October Crifasi

October Crifasi is a guitarist, songwriter and music educator based in Los Angeles, California. She received her first formal classical and flamenco guitar training under the wise guidance of Gloria Cullver-Jacobson at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Massachusetts and rock technique informally with Cliff Maddix of the Berklee School of Music. She continued her arts education at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA, where she studied rock and folk guitar, music theory and was the first student chosen to teach guitar to the children of the local Mt. Vernon community through the Music Department’s outreach program. 

She has since lived and taught guitar and ukulele all over the country, including several years on the faculty at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. While a full-time instructor at Old Town School, October honed her skills as a group teacher, ensemble leader, songwriter, and performer working with artists like Justin Townes Earle and founding the school’s first female rock ensemble (still being taught by a former student). Her positive and humorous attitudes towards the guitar and music in general made her a student favorite and integral part of the guitar faculty.

October has maintained an active teaching studio and group program in Los Angeles for girls and women for over fourteen years as well as providing coaching and consultation services to the local film and television community working on projects for the Great American Country Channel (GAC), Lifetime, and MTV Networks.  She has written columns for Acoustic Guitar and Classical Guitar magazines and is also founder and director of Girls Guitar School, a group program for girls ages 8 – teen developed to build confidence and self-esteem through music education specific to the guitar.