Providence Music Lessons Team
Meet our teachers
At Providence Music Lessons, our experienced and passionate instructors offer guitar, piano, voice, drum, ukulele, and music theory lessons for students of all ages and skill levels. We provide personalized, engaging instruction that helps each student reach their musical goals in a fun, supportive environment.
Located in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island, we proudly serve students in Cranston, Pawtucket, East Providence, North Providence, Warwick, Johnston, Lincoln, and nearby areas.
Join the premier music school in Providence, RI and start your musical journey today!
THE TEAM
Jonah Tolchin
Owner/Founder
Jonah Tolchin got his start playing music right here in Rhode Island, where his early performances led to an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 2012. During that time, he collaborated with beloved local artists such as The Low Anthem and Brown Bird, helping shape his distinctive blend of folk, blues, and rock.
At just 20 years old, Jonah signed with the prestigious Yep Roc Records, launching a career that has taken him around the world. His music has been streamed over 30 million times across 78+ countries, and he has worked with musical icons including Jackson Browne, Rickie Lee Jones, Steve Jordan, Luther Dickinson. Jonah has become known not only as a gifted songwriter, producer, and recording artist, but also as a passionate guitarist and music educator.
Jonah’s students benefit from his decade of professional experience in songwriting, guitar, and music production. He teaches improvisation, music theory, rhythm and lead guitar, fingerpicking, songwriting, and basic audio recording—all while emphasizing how music can serve as a tool for self-discovery, confidence, and creative growth.
Featured by outlets such as NPR, Rolling Stone Germany, Guitar Player Magazine Japan, American Songwriter, and MOJO, Jonah brings world-class experience and a deep connection to Rhode Island’s rich musical roots to every lesson.
Bethany Ratcliff
Piano / Voice / Woodwinds
Bethany Ratcliff, a musician originally from Thibodaux, LA, brings a wealth of experience and passion to her teaching. With a Bachelor's degree in Music from the University of Southern Mississippi and currently pursuing a Master of Music in Sacred Music at Rider University, Bethany has cultivated her musical talents through education and practical application.
For over a decade, Bethany has served as a pianist and organist in various churches along the Gulf Coast, refining her performance skills in a weekly setting. Her teaching journey began during her undergraduate years, offering private lessons in woodwinds, keyboards, and voice to younger students. After graduation, she returned to Louisiana and taught elementary music, while also managing a studio of around 30 private lesson students within the school, alongside several teenage and adult students across the Bayou Region.
Now residing in Rhode Island, Bethany is enthusiastic about sharing her expertise and nurturing the musical aspirations of new students through private lessons.
Sasha Karaulova
Piano
Sasha Karaulova is a Providence based organist, pianist, composer and choir director. She has received an extensive music education in piano and organ performance, choral conducting and music theory. She earned her Bachelor’s degree (2014) from the Academic Music College at the Moscow State Conservatory, Moscow, Russia, and her Master’s (2017) from the Basel Music Academy, Basel, Switzerland. She gave her first organ recital at the age of eighteen at the Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Moscow, Russia. Over the years, she has worked as a private piano and voice tutor, school music teacher, organist, choir director, singer, and a music librarian.
Having taught privately for over a decade, she has come to realize that there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach to teaching piano performance. Therefore, she custom tailors the method and repertoire to each student’s needs, preferences and ability. She is equally comfortable teaching classical repertoire, jazz standards and pop. She also teaches all levels of music theory, all of her past students have successfully passed the AP music theory test and some even chose to major in music.
With younger children, she keeps the lessons as fun as possible, introduces different characters, uses games and empowers the kids with simple tools that let them improvise, explore and compose their own music, while always making sure the children learn the proper hand position and piano technique. She always gives her students manageable weekly and monthly assignments, updates the parents with their child’s progress and facilitates building a practice habit which is the most important part of learning any skill!
Brandon Broderick
Guitar / Ukulele / Beginner Piano
Brandon Broderick is a Music Performance and Music B.A graduate from Rutgers University. He has been teaching students of all ages for over 10 years and teaches several instruments including Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Vocals, Piano and Music Theory. Brandon is also ABRSM certified for the ABRSM Music Theory Exams. He teaches all styles and genres (rock, pop, jazz, acoustic, folk) and is open to teaching all students of any difficulty level or any age. On top of that, Brandon is a full-time musician and performer and has performed solo and with many bands over the last 15 years
Santo Rizzolo
Drums / Guitar
Santo Rizzolo is an American drummer and musician. His love for music and the drums began around the age of twelve when his father purchased him his first snare drum at a local garage sale. Santo has been playing drums professionally for over 15 years sharing the stage and recording with many artists such as The Village People, Steve Forbert, Dana Fuchs, David Bryan, Matt Oree, Nicole Atkins, Brielle Von Hugel (Finalist on TheAmerican Idol), Remember Jones, Dead On Live, JT Bowen, Arlan Feiles, Jackson Pines, Matt Wade Band, Play Date, Tara Dente, Brother Andrew, and Mike Montrey Band to name a few. Santo is currently plays and tours nationally with Atlantic Records artist Joe P.
Santo has been teaching for over a decade and has a deep-rooted love for sharing knowledge of his craft and watching students grow into great musicians. His passion for the fundamentals of the instrument, from rudimental studies to drumset performance is infectious and makes
learning new concepts very enjoyable. Adept in a wide range of diverse musical styles such as Rock, Funk, World music, Hip Hop/ R&B, Jazz, and Country, Santo can take a student in any direction they’d like and form lesson plans and practice routines that best suit their individual
needs.
When not teaching or touring, Santo enjoys writing and creating songs in his basement studio.
Nic Coolidge
Guitar, Bass, Pro Audio
Nic Coolidge is a multi-instrumentalist and record producer based in Providence, RI. He received a Bachelors of Music from NYU, studying with Modry Ferber, Wayne Krantz, and John Scofield. As a performer, he has played with Counting Crows, Augustana, Elle Varner, and can be seen currently with Coyote Island, Tyler-James Kelly, and Laden Valley. Nic is the owner of Dead Pop Studios, a Providence recording and production studio. He has made records with Jonah Tolchin, BabyFuzZ, Coyote Island, Ali McGuirk, Dazy Park, Matt Hartke, and many other regional and international acts.
Cameron MacIntosh
Drums
Cameron MacIntosh is a multi-genre drummer and educator born and based in New York City. After starting his journey with drumming at the age of 9, he began studying with a variety of local instructors, eventually becoming a student of the great Joe Morello. While in high school, MacIntosh held the drum chair in multiple national jazz ensembles, including the Grammy Band, The Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and Vail Jazz Workshop. Through these ensembles, he had the privilege of performing with greats such as Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Joe Lovano, and Al Jarreau.
Cameron earned his Bachelors of Music Degree (2018) and Masters of Music Degree (2020) from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Kenny Washington and Billy Drummond. He quickly began forging his place among the New York scene, and is equally at home in both the jazz and rock/singer-songwriter scenes. Since moving to New York, MacIntosh has performed with jazz luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis and the Isaiah J. Thompson Trio, and a variety of songwriters and bands including Morgan James, Laden Valley, The Ballroom Thieves, Doug Wamble, Katie Martucci, Matt Hartke, Miette Hope, and Aayushi Karnik, among others. In addition to touring around the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan, MacIntosh has performed at venues in and around New York City such as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note, Smalls, Mezzrow, 55 Bar, Rockwood Music Hall, Smoke, and Mercury Lounge.
Cameron also enjoys collaborative interdisciplinary work, and has been heavily involved in exploring the intrinsic connection between music and dance. In 2018 & 2019, he was invited to play in the house band for the Vail Dance Festival in Colorado, and wrote an original composition for a world premiere choreographed by Lauren Lovette. Since 2021, he has served as Musical Director for Revolve Dance Project, a yearly dance and music festival taking place in Rhode Island founded by his wife Kirsten, in which composers and choreographers are paired to create a show of all-original works each summer. Revolve celebrated its fourth season this past summer at The Strand Ballroom & Theater in Providence, RI.
Last January, MacIntosh curated and presented “The Drummers in the Foreground” at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center, a chronological homage to and re-envisioning of the brilliant works of drummers as bandleaders that have shaped the instrument since its beginnings up through present-day. He is a passionate teacher, and has been on the faculty as Professor of Drum Set as well as Percussion Studies at Salve Regina University.
In October of 2024, Cameron held the drum chair for the premier performances of Bryan Carter’s “Rustin in Renaissance,” a genre-spanning jazz oratorio written for vocalists, big band, and strings, celebrating the life and legacy of Civil Rights pioneer Bayard Rustin at The Appel Room. Most recently, he has delved heavily into the world of Broadway on top of his other musical endeavors, first subbing for Kate Nash’s “Only Gold” at the MCC Theater, and playing a one-night showing of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” in its entirety at Carnegie Hall. MacIntosh has subbed on several Broadway shows, including “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,” “Boop!,” and “The Great Gatsby.”
Shawn Waterman
Operations Manager
Shawn has over 15 years of experience working as a public educator and operations manager for small businesses and nonprofits. He's also an avid guitar player and forever grateful to his parents for agreeing to sign him up for lessons when he was twelve years old. In addition to playing guitar and writing songs, Shawn lives on a homestead in Central New York (but was born in Providence, RI!) with his wife and two young sons, where he enjoys gardening, exercising, and relaxing in his wood-burning sauna.