Meet our instructors:

Doug Mahlum is a long-time local entertainer, who teaches guitar and ukulele at the Houser YMCA and Holmen Lutheran Church locations. He has spent many years soloing around the Coulee Region, including performances with Viterbo’s Platinum Edition. For over 33 years, Doug was the lead singer, and trumpet, flugelhorn and rhythm guitar performer with Double-Take, a local variety band. Doug was a member of the La Crosse Coulee Chordsmen Barbershop chorus and the lead singer of New Image, a barbershop, jazz, and bebop quartet, for over 20 years. He continues to be a member and soloist with the Coulee Region Gospel choir since joining in 1995. Most recently, he and his three young adult kids have started to entertain in the area as a group called “Family Matters.”

Matt Fischer has spent the majority of his life making music and now shares his knowledge teaching guitar and ukulele at the Houser Y. The first instrument he picked up was the trumpet at age nine. Since he has continued learning about music and a variety of instruments. He started playing the guitar when he was thirteen and has not been able to put it down. Though the guitar is his main instrument, he has also learned and performed on a vast variety of instruments ranging from strings, to brass, to woodwinds. Through school, college, and on Matt has performed in large and small ensembles both as an amateur and at a professional level.

Parker Barnes is a seasoned performer and entertainer who has loved music his entire life, and now joins us to teach guitar and ukulele at the Dahl Y. As a young child, he would sing every chance he got, played saxophone in high school, and soon enough that led to a plethora of additional instruments. Among them are clarinet, flute, trombone, various percussion instruments, guitar, bass, as well as many others. He has performed all over Wisconsin and Chicago, collecting more unique instruments along the way. In 2017, Parker founded the “Happy Misfits Street Circus”, a community-service-oriented performing arts troupe in La Crosse. Within the last five years, he has found and trained musicians from all over the state to perform in their weekly shows and improve production quality each season. Parker’s dream is to share the love of music with everyone he meets in as fun and exciting ways as possible.

Meet our instructors:

Meet our instructors:

Doug Mahlum is a long-time local entertainer, who teaches guitar and ukulele at the Houser YMCA and Holmen Lutheran Church locations. He has spent many years soloing around the Coulee Region, including performances with Viterbo’s Platinum Edition. For over 33 years, Doug was the lead singer, and trumpet, flugelhorn and rhythm guitar performer with Double-Take, a local variety band. Doug was a member of the La Crosse Coulee Chordsmen Barbershop chorus and the lead singer of New Image, a barbershop, jazz, and bebop quartet, for over 20 years. He continues to be a member and soloist with the Coulee Region Gospel choir since joining in 1995. Most recently, he and his three young adult kids have started to entertain in the area as a group called “Family Matters.”

Matt Fischer has spent the majority of his life making music and now shares his knowledge teaching guitar and ukulele at the Houser Y. The first instrument he picked up was the trumpet at age nine. Since, he has continued learning about music and a variety of instruments. He started playing the guitar when he was thirteen and has not been able to put it down. Though the guitar is his main instrument, he has also learned and performed on a vast variety of instruments ranging from strings, to brass, to woodwinds. Through school, college, and on Matt has performed in large and small ensembles both as an amateur and at a professional level.

Parker Barnes is a seasoned performer and entertainer who has loved music his entire life, and now joins us to teach guitar and ukulele at the Dahl Y. As a young child, he would sing every chance he got, played saxophone in high school, and soon enough that led to a plethora of additional instruments. Among them are clarinet, flute, trombone, various percussion instruments, guitar, bass, as well as many others. He has performed all over Wisconsin and Chicago, collecting more unique instruments along the way. In 2017, Parker founded the “Happy Misfits Street Circus”, a community-service-oriented performing arts troupe in La Crosse. Within the last five years, he has found and trained musicians from all over the state to perform in their weekly shows and improve production quality each season. Parker’s dream is to share the love of music with everyone he meets in as fun and exciting ways as possible.

Meet our Instructors: