Currently Teaching at Roper Music:
Edward Thornhill - Guitar, Ukulele, Bass
Edward Thornhill started playing guitar in 1984, and soon developed skills with other instruments, including bass guitar and ukulele. After over two decades of performing in professional bands throughout the West, Edward discovered his heartfelt passion for teaching. He began offering private lessons at Back Porch Music in early 2008 and continued until the store’s closure in 2019. After a year of maintaining these lessons at his home studio, he now teaches at Roper Music in Grand Junction. In addition, he teaches home-school students from Mesa Valley Community School and adult classes at Western Colorado Community College.
Edward’s teaching style focuses on the needs and interests of the individual. Rather than using the “one-size-fits-all” approach favored by many teachers, he strives to make his method fit the student. He realizes that people are more motivated to practice when working on music they love and relate to. With an eclectic background including folk, blues, rock, heavy metal, country, classical and more, Edward works hard to incorporate basic musical rudiments into individualized lesson plans tailored to each student’s tastes/needs. For those who desire a less specialized approach, he utilizes traditional method books that focus on sight reading, posture/technique, and basic music theory.
Shelley Warren - Flute
Shelley has over 43 years of experience as a Professional Flutist, teaching and performing in the United States and Europe. She has a BM in Flute Performance from Northwestern University, a MM in Flute Performance from Baylor University, and has been Professor of Flute at Barry University in Miami, Florida, Broward Community College in Ft. Lauderdale, and Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, CO, Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO compiling more than 30 years teaching at the University level. She has performed in music festivals in Greece, Spain, England, Italy, and on Cape Cod. Shelley was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida, Sinfonia Virtuosi, Greater Palm Beach Symphony, Miami Beach Symphony, Waco Symphony, more than 15 chamber music groups, and performed with the Miami Opera, Miami City Ballet, Ft. Pierce Opera, Gold Coast Opera, Houston Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Dance Theater of Harlem, and in over 100 musicals.
Her teachers include Geoffrey Gilbert, Walfrid Kujala, Charles Delaney, Martha Rearick and Helen Ann Shanley, and she has taken Master Classes with James Galway, Jean Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker, and William Bennett. Shelley is currently Co-Principal Flute and Principal Piccolo in the Grand Junction Symphony, playing in 5 chamber ensembles that bring live music to all the elementary schools in Grand Junction each year through the Symphony’s Music in the Classroom Program, Principal Flute in the High Desert Opera, and she has been teaching and performing throughout the Western Slope since 1998.
