodist Church.
Todd Boswell (bagpipes) has played the Highland Bagpipe for almost fourteen years, and has been an instructor of pipes for about ten years, mainly with the Nashville Pipes And Drums, and now, for past few years at The Ren. Center. A French Horn player throughout High-school and College, an interest in his Scottish heritage sparked a desire to take up the pipes. A solo piper through the Southeast, teaching the bagpipes fulfills a love of the instrument, and a love of passing on an ancient tradition of playing the pipes.
Patrick Clark (violin/viola/fiddle) graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance. He started playing violin when he was five years old and has been playing professionally for 10 years. His playing influences include many violinists, including Itzak Pearlman, Hillary Hann and Issac Stern, and fiddlers Mark O'Connor, Aubry Hainey, Stuart Duncan and Byron Berline. He is a Suzuki-trained teacher but is not certified. He approaches teaching with a blend of influences including the Suzuki method and a traditional approach. Patrick teaches violin and viola, and he teaches fiddling with a classical technical approach with a focus on listening.
Derrick McCullough (percussion) received his Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Percussion Performance from Texas Tech University and his Masters of Science in Music Technology from Indiana University in Indianapolis. A resident of Fairview, he has worked professionally as a drummer/percussionist and instructor. Derrick worked as a graduate teaching assistant at IU and participated in several ensembles at Texas Tech, including the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, Steel Drum Band, Jazz Band, Singers Choir and Marching Band. He has worked as an audio engineer for the Gospel Superfest in 2006, a recording studio intern and a percussionist with the San Angelo and Big Spring symphonies in Texas.