Our Director
Rachel Gasataya
Rachel Gasataya is the proud owner and director of Sixteenth Notes Music. Her primary instrument is the piano but also has knowledge of the guitar, violin, drums, marimba, xylophone, flute, saxophone, and voice. She graduated with her Sound Engineering degree with a concentration in classical piano in 2010. She also has her master certificate in Songwriting from Berklee College of Music, online series.
She has been teaching in North and Central Jersey for the past 16 years. Her experiences range from teaching private one-on-one lessons to classroom settings of general music, vocal, piano, guitar, and rhythm and music theory, and she has taught students of all ages (pre-school to adult). She aids in auditioning for high school, college music and theatre programs, plays for high school events, and coaches individual singers.
Outside of teaching, she is a vocal accompanist for individual singers including pop, theatre, and classical singing. She has performed in NJPAC, Hispanic Youth Showcase, and other NJ venues. She records a variety of music and poetry ranging from classical, pop, hip hop, and religious music for solo and band.
She is a member of the MAMTG, NAfMe, Accordion Pops Orchestra, and Starry Night Orchestra. In college she became a sister of Sigma Alpha Iota. She is the music director of Christ Church in Pompton Lakes NJ.
Staff
Carlos Salas
Carlos Salas is our drum instructor. His passion for music allowed him to enter the jazz world, which is his main specialty. He also loves learning and playing the bass guitar and guitar. Besides these instruments, he’s been learning the basics of piano. He’s been playing drums for seven years and is currently a junior jazz major at Montclair State University.
Besides studying music, Carlos is also the drummer for his band, Culver. They are a jazz fusion band. Carlos has performed in different venues in New Jersey and New York.
Carlos has been with Sixteenth Notes for one year and has been enjoying teaching the different students from five years old and up. Not only does he teach drums, but he has acquired piano and guitar students as well.
Ray Donato
Ray Donato is one of our instructors. He holds a NJ Certification and is also a songwriter/composer, arranger, and producer, having worked on various projects. Besides being a teacher and songwriter, Ray still performs in clubs and coffee houses in NYC and NJ. He has over 20 years experience teaching different instruments like the guitar, piano, violin, music theory and composition. He has a BA in Psychology from Seton Hall University, and a BA and 25 graduate credits from Montclair State University in Music Theory/Composition. He has been employed as a proofreader, editor and arranger in music publishing for companies such as United Artists, Warner Brothers, Cherry Lane and Hal Leonard Publishers. Ray has many guitar books that he's arranged for these companies.