About Us
Centrally Rooted was founded by Callie FitzGerald. Her belief is that growth, exploration, and supported discovery of self encourages the positive development of brain health. Stemming from a moral idea of self love being critical to happiness, the hope is to offer a safe and supportive community with multiple avenues of expression to grow and learn.
Donations
Centrally Rooted humbly and gratefully accepts any donations to help promote our mission and support our scholarship fund.
Centrally Rooted is operating as a non-profit (501(c)3)).
​
If you are making a donation greater than $250 and hope to seek a donation letter for tax purposes, please contact Callie. Thank you for your contribution!
Meet the Team
Callie FitzGerald
Founder, CEO & Teacher
Callie is a board certified music therapist and the founder of Mindful Musicians. She has degrees in music education, vocal performance, and music therapy. She is as equally fascinated with neuroanatomy as she is with psychology and self-growth. Through her lens of neurologic music therapy and her life experiences that have taught the importance of self-love, she has created this program base and has big visions for what is to come.
Megan Gloss
Yoga & Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Voice)
Danny Zanger
Chief Operating Officer
AmeriCorps Vista Member
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Songwriting & Piano)
Danny is a local Dubuque Songwriter and Composer. Danny studied Songwriting at McNally Smith College of Music and Composition at Clarke University. Songwriting and Composition have always been a passion of his, writing his first songs at the age of 12. Danny has been a part of several groups over the years as a keyboard player, vocalist, and songwriter including the R&B/Funk outfit, One More Day and the Indie Rock group, Thank You Pizza. Currently, Danny performs his original music in the Dubuque area as a singer-songwriter, with his jazz group— The DZ Combo. You can also find Danny performing in other local groups such as Lame Witch, Marzipan Mailbox, and Big Sloth. Danny believes that well crafted music opens the mind to new perspectives, thoughts, and feelings— that music is a key to understanding and the human connection.
Megan began her yoga journey at the encouragement of a friend and fellow musician in 2016 at B-1 Yoga in Dubuque. A longtime opera singer with local and regional ties to the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and Madison Opera, she noticed an almost immediate shift in her vocal performance and, with piqued curiosity, decided to explore this new dynamic and its correlation to her instrument. As COVID-19 put the kibosh on much of her scheduled performances in 2020, it also created space for her to complete her Yoga Teacher Training. Megan has since authored multiple articles on the connection between yoga and music for Classical Singer magazine. Teaching at B-1 Yoga, Megan can be found leading traditional vinyasa classes, as well as helping yogis settle into a deep and meditative candlelight yin practice. When not on her mat or on stage, she also is the features editor at the Telegraph Herald, where she covers all things arts and culture, as well as oversees Her magazine.
Ana Maria Locke
AmeriCorps Vista Member
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Clarinet)
Ana Maria is a clarinetist, artist, and educator based in Dubuque, Iowa. She is a graduate of Troy University and the UNC School of the Arts, and she is in the final stage of the doctoral program in Clarinet Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Iowa. Her passion for education and music has led her to serve in several nonprofits, including ArtistCorps, Please Pass the Love, and Centrally Rooted. She has found great joy working for Mindful Musicians, where she is able to draw, design, and develop new projects that further the mission by providing high-quality, engaging tools for youth to learn more about brain health. When she isn’t working on a new project, she can be found exploring Iowa or enjoying music at home while crafting with her husband and daughter.
Jill Klinebriel
Mindful Musicians Program Director
Jill began studying the piano at the age of 5 and hasn’t taken a break since! She studied classical piano performance at Michigan State University and earned her degree in musical theater performance from Western Michigan University. Jill has performed and taught in educational and community circuits in New York City, Montgomery Alabama, and the tri-state area since 2002. Jill is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Dubuque and music directs “kids take the stage” summer series at the Bell Tower theater.
Naomi Noel
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Piano, Voice, Percussion, Saxophone, Guitar, Ukulele, Flute)
Naomi was born and raised around Dubuque, Iowa and has been involved with music since the age of 8, when she started piano lessons. She graduated from Western Dubuque High School, and is currently pursuing a degree in music education at Clarke University. Beyond piano, Naomi began flute lessons at age 10, started guitar and ukulele around age 11, took up electric bass, tenor saxophone and percussion throughout high school. She was pit section leader in marching band and concert band first chair flute section leader. Naomi actively participates in all instrumental ensembles at Clarke University, playing flute in Wind Ensemble; tenor saxophone, bass, and piano in Jazz; and double bass in Orchestra. Naomi enjoys sharing her love of music with others and cannot wait to be a future educator of music.
Luke Boyle
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Guitar)
Luke has lived in the Peosta, Iowa area all his life. He has been playing guitar since he was nine years old. Attending his first live rock concert (Fall Out Boy) inspired him to start lessons. He also played percussion in the Drexler Middle School band for 4 years, participating in multiple ensembles and concerts. Outside of school, Luke has played guitar in multiple concerts including at The Smokestack in Dubuque and the Galena Center For The Arts. He also plays the drum kit and bass guitar. Luke plans to participate in the Western Dubuque Jazz Band throughout high school and to create music with his own rock band. Through lessons, Luke hopes to inspire a love for the guitar in others similar to what he possess.
Tony Quinn
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Guitar)
Tony is living a dream teaching guitar and music. He loved playing and singing music from a young age, but (perhaps mistakenly) decided it wasn’t “practical” to study music in college. He ended up in law school and practiced law in Dubuque for 24 years, with another five years of teaching paralegals at NICC, as well. To keep his sanity, though, he never stopped singing and playing guitar, and he has been a part of too many rock, blues, country, a capella, church, stage musical and gospel performances to count since he returned to the Dubuque area after law school. All told, he has been playing guitar for 45 years. He also has much experience in meditation and other mental wellness and growth practices, and believes in the importance of nurturing those practices from a young age.
Jeremy Jones
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Bass)
Jeremy has been playing bass guitar for over 30 years, Starting way back in the 90's he toured for 14 years with the christian rock band Sons & Daughters and more recently has played with such musicians as Elizabeth Mary, The DZ Combo, DR band, The Struggle, and more. He has been both an elementary and middle school music teacher, along with offering private lessons. In 2022-23, he had the honor of serving as the Show Band Director for Wahlert Catholic High School Impulse.
Erin Callahan
Mindful Musicians Instructor
Erin Callahan was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa and has been involved in music and the performing arts for most of her life. Erin is a graduate of Wahlert High School, where she participated in choir, show choir, a cappella choir and musicals. She received her B.A. in Drama/Speech from Clarke University in 2009. While attending Clarke, she also studied voice with John Lease and was a part of the Collegiate Singers. Erin has performed in many musicals in Dubuque, as well as the Chicagoland area. She continues to cantor at weddings and weekly masses at Resurrection Parish in Dubuque. Erin married her high school sweetheart, John, and together they share four children (see picture!). Erin has enjoyed spending the last twelve years as a stay at home mom and passing on her love of music and performing to her children. Erin is excited to sing and create music with her students during Mindful Musicians classes. She believes in Centrally Rooted’s mission of strengthening brain health and using music to build confidence in children.
Maria Mustafa
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Piano)
Maria has lived in Dubuque, Iowa for most of her life. She became interested in music in middle school, when she bought her first keyboard and started learning simple songs. Around the same time, she also joined the musical, and ended up continuing with music and theatre throughout high school through theatre productions and choir concerts. Maria is now a sophomore Music Education major at Clarke University, with piano and voice as her primary and secondary instruments, respectively. She plans to continue teaching and playing it throughout her career.
Mandy Diercks
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Voice)
Mandy grew up in Kieler, WI with a love of singing which led her to join the Sinsinawa Mound Children's Choir when she was just 8 years old. A couple years later she began playing the trumpet and flute in elementary school continuing through high school. Mandy self-taught herself to play piano until she became a music education major at Clarke University where her studies in voice, trumpet, and piano deepened. She earned her degrees in Business Administration and Marketing and Music Education at Clarke University. Mandy has taught elementary music for the past 19 years for the Dubuque Community School District.
Mandy enjoys singing on stage with her husband's band, singing with her church group of 19 years - Key of G, and performing on stage at the local theaters in Dubuque. When not performing or teaching, Mandy enjoys drinking coffee, learning about brain health through reading books and listening to podcasts, doing yoga and spending time with her family and fur babies.
Benjamin Drury
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Trumpet)
Dubuque native performer and teacher Benjamin Drury is thrilled to join the Centrally Rooted team!
Benjamin is a graduate of Clarke University ’10 in Music Education and the University of Iowa ’15 with an MA in Trumpet Performance. A multi-genre player, Benjamin has experienced just about everything a performer can on the trumpet, from orchestral playing, big band, small jazz combos, solo work, and even playing with a touring funk band! He can be heard on Soul Sherpa’s albums Invest in This and Same Wave Train where he both wrote horn lines and as a featured soloist. Benjamin also recently started performing with The DZ Combo, headed up by Centrally Rooted’s own Danny Zanger, to bring more jazz to the Dubuqueland area.
As a teacher, Benjamin is experienced with a variety of approaches to the trumpet. At Iowa Benjamin broadened his horizons by studying the great brass pedagogues throughout the last century and assembling their best lessons into his own approach to helping students learn trumpet. In practice, Benjamin emphasizes mindfulness while playing as a way to reduce anxiety, build upon students’ strengths, promote cognitive and musical development, and channel their passion in a healthy way. If you want to enroll a student to give them a running start at the trumpet, bring in a young player in need of direction, fix problems in someone’s playing, or just look for a helpful teacher to help you pick up on a few things, Benjamin caters his teaching to your needs.
Kaedynce Stevens
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Flute)
Kaedynce began playing flute in 6th grade and has been passionate about music and the fine arts since a young age. She was involved in band, choir, theatre, and art events during high school. Her love for flute led her to pursuing a degree in music at Clarke University. Along with flute, Kaedynce also studies piano, saxophone, and composition. She actively participates in a majority of the ensembles at Clarke University, including Jazz, choir and being first chair flute of the Wind Ensemble. She pushes herself to explore other ventures that further her education, including the Wisconsin Flute Festival, honor bands, academic presentations, and accompaniment opportunities. Kaedynce emphasizes the teaching of non-traditional methods like beatboxing and other contemporary techniques to help students explore the full spectrum of the flute and its possibilities. Along with physical playing techniques, she also teaches flute that is centered in the importance of physical and mental health. Through teaching lessons, she hopes to inspire students by providing an encouraging educational environment that is abundant in creative expression, while also pushing students to reach towards their full potential as both a musician and as an individual.
Stephen Mulvahill
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Piano)
Pianist and educator Stephen Mulvahill, a native of Houston, is an ABD doctoral candidate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Iowa.
Stephen is certified in the Suzuki method and teaches piano at Centrally Rooted in Dubuque. Before that, he taught piano and conducted orchestras for six years at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City. Stephen is adjunct professor of piano and music history at St. Ambrose University and faculty collaborative pianist at Kirkwood Community College. In his teaching, Stephen uses kindness and positive reinforcement to help students develop a beautiful piano tone, a sensitive ear, and a fluid and effortless piano technique.
As a pianist, Stephen has won top prizes in the Rosen-Schaffel Concerto Competition and University of Iowa Concerto Competition and has performed at music festivals around the United States and in Europe. He has been invited to give master classes and judge competitions at the college and pre-college level. Stephen's doctoral research explores ways in which a broader range of musical perspectives and styles could be brought into standard piano teaching.
Stephen is married to clarinetist and educator Ana Maria Locke and has a five-year-old daughter, Anastasia Sophia. When he's not teaching, practicing, or grading, Stephen enjoys being out in
nature, cappuccinos, reading a good book, and playing pretend with his daughter.
Jake Tebbe
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Percussion)
Jake Tebbe is excited to join the Centrally Rooted team! Jake graduated from Clarke (College) University in 2004 with a Major in Music Education. He is the Director of instrumental Music at Mazzuchelli Catholic Middle School and Holy Family Catholic Schools where he teaches 5th-8th grade band, and is part of the directorial team for the middle school musical. Jake brings 20+ years of music education experience to Centrally Rooted, with knowledge of Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone and Percussion skills. Jake can also be seen around Dubuque performing at The Grand Opera House and the Bell Tower Theater. He has also performed with The Julien Winds Ensemble and Tri-state Wind Symphony, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and The Mistletones. Jake’s main teaching philosophy is that everyone has music in them, and can learn music at any level. He meets the student wherever they are at with their ability, and makes learning exciting and fun! Jake wants to ensure that his students develop a love of music that they can take with them the rest of their lives.
Chichi Dusanek
Rooted Lessons Teacher
(Piano, Voice, Percussion)
Chichi's journey with music began when she was a young girl singing with her mom, the worship leader, at church. She then went on to be very involved in her school's choir and band programs--as an alto and a percussionist, respectively--throughout all of middle and high school. These experiences led her to participate in a plethora of honor choir and band programs, including OPUS her freshman year. Her journey has since taken her to the Music Therapy program at the University of Iowa, where she is a second year major with an emphasis in voice. She also plays drums in the Iowa pep band, and enjoys singing, as well as playing drums, piano, and ukulele at her church back home (and in her free time!). As a Music Therapy major, Chichi firmly believes in the power of musical experiences to impact brain health, and is ecstatic to see the power of music in action through teaching.
Guest Team Members
Joe Klinebriel
Drama teacher
Justin McDermott
Michael Giese
Shannon Patterson-Giese
Dance & Drama Teacher
David Barba
David Barba is an artist from Prior Lake, Minnesota with several mural projects located in Dubuque, Platteville, Lancaster, and Cuba City, Wisconsin. Dave comes from an art therapy family as is reflected in his passion for helping inspire others to pursue their creative goals. He is currently working as the Director of the Dubuque Area Arts Collective and hosts First Fridays art shows monthly at The Smokestack at 62 East 7th Street, Dubuque, IA.
Board Members
Katelyn McDermott
Chair
Megan Gloss
Secretary
.jpg)
Kelley Donovan
Matt Boleyn
Britni Farber
