All of the teachers at Mode Music Studios are working musicians getting paid to write, perform and record. Our teachers also have a passion for what they do.
We feel fortunate to be able to pass that down to the younger generation and get them excited to play music in the same way we have been throughout our careers.
All Mode teachers have passed a Washington State background check.
For the past 25 years, Joe Simpson has poured his heart into piano, voice, and guitar lesson instruction. Over those years, he’s taught students age 5 through 83. He has 13 years of classroom experience, teaching K-5 General Music, as well as middle and high school choir. He spent 4 years in the 5-time Gold Medal winning A Capella Barbershop Chorus, The Ambassadors of Harmony in St. Louis, Missouri. From 2022-2024, prior to relocating from St. Louis to the PNW, Joe was the Executive Director and Instructor at his own non-profit studio, JoReMi Inc. Between high school, college, and adulthood, he spent a total of 18 years on the stage, singing, dancing, acting, and music directing. 12 of those years were in the community theatre community in St. Louis. For 17 years in Ohio, and 23 years in St. Louis, Joe was singing, playing piano, and/or music directing bringing joy to the folks in the pews in the Catholic Church. Somewhere along the way, he squeezed in 20+ years in the Social Service industry, as a counselor, case manager, therapist, and student support specialist, which he brings into his music education, because music is about community, joy, healing, and growth.
Joe’s goal is to take you, or your child, on a journey of exploration, discovery, and development into the magic of being a musician for self improvement, healing, and community connection. Come join the fun and discover the joy of building new skills, doing something you thought you never could, and making the world a better place, one note at a time.
“It started early for me. On one hand, as a small child music just seemed to call me. While I was no prodigy, it just rang out in my soul. As I discovered its joy, I realized quickly it was also a healing escape from the trauma I was experiencing. Fast forward to my high school years, when I joined concert choir, show choir, and theatre, it literally saved my life. When I performed, the madness stopped storming for a few hours and I realized joy in my heart again.” -Joe Simpson, Instructor
Matthew Crissey is a multi-instrumentalist and engineer from Kent with the bass being his primary instrument. He has always loved music, with one of his earliest memories plucking a guitar which he had assembled from a tissue box, paper towel tube, and a rubber band as a young child. Music would go on to become Matthew’s most fierce passion and primary focus in education. He first picked up the bass around 2012 and adopted it as his main instrument while continuing to explore interests in other instruments such as guitar and piano.
Later, Matthew would study music at the University of Washington, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Music in Jazz Studies in 2022. He currently teaches and remains active as an on-call musician in the Puget Sound area, also exploring personal-creative endeavors from his home studio in Renton. There, he is in the late stages of production of a solo bass album featuring his writing, arranging, playing, recording and production techniques, and a few ensemble explorations, which he is excited to release. Matthew also can be found taking the stage with Seattle-based jazz-rock-pop group The Outtatowners.
Matthew’s teaching philosophy is one of holistic perspective; he believes that, while we train students to be instrumentalists, we first aspire to develop musicians, and before that, to cultivate artists. We as musicians strive to bring out our most creative selves, and that purpose should at no point be obscured by strict method or technique. Matthew’s approach is student-based, where the direction of instruction is determined by the interests and desires of the student.
Away from the studio and the stage, Matthew enjoys time spent practicing and competing as an amateur disc golfer, as well as more leisurely activities, such as playing old Pokemon games and hanging out with his cat Tiberius.
Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @matthew-crissey
Michelle Dodson is a young freelance musician and private music teacher specializing in cello performance. She performs and teaches a range of music genres spanning baroque, classical, jazz, and modern. She has played cello for 19 years.
She began her music degree at age 16 at University of Missouri St. Louis, and she transferred to DePaul University in Chicago after graduating high school, where she earned her liberal arts degree, a Bachelor of Music with an emphasis in cello performance, and a minor in economics from the Driehaus College of Business. While living in Chicago, she taught at the Music for Kids non-profit project. She also performed with the Chicago Composers’ Orchestra, City Lights Orchestra, and the funk-fusion band Pyzow! for their debut album in 2018. She also worked closely with modern composers to world-premiere eight new pieces.
Upon moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2018, Michelle became involved in the recording industry, being a featured artist in soundtracks and recording two solo albums of baroque and modern music respectively. She currently performs in the Seattle area with Everett Philharmonic, various string quartets, and substitutes in a variety of ensembles. She is passionate about working with local artists to create multidisciplinary art events to make classical music accessible to more members of the community.
Michelle currently specializes in teaching piano and cello, emphasizing an understanding of music theory, interpreting musical ideas, and developing instrument technique to communicate the musical ideas. She, her dog, and her cat love to go on hikes or walk around town when she is not playing music!
Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @michelledodson19 / Paypal michelledodson19@gmail.com / Cash App $connecttheDODS
Andi is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and performing artist that hails from the Saint Louis, Missouri region of the Midwest. She grew up with an inclination towards the arts: dancing to film scores, harmonizing with her family in the car, and sketching on the bed next to her older sister. Although Andi was raised by a single mother and finances were often tight, she came from a family of artists and musicians, and by the age of 9 was graciously gifted a school violin to play on in her elementary school orchestra. Later, she went on to pursue music full time, and earned her Bachelor of Music from Southeast Missouri State University, where she specialized in violin, performing with string quartets and symphonies across the Heartland, as well as on a larger scale in places like New York, Chicago, and Italy.
Over the years, she carved out her own path by freelancing and arranging music of all genres for concerts, weddings, and banquets. She also picked up several other instruments along the way, including viola, cello, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, piano, and voice. Since relocating to the Seattle area in 2017, Andi has shifted away from her classical roots, and is currently co-writing her debut album with her fiancé in their band June Gloom. They plan to release their first album in the near future — so stay tuned!
Throughout her musical journey, Andi has taught lessons to all ages and backgrounds in every place she has had the pleasure to call home. Her goal as a music teacher is to keep the student’s spark for music alive and thriving, and to cater her teaching style to each individual student, as everyone has different styles of learning. When receptive to it, Andi likes to incorporate music theory, analysis, improv, and songwriting into her student’s favorite tunes to encourage them to dig deeper with the music her students already know and love.
Tip Your Teacher! Venmo @ridingswritings
