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Music Faculty
Shane Studdard
Professor Shane Studdard holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Baylor University and a Master of Music from Southwestern Seminary. He has served as Professor of Music at North Central Texas College since 2001. Since 2012, he has had the position of Professor of Vocal Studies, and his principal duty is conductor and music director of the North Central Texas College Singers and the College Vocal Ensemble. Professor Studdard teaches Applied Voice, Music Appreciation, and has many times been the musical director for the summer musicals at NCTC. His wife, Robin, is Director of Libraries at NCTC. They have four beautiful daughters, four fantastic sons-in-law, and eight gorgeous grandchildren. Shane and Robin enjoy cooking together, and traveling together – Colorado, Chicago, and Italy being their favorite destinations. He is a long-standing member of Texas Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Directors Association and American Choral Directors Association.
Trenton Barnes
Trenton Barnes is the Professor of Instrumental Music at North Central Texas College, where he directs the NCTC Wind Ensemble and the NCTC Jazz Band. The NCTC Wind Ensemble and NCTC Jazz Band provide opportunities for students and community members to perform in the DFW area at events including Denton Arts and Jazz and the NCTC Gala. The bands performs a diverse repertoire, seamlessly blending classic standards, contemporary pieces, and original compositions.
Trenton Barnes is a professional multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, where he studied under Nick Finzer, Alan Baylock, John Murphy, Ryan Haines, Tony Baker, and Tanya Darby. While at UNT, Trenton played lead trombone in the Grammy-nominated One O'clock Lab Band and held positions as a tubist, trumpeter, and vocalist in various musical groups. Trenton also has special expertise in early jazz, founding Bayou A Drink in 2018 with a specialty in the genre, as well as teaching a jazz history course at UNT. Since graduating with his master's in 2021, Trenton has continued to be a regular presence in the DFW music scene, taught lessons on trombone, trumpet, and tuba, and held master classes for jazz bands.
Trenton has performed with musicians and acts such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Yandel Symphonico, Louis Dowdeswell, Buddy’s Big Band, Grooveline, Jordan Kahn, Rebel Alliance Jazz orchestra, the Metropolitan Winds and Bayou A Drink. He also regularly provides lead vocals for wedding and event bands throughout the United States.
Working as a technician’s assistant to pay his way through school, Trenton became a journeyman technician of instrument repair in 2021, mainly working with woodwinds and brass instruments. Trenton is also a licensed Disney Travel agent, specializing in Walt Disney World vacations.
In his free time, Trenton enjoys playing chess, tending to his garden, and training his bonsai trees. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Megan, since 2019, and has two children: a daughter, Alice and a son, Louis.
Adjunct Faculty
Dr. Lacey Phelps
Trumpet
Dr. Lacey Phelps, founding member and director of DFW Brass, is an active freelance musician and clinician throughout North Texas and Oklahoma and has performed throughout the world, including Europe, North, Central, and South America. Comfortable with varying styles, Dr. Hays has performed as a soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria, with Johnny Mathis numerous times, for Broadway Tours such as An American in Paris, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and Matilida, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Verdi Opera House in Italy, and the Classical Music Festival in Austria.
Dr. Vanessa Davis
Vanessa Davis is a professional clarinetist and teacher. She has appeared as a clarinetist in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, the Finger Lakes and Upstate New York, and the Boston area. She is a clarinetist in the Lone Star Wind Orchestra and the Mesquite Symphony, and she has appeared with the Texarkana Symphony, Allen Philharmonic, McKinney Philharmonic, and Sherman Symphony.
As a teacher, Dr. Davis helps students reach their goals through careful planning, guided practice, and consistency, all key concepts for musicians at any level of music learning. Her students have won awards and scholarships, attending some of the most prestigious music schools in the country. Dr. Davis is an active university professor, and she teaches at McLennan College, Texas A&M - Commerce, North Central Texas College, Dallas College, and Laredo College and as a Clarinet Specialist in select and competitive Texas school programs.
Dr. Davis is passionate about educating and preparing her students for the future that awaits them outside of school, encouraging her students to look outside the box to create a career that supports their passion and interest in all ways. As a result, her students use the transferable skills from their music degrees to gain employment as performers, teachers, music therapists, arts administrators, in music finance and business, and other areas to create a custom career that suits their areas of interest and individual strengths.
Dr. Davis is an active member of the clarinet and music community and their organizations. She currently serves Chair of the International Clarinet Association College and Pre-Professional Engagement Committee and contributes to the journal of the same organization, The Clarinet as an Audio and Book Review Writer. She has contributed to both the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal, the Symposium Journal, and The Instrumentalist. Dr. Davis is a Buffet Crampon Performing Artist and a D’Addario Woodwind Artist. She holds a Doctorate in Clarinet Performance from the University of North Texas where she studied with Kimberly Cole Luevano. She has studied clarinet with Richard MacDowell, Elizabeth Gunlogson, and David Seiler.
Dax Stokes
Dax Anthony Stokes is a conductor in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex area, with over 24 years of experience conducting orchestral concerts, musical theater and opera productions, and sacred choral music. He is also active as a teacher at the college and amateur levels, leading courses in Music Appreciation, Sacred Music, and Conducting to students all over the world. He has been the Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Denton, as well as the St. Kassiani Chorale. Currently, he is completing doctoral coursework in Orchestral Conducting at the University of North Texas. He holds a BM in Euphonium from the University of Tennessee, and both MM in Euphonium and MS in Library Science from the University of North Texas. He has been teaching in the music department at NCTC since 2005, and serving as a Librarian on the Corinth and Flower Mound campuses since 2007.