Dr. Tyler Thomas
2024-2025 Tenor Bass Jazz Choir
Dr. Tyler Thomas has held teaching positions at the middle and high school level in his home state of New York, and has most recently served as co-director of The School for Music Vocations in Creston, Iowa. While at SMV, he directed the pop ensemble, singer-songwriter ensemble, and two of the vocal jazz ensembles, taught applied lessons in jazz voice and songwriting, and a wide array of courses including those in music theory, ear training, performance psychology, studio recording, production, and music business. An accomplished jazz vocalist and songwriter, Dr. Thomas understudied for Kurt Elling in the world premier of Rich DeRosa’s Life in Poetry and Music, and his own original song cycle A Song of Once Upon a Time was hailed by Roger Emerson as “stunning.” Dr. Thomas is a past co-chair of the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships, has worked with high school jazz choirs as a clinician and adjudicator across Iowa, and has served as a guest conductor for honors mixed choirs and vocal jazz ensembles in Pennsylvania and New York. He holds a B.M. in Music Education from SUNY Potsdam, and both an M.M. and D.M.A. in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas.