Billy Barnard - Guitar & Jazz

Office: 171B Humanities
Office Phone:726-6570
E-mail: bbarnard@d.umn.edu

Billy Barnard teaches guitar in private lesson, ensemble, and class formats. He is well-known at UMD for his immensely popular course in Jazz Studies, in which over one thousand students enroll each academic year. In addition, he directs one of the UMD Jazz Combos. Mr. Barnard graduated first in his class from the Guitar Institute of Technology, Los Angeles and has performed with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Rufus Reid. He has been for many years and remains in constant demand at local and regional levels as a clinician and guitarist in all styles.

James Cooper - Guitar

Office: 113 Humanities
Office Phone:726-8208 (Music Dept. Office)
E-mail: jcooper@d.umn.edu

A graduate of UMD's Jazz Studies program, Mr. Cooper is a performing musician/instructor. He currently performs with the Duluth Bigtime Jazz Orchestra, his own jazz combo, "Clockwork Jazz," and the classic/modern rock band, "The Dukes of Hubbard." Styles covered include jazz, rock, fingerstyle, blues, folk, and modern rock. He currently complg his Masters Degree in Music Performance from UMD.

Ryan Frane - Jazz Piano & Jazz

Office: 224 Humanities
Office Phone:726-6327
E-mail: rfrane@d.umn.edu

Ryan Frane is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he teaches Jazz Ensemble I, Jazz Combo I, Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Piano and Jazz Writing, among other courses. He also coordinates the Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival at UMD. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with emphasis in Jazz Studies and Piano Performance from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and a Masters of Music degree in theory and composition from the University of Northern Colorado. He has been an active teacher and performer at several colleges across the country including the University of Northern Colorado, University of South Dakota, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Tiffin University, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and the University of Southern Colorado. He also has performed as a jazz pianist nationwide as a soloist and band member and has toured Europe, most recently as director with the University of Minnesota Duluth Jazz Ensemble I.

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Tina Thielen-Gaffey - Voice, Concert Chorale, Vocal Jazz

Office: 242 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-8212
E-mail: tthielen@d.umn.edu

Tina Thielen-Gaffey is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and has recently completed her doctoral coursework in the Choral Conducting program at the University of Iowa. At UMD, she conducts Concert Chorale, two Vocal Jazz Ensembles (Lake Effect and Chill Factor), teaches elementary music, aural skills, and applied voice. A mezzo-soprano, she completed the M.M. degree in Choral Conducting at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI and her B.M. in music education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Prior to her studies in Michigan, the Wisconsin native taught for eight years in the public schools of her home state, where she was responsible for choral ensembles, band ensembles, vocal jazz and show choirs, musicals, madrigals and madrigal feasts, festivals, and touring. At WMU, Ms.Thielen-Gaffey soloed with the Treble Chorus, University Chorale, Opera Workshop, and the award winning vocal jazz ensemble, Gold Company. Ms. Thielen-Gaffey is a past president of WMU's student chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. At the 2003 and 1999 national conventions of that organization, she was a national finalist in the graduate student conducting competition.