Guitar
Shawn Steele
Shawn Steele is the owner of Lebanon Music Academy, Vice President of The O'Keefe Music Foundation, and owner of SSProArt, a media production company specializing in music-focused cinematography, photography, editing, and color correction.
With more than 25 years of experience in music education, performance, recording, and creative arts, Shawn has taught students of all ages and skill levels while helping young musicians build confidence, creativity, and strong musical foundations.
A lifelong member of the Lebanon community and graduate of Lebanon High School, Shawn developed his passion for music through participation in Jazz Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Winter Drumline, Singers, Music Theory, and Music History. He has spent decades performing throughout the Midwest and was invited by Bootsy Collins, the legendary bassist known for his work with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, to contribute as a studio guitarist for Bootzilla Productions. His studio guitar work has been released through Mashamug and Mascot Records.
Today, Shawn combines his professional performance background, recording experience, educational leadership, and passion for teaching to help students learn, grow, perform, and discover the lifelong rewards of music.
Michael Pringle
Noah Williams
The magic of music showed up early in Michael’s life; specifically in the person of a Chicago Symphony Orchestra string player, who demo’ed the instruments of the Viol family. Michael decided he HAD to play the viola, because it sounded so incredible! Fast-forward through Suzuki string classes, elementary school and onward to junior and senior high school, with private lessons for most of this time. Michael’s orchestra conductor began pestering him to consider going to music camps like Interlochen, getting one of the “right” teachers, and getting on the road to CCM for classical music. However, at about 13 years old, Michael had concurrently taken up… the… guitar. Concentration on private lessons and viola practice began to fade, and playing the guitar began occupying every spare moment.
Michael has studied jazz theory with several wonderful teachers, including CCM Theory & Composition grad Keith Bowers, and Rick Fitzgerell of the Manhattan School of Music. He has played in several blues, pop and country cover bands, and currently is working with a keyboard collaborator, writing and recording original music in the project studio in his home; Michael is also a pro-level slide guitar player. He is also responsible for the dubious scientific discovery that if you have played for four hours, you can put toothache gel on the tips of your fingers, and play for another four hours.
“I feel that any song that the student would love to be able to play can be a jumping-off point for learning not only the song, but also the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how music works, and different techniques their favorite players may be using. There is a magic to seeing someone’s favorite song come together under their fingers, and realizing, ‘This is how my favorite song is really played!’”
Noah Williams is a graduate from Liberty University with a BS in Commercial Music. He began his musical journey at the age of six when he first began playing piano. In Middle School, Noah began playing guitar and his passion for music exploded. Throughout his musical career, Noah has performed for the O’Keefe Music Foundation, ‘Round Jericho (University Jazz Fusion Band), University Chorale, lost//found (rock band), and various church worship bands. Noah’s participation in these various projects has garnered upwards of 3.2 million views on YouTube.Though he specializes in providing instruction for guitar, bass, drums, piano, and vocals, Noah continues to be a student of the music world.
As a teacher, Noah strives to help students develop strong fundamentals to ensure they have the tools necessary to make music a fun form of self-expression. He is excited to be a part of the Lebanon Music Academy and looks forward to fostering a community of passionate musicians.
Chris Aldi
Since the age of three, Chris Aldi has immersed himself in songwriting, production and performance. Chris’ critical engagement with music consumption and discourse began with piano study in primary school. This engagement developed further through guitar, and the exploration of music theory and independent production by age sixteen. Chris always knew this was the path for him to succeed.
Having graduated with a degree in Commercial Music Production at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music in December of 2022, Chris upholds his engagement in the local Cincinnati music scene, maintaining roles in multiple local projects, including other CCM alumni. These roles subsume bass, guitar, and piano performance as well as session work, recording, mixing, mastering, and producing for local artists at various studios around the Cincinnati area.
Lynn Beatty
Lynn Beatty brings more than a decade of professional teaching experience and a lifetime of performing to Lebanon Music Academy. A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Lynn teaches drums, guitar, and bass while also having experience with mandolin, banjo, piano, keyboard, harmonica, and ukulele.
Throughout his career, Lynn has taught hundreds of students of all ages and skill levels. In addition to private instruction, he has directed youth and adult performance groups, helping musicians develop not only their technical abilities but also the confidence and teamwork that come from performing on stage. His teaching background also includes private guitar instruction and serving as a marching band drumline instructor at music camps.
Lynn's passion for music began early. He performed in his high school's concert band, marching band, and show choir, earning the prestigious John Philip Sousa Award in 1999. He continued his musical education at Ohio University, where he performed with both the renowned Marching 110 and the Ohio University Concert Band, receiving the Lawler Award in 2001.
As a performer, Lynn has played with a wide variety of bands and artists throughout Ohio and beyond, including Uptown-Funk Allstars, Bourbon County, Larry Bagby, Nicholas & The Pessimistics, Gran Bel Fisher, My Girl Friday, Zack Attack, Pandora Effect, and My Sister Sarah. While touring with country artist Larry Bagby in 2009, Lynn had the unique opportunity to perform bass guitar alongside legendary drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland, best known for his work with Johnny Cash.
Whether working with beginners picking up an instrument for the first time or experienced musicians looking to sharpen their skills, Lynn enjoys helping students build confidence, develop strong fundamentals, and discover the joy of making music.
Lee Sullivan
Lee Sullivan is a recent graduate from CCM with a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies with a minors in Commercial Music Production and Entrepreneurship. Currently, he plays in the national award-winning CCM Jazz Orchestra directed by Dr. Scott Belck, and has studied saxophone and jazz arranging under world-renowned saxophonist and composer, Craig Bailey. He specializes in saxophone and guitar, but also plays piano, bass, and clarinet. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Lee grew up playing in various ensembles including the Triangle Youth Jazz Orchestra, the All District High School Jazz Ensemble, Broughton High School Wind Ensemble and marching band, which performed at the Peach Bowl in 2014. He has played in Praise Bands in Raleigh and Cincinnati for the past seven years. Lee is a freelance musician and member of pop, rock, jazz, and country groups around the city such as Saving Escape, Mill Creek Band, This Pine box, and groups under his own name. Lee has played all over the country and has been teaching in the Cincinnati area for 3 years.
Katie Oliver
Katie doesn’t remember a time without music not being a focal point in her life. Starting at age 8, she studied in piano and a few years later the guitar. At the age of 13 she switched over to study at the academy and it kickstarted her passion. She quickly started learning every instrument she could get her hands on. Including the guitar, ukulele, bass, drums, and piano. Since then she has found her sound as a vocalist and has started studying audio engineering. Katie's lessons keep students engaged and always ready to learn more!
Charlotte Graham
Charlotte’s first love has always been performance starting with piano in grade school and theatre throughout school with both lead and supporting roles on stage. She began learning guitar at 13 and bass soon after, studying under Aaron O’Keefe and Josh Cole as a Loveland/Lebanon Academy student and continues to study bass and music theory. She played bass guitar in OMF music videos including Tool’s ”The Pot” versions 1 and 4, The Rolling Stone’s “The Worst” and The Cure’s “Burn”. In 2014, she joined as bassist with fellow academy students Kala Rose (vocals), Jacob Boldman (guitar), Ben Swift (guitar) and Alex Muccino (drums) forming the band Saving Escape. After much hard work and dedication, Saving Escape began playing local festivals and music venues like Bogarts, Bunbury Music Festival and The Reds stadium, all while still in high school. The band has had the privilege of opening for The Dead Daises, Palaye Royale, Nashville’s Them Vibes and Broadway’s guitar prodigy Taz Niederauer.
In addition to lessons on guitar, bass and ukelele , Charlotte brings insight to young students for onstage performance, confidence, balancing practice with schoolwork and other activities and loves to talk about bands/music in general!