Our Instructors
Dr. Jerrode Marsh
Intermediate to Advanced PianoDr. Jerrode Marsh is the Executive Director of CMC, the Director of Music at Saint Paul Lutheran High School, and the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Sedalia Symphony Orchestra. She holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Portland State University and a Master and Doctorate in Piano Performance from UT Austin, with an emphasis on Chamber Music and Accompanying. She moved to Concordia in the fall of 2015 from Frankfurt, Germany, where she lived and worked the prior two decades as a professional musician, performing extensively as a piano soloist, collaborative artist, and conductor throughout Europe. She also worked as a Parish Music Director at an English-speaking Lutheran Church in Frankfurt. While living in Europe, she collaborated with many international singers and instrumentalists, played in special projects with the Frankfurt Opera, and she was actively involved in performing and organizing many benefit concerts. She founded the Trinity International Concert Choir, e.V., a large concert choir that performs major choral works with orchestra.
Dr. Gary Moege
Guitar Ensemble, Guitar, Horn, TrumpetA former member of the U.S. Air Force Academy Band, Gary Moege from Warrensburg, MO, is originally from eastern Kansas. He earned bachelors and masters degrees from Emporia State University; and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma. From 1981-2017, he was a professor of music at the University of Central Missouri, where he taught horn, classical guitar, and music history. In addition to currently serving as principal horn with the Sedalia Symphony; he has performed with the St. Joseph Symphony, the Springfield Symphony, and the Topeka Symphony.
Ms. Page Gravely
VoicePage Gravely, a Warrensburg native, has a Master of Music from the University of Central Missouri, specializing in vocal pedagogy, literature and performance. At UCM, she has served as an adjunct for Applied Lessons, Voice Class, Experiencing Music and Musical Theatre Workshop, and sung with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and she currently performs with KC Vitas, a new music chamber ensemble, and serves on their board as Treasurer. Presently, Page is an Administrative Assistant in the College of Health, Science and Technology at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
Page's criticism is constructive, backed by vocal science, and takes care of young voices through healthy vocal practices. Her voice students regularly receive the highest rankings at District and State Music Festivals, District and State Choirs, and they have received numerous accolades for stage performances. Page only takes voice students enrolled in 9th grade or higher and boys' voices should already be 'changed'. If you have an interested younger student, Page recommends you enroll them in piano and/or Kinderchor at CMC to begin their vocal music journey!
Mrs. Cherokee Pliemling
Beginning to Advanced Violin, Beginning CelloCherokee holds a Bachelors in Music Education and a Master of Arts in Music from the University of Central Missouri as well as two Associate degrees from the Community College of the Air Force (Human Resource Management and Education and Training Management). She studied violin under Mr. Harold Johnston, former Sedalia Symphony conductor and Dr. John Rutland, violin professor and symphony conductor at the a university of Central Missouri.
She rejoined the Sedalia Symphony in 2023 and serves as the concert mistress. Cherokee also serves in the Missouri Air National Guard as the Force Development Flight Chief and has over 20 years of dedicated service to her country and the state of Missouri.
Mrs. Rebecca Sowell
Beginning to Advanced Violin, Strings Class, Beginning PianoFrom the time she took her first violin lesson at eleven years old, Rebecca Sowell devoted much of her time to studying, performing, and later teaching, her craft. As a Christian, Rebecca originally found violin practice to be a wonderful time of peace, allowing for prayer and scripture meditation in the quiet of her mind as well as enjoying the beauty of music. As time continued, she pursued music as a profession and began her career of professional performing as a high school student with The Red Cedar Chamber Ensemble.
Rebecca received her Bachelor of Music from University of Iowa, Masters of Music from the University of Louisville, and studied and performed for a short time in the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. She has performed in numerous masterclasses with teachers such as Bayla Keyes, Time for Three, the Turtle Island String Quartet, and Nadia Solerno-Sonnenberg. Rebecca also studied in the areas of classical and jazz improvisation, baroque period violin performance, conducting, viola, and voice, singing as soprano 1 for Doxology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Rebecca previously taught a large string studio, including as Professor of Violin at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, and has taught and been guest clinician with many student orchestras and choirs at various schools and arts centers over the years. As a performer, she has performed 1st violin with the Peccatte String Quartet, had been guest principal second violin with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, guest assistant concertmaster of Orchestra Kentucky, concertmaster of Orchestra Enigmatic, and performed with the Louisville Orchestra, the Louisville Ballet pit orchestra, Evansville Symphony Orchestra. Rebecca has also collaborated in a number of music recordings, including violin in the Psalms Album by Sovereign Grace, and 1st violin for a music video of "All Creatures of Our God and King" with Sheets Music at the Ark Encounter.
Rebecca married her wonderful husband, Josh, in 2022, and since that time she has had her son, Keith, and her daughter, Aletheia. The Sowell family moved to Urich, MO in 2024, all of which has provided a change of pace in her musical career. She currently teaches violin with the Concordia Music Conservatory and spends much of her time raising her young children, being a homemaker, and perfecting her sourdough bread recipes.
Mrs. Cindy Calafaty
Beginning Piano, OrganMrs. Calafaty holds a Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal & Organ as well as a Master of Arts in Music Education from the University of Central Missouri. She has taught public school music for 24 years, five years K-12 general and vocal music and 19 years in elementary general music with extra-curricular choir. Before that, Mrs. Calafaty taught private lessons for several years. Mrs. Calafaty has been a church organist for over 45 years as well as directing adult and children’s choirs, including beginning a handbell choir for Sunday School students. Now retired from teaching in public schools, she is excited to join the team at CMC and go back to her first love, teaching private lessons to piano and organ students.
Mrs. Katie Drefs
HandbellsMrs. Katherine (Katie) Drefs has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Elementary Education, with an Endorsement in Vocal Music, from Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska (2007). Her principal instrument is organ, studying under both Dr. Charles Ore and Dr. Jeffrey Blersch during her undergraduate course work. She studied voice for four years under Dr. Janene Sheldon, as a second instrument. Katherine taught at St. Paul Lutheran School in McAllen, TX for 15 years before moving to Concordia, Missouri. During the time she was in Texas, she finished her course work to be a certified Orff-Schulwerk teacher, studying under well-known music educators including Karen K. Benson and Natasha Thurmon. She has played handbells for over 20 years, under the direction of several fantastic directors. Katherine is Director of Music Ministry and primary organist at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School in Concordia, MO. She finds great joy in finding ways for all students to connect with music in a way that both deepens their relationship with Jesus and their ability to engage in music.