School of Rock - Ashburn, VA

Location & Contact Info

Our Ashburn school is in the heart of Ashburn in the Old Ashburn Square Shopping Center on Ashburn Road, just South of Gloucester Pkwy. This is the shopping center with the 7-11.

Ashburn SOR
20660 Ashburn Road
Ashburn, VA 20147

For enrollment information or general information please call our DC-area hotline:

DC-Area Hotline	703.850.2100
Ashburn School:	703.858.0820
Fax:	703.232.1048
Email:	nova@schoolofrock.com

Faculty & Staff

Paul Ottinger

Paul Ottinger is the Music Director for SOR Loudoun. In this role Paul leads all music activities at the Ashburn School and is responsible for the quality of our music instruction and performance.

Paul grew up in Alexandria, VA. A product of TC Williams High School, he is a combination of classical training and self-taught multi-instrumentalist/songwriter. He received a scholarship to the University of Miami School of Music for Classical Double Bass and studied Music Theory/Composition. In addition he spent a year living in Vienna, Austria where he studied at the famed Hochschule for Musik with a focus on the symphonic works of Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart. In addition to the String Bass, he maintains an excellent proficiency in Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Banjo, Vocals, Songwriting, Drums, and Percussion. He is also really neat.

Paul is a founding member and keyboard player of the band Virginia Coalition (www.virginiacoalition.com). The group, known as "VACO" by their fans, started in Alexandria, VA in 1998. Built around friendships rooted in their common high school experience, VACO began to methodically amass a rabid DC area fan base through a carefully executed grass roots campaign. This potent combination of wicked, frenzied live shows and expertly managed fan network created an intense word of mouth that landed the band in the offices of one of the top regional booking agencies in the country. More Music Group, formally Cellar Door Entertainment, saw a lot of promise in the band and quickly began to tour them up and down the east coast and out into the mid-west to the tune of at least 250 shows a year.



VACO used the time time in between tours (and sometimes during) to write and record 3 independent self-released records. The second of which, Townburg (2000), saw the band seize on an opportunity to work with Mitch Easter, the production genius behind REM's early work. The third CD, Rock n Roll Party (2003), cracked Billboard's top 200 Album Sales for the week of its release without any record label support whatsoever. During this time the band's regional expansion was being recognized and appreciated back home as well. VACO, in 2001 with their newly acquainted DC area comrades, the band OAR, made the risky move to book a co-headline gig at the legendary 9:30 Club in DC. Failure to deliver would have been a real setback for both bands, as it took a lot of people to put their names on the line to even get the chance. The gamble paid off in a big way. After that night VACO went on to sell out the 9:30 Club thirteen times in a row over a 5 year span from 2001-2006. During this period the band also won the Reader's Choice Award for "Best Band" in Washington, DC from the Washington Post 2 years straight (2003, 2004).

Buzz for the band remained in full swing as sell outs started to accumulate, not just in DC but in NY at Irving Plaza, Chicago House of Blues, the TLA in Philadelphia, Paradise in Boston, Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, NC, Atlanta, Nashville, St. Louis, and the list kept growing. In addition, invites to tour with established acts started to pile up. Sister Hazel, Gavin DeGraw, Maroon 5, Blues Traveler, The Roots, Counting Crows, Blondie, Dispatch, The Black Eyed Peas, Edwin McCain, and many more. These national tours took the band, for the first time, across multiple cities in 48 states, from Miami to Seattle, LA to Portland, ME and everywhere in between. Industry word of mouth started to catch up with fan generated hype and before long VACO had serious A&R interest from MCA/Universal, Columbia Records, and a brand new subsidiary Bluhammock/Red Distribution/SONY.

After a few writing sessions in LA and Nashville the band decided to sign with the label where they felt the most genuine connection, Bluhammock. VACO inked a 3 album deal and quickly started work on 2004's OK to GO, produced by Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Third Eye Blind, Train, The Replacements), whose recent work with Maroon 5 had gone multi-platinum. Followed by 2006's Live @ the 9:30 Club with Grammy winning engineer Jeff Juliano (OAR, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Bruce Hornsby, Jason Mraz). And finally with producer Marshall Altman (Matt Nathanson, Kate Voegele) on the band?s 2008 and most recent CD Home This Year. To date, the band has toured 11 different countries including stops in Egypt, Turkey, England, Germany, Mexico, and Jamaica. Played to crowds as large as 50,000 people. And now shares a roster with artists such as Alice Cooper, Bootsy Collins, Sum 41, GWAR, G. Love and Special Sauce, Pink Floyd, Heart, and The White Stripes, amongst others, at international booking agency, The Agency Group.

Mary Bowers

Mary Bowers is the Branch Assistant at the Ashburn School of Rock, where she keeps the kids in-line, the parents informed and the teachers on-time. Mary is a long-time music fan with no musical talent, so gets her fix by supporting our teachers and students and loves getting to listen to live music at work. She is also our resident expert on the School of Rock All Stars - the international touring group made up of the best students from around the county - as her son Brad plays bass with them. When not at SOR, she can be found on the many walking paths in Loudoun county with her husband Harlan and beloved dogs Trey and Roxie.



Billy Caldwell

Billy Caldwell teaches guitar at the Ashburn School of Rock. Instructor Billy Caldwell brings an energy and passion for music to his students based on years of performing many styles in many different bands. From rock, blues, fusion, jazz, cabaret, broadway show tunes to even the polka (yes polka) Billy culls the essence of the guitar and communicates it to his students. Technique, rhythm, appreciation and presence all combine to get his students to the next level of performance. He is particularly adept at teaching new students the fundamentals of playing the guitar in a short period of time. He is an Aquarian and loves to fish and enjoys ballroom dancing. Billy is also active in the talent management industry as the Sales and Casting manager for Uptown Talent & Entertainment Inc. www.uptowntalent.com

Bill Grier

Bill Grier teaches drums for the Ashburn School of Rock. Bill started playing drums when he was thirteen and living with his family in Taipei, Taiwan. He had formal training with Bill Reichenbach who played drums with Charlie Byrd for years. Bill spent ten years in Los Angeles playing at famous venues like the Troubadour on Sunset Strip. He's played around the DC area for the last several years and currently appears locally with the band Cover Story. Bill loves playing drums and even more, loves teaching drums to the next generation of musicians.

Brad Macpherson

Brad Macpherson teachers guitar at the Ashburn School of Rock. Brad Macpherson bought his first bass at the age of thirteen. It was a Fender Squier bass, and despite the fact that the bass weighed roughly two-and-a-half tons, he started plugging away. Focusing mostly on blues, vintage rock, jazz, and old R&B, Brad learned the subtle art of playing in the pocket. When he discovered The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the like, he redoubled his efforts in order to capture a style of ?lead? bass playing that lent itself to a more rocking sound. Around the start of high school, Brad Macpherson discovered old-school punk and metal. He cut his teeth on Metallica, Minor Threat, Slayer, The Ramones, and Pantera- refining his style, and improving his song-writing technique. He played in several ensembles at school and learned many of the Jazz and Blues standards the are the building blocks for today's great rock music. He also formed his first band. It began as a simple rock/metal cover band and quickly expanded into a technical death metal project. The band recorded, played shows in local venues, and pushed the limits of our abilities.

But it wasn't long before this project burned out and Brad turned his attention to the old six-string. The next project Brad launched was a high-energy blend of rock, blues, and elements of metal. It was named Clarksdale Station after the town where Muddy Waters grew up. Brad found the guitar better suited to his style, and honed his craft on old blues tunes turned heavy. It was in this band that Brad came to realize the importance of basic songwriting techniques, song structure, and the effect of a well executed, soul-melting solo. But, as great as life was amongst the rockers and metal-heads in the dimly-lit and smoke-filled bars, it became apparent to Brad that this was no way to build a nest egg.

When Brad first started teaching music around 2005, it was simply a way to supplement his income. It wasn't long, though, before he realized how fulfilling and fun it could be. It became his main gig and musical focus, and with the arrival of his baby girl, provided a more family-friendly day job. Brad was hired by the School of Rock in 2009 and has really found a place to fit in. He enjoys every day at work (what's that old adage about enjoying what you do and not really working?) and loves the philosophy of the School of Rock. Brad hopes to continue teaching today's young musicians for as long as they wish to learn. When not teaching you can find Brad gigging with his latest band Corned Beef and Cabbage at local venues.

Kelly McClung

Kelly McClung teaches vocals and keyboards at the Ashburn School of Rock. She also frequently leads show rehearsals. Loudoun County born and bred, loves rock and roll, went to school in DC to pursue music and is so happy to that her path has brought her to School of Rock.









Michelle Metheney

Michelle Metheney is the Show Assistant for the Ashburn School of Rock. Michelle was born and raised in North Canton, Ohio. She ventured away from the midwest in 2005 to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying music production and engineering. While there, she split her time between the recording studios and working on the stage crew in the school's performance spaces. Highlights included mixing monitors for the semesterly Singer's Showcase, setting up events for artists such as John Mayer, the Police, Paula Cole, Maurice White, Bobby McFerrin, Chuck Berry, Victor Wooten, and Chad Smith. She has played flute for twelve years, as well as dabbling in drums, guitar, and piano.