Meet the Instructors
Music and Mastery brings in-home music lessons to Orange County and Los Angeles families. Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, East Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu. We teach guitar, piano, bass, ukulele, drums, and music production for kids and adults.
What ties our roster together: every instructor passes a DOJ and FBI background check via LiveScan before they ever knock on a student's door, and every one is a working musician who genuinely loves passing it on. We're picky on purpose. The difference between a teacher who can play and one who just teaches is the difference between a kid who stays with music and one who quits.
Jonny Dolan
Music and Mastery is Mountain City Music Co. under a newer name. I founded Mountain City in 2022 and built its in-home, background-checked instruction model there; Music and Mastery brings that same model to Los Angeles and Orange County. The lessons here are taught by instructors who live in the areas they serve, hired, background-checked and trained by me.
Some background. I've spent 11 years teaching music both as a full-time public-school classroom teacher and as a private instructor. Collectively I've taught thousands of K-12 and adult students. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Choral Music Education and a California teaching credential. Outside the classroom I've performed as a studio guitarist in Los Angeles and as a professional choir singer. I specialize in rock guitar but teach across all styles: folk, pop, jazz, classical, whatever a student wants to play.
Every instructor we bring on goes through the same DOJ and FBI background check and audition process I built for MCMC over the last three years. I match every student myself, and if the fit is not right after the first lesson we re-match you at no charge.
Arthur Chou
Arthur is a guitarist, performer, and educator with more than five years of teaching and live performance behind him. He graduated with High Honors from Musicians Institute, earning an Associate of Arts in Guitar Performance, and plays pop, rock, funk, R&B, blues, and fusion. He tailors each lesson to the student's own goals, building fundamentals, creativity, and confidence together. Music has always been a big part of his life, and teaching is how he shares the creativity and connection it brings.
Giovanni Raimondo
Giovanni holds a bachelor's degree in Music from Cal Poly Pomona and has played piano since he was six years old, studying mostly jazz and pop. He teaches songwriting alongside playing, and builds the skills a student needs to improvise on their own. He sees music as one of the greatest forms of personal expression, and that is how he teaches it.
Armando Salazar
Armando holds a Bachelor's in Music Education from CSUSB and has been teaching for six years, working with students from age 3 through adult, beginner to advanced. Armando started on electric guitar at 16, learning popular music from the '70s through the early 2000s, then went on to sing with the CSUSB Opera Theater and community ensembles including The Pass Choral, and to perform alongside Folklorico groups, at the National Orange Show grand opening, and with the Palomar College advanced choir. Every student learns a little differently, so Armando brings patience, empathy, and real joy for the work to finding the path that fits each one.
More Instructors Coming Soon
Music and Mastery is actively recruiting instructors for Orange County (Costa Mesa, Lake Forest) and Los Angeles (Burbank, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Malibu). Every instructor we bring on is DOJ and FBI background-checked via LiveScan. Tell us where you are and we'll reach out as soon as we have someone on your street.
What to Expect From Your Lessons
Every Music and Mastery lesson is 1-on-1 in your home, scheduled around your family's calendar. Most students start with a free first lesson so you can confirm the instructor is the right fit before committing. We match students to instructors based on instrument, age, experience level, and (when it matters) personality. If the match isn't working after that first lesson, we'll re-match you at no charge.
First-lesson goal: figure out what you actually want to play. Whether that's the riff from your favorite song, your kid's school recital piece, or just learning to read music from scratch, we build the lesson plan from there. No boring exercises. No filler. We focus on real songs from day one because that's what keeps students excited to come back.
Ready to meet your instructor?
Book a free lesson and we'll match you with the right teacher for your instrument and goals.
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