Meet the Staff

Music Teachers

Sarah Lockwood: piano, violin & viola

Sarah Lockwood received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from DePauw University (Greencastle, IN), and her Masters of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis). Sarah is also a violinist and violist. In 2013 she accepted a viola position with the Rochester Symphony in Rochester, Minnesota. Sarah has been teaching private piano, violin and viola lessons since 2001. She enjoys working with students of all ages and levels, and encourages adults to study music. Sarah lives in Hastings with her husband and two daughters. She has worked with the Hastings Schools music programs and has been involved with the summer Black Dirt theater productions in Hastings as music director, assistant music director and orchestra musician. In December of 2014 Sarah and her husband, Travis, purchased the former Guardian Angels Catholic Church and began converting it into the new Hastings Arts Center which houses her school, Blessings Academy of Arts and Music.

Jake Meyer: Clarinet

Jake Meyer is a performer and teacher currently living in St. Paul, MN, and is the principal clarinetist of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra. A passionate teacher of music, Jake has worked with students of all ages and abilities, and he served as a Teaching Assistant while earning his Master’s degree. His duties included teaching private lessons to undergraduate music majors, coaching chamber music, and instructing the clarinet methods course. Recently, he has performed with the Round Top Festival Orchestra and served as principal clarinetist of the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Winds, and Wind Orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist with the St. Olaf Orchestra on numerous occasions. Jake earned his BM from St. Olaf College and his MM from Florida State University. For more information about lessons with Jake please visit his website

Learn more about him

Dave Carbonara: bass & cello

Dave Carbonara performs and teaches both the bass and cello. Dave has a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Bass Performance from the Juilliard School. He has played the cello for around 40 years and has been teaching it for 20. He offers both Suzuki Method and traditional style cello lessons. Dave is currently a freelance bassist in the Twin Cities and teaches bass players of all ages and levels. He is a frequent coach for the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony bass sections and is the bass instructor at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival. Dave has experience teaching all levels of bass and currently teaches at several Twin Cities locations. Dave performed full time for about 20 years with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans. Dave recently toured South Korea with three of the original Canadian tenors called "Romanza" and frequently plays around the Twin Cities with his wife in their wedding and event ensemble Arioso Strings.

Rebecca Clark: cello

Becky Clark has been teaching private cello lessons for over 15 years and has played in orchestras and professional quartets. She has experience with children with autism and adult cello students. She studied music at St. Mary's University (Winona) and lives in Hastings with her husband and two children.

Kevin Dewan: Piano

"I believe music provides a healthy outlet for emotional expression which is why the idea of teaching people about music energizes me. At Viterbo University, I studied voice and piano and began music education classes. I also finely tuned my skills in music composition and theory. My past employment includes the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and the Church of St. Rita in Cottage Grove. My hobbies include attending live music and theater productions, eating out and going to the movies. My goal this year is to bring wisdom, creativity, sensitivity and expressiveness to each student I encounter. I am grateful to be in a position to share my passion with others."

Trent Tejeda: guitar, composition

After graduating from Hastings High School in 2014, Trent spent two years at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While attending Berklee, he had the opportunity to study composition, performance, and arranging. Feeling called back to Minnesota, Trent is currently taking classes at the University of Minnesota, working toward a Bachelors Degree. In addition to studying and teaching music, Trent enjoys going on walks with his dog Clover, reading novels, playing basketball, and working with his newly formed band, "The Montes".

Jenna Vieths: piano & voice

Jenna is originally from Hastings, Minnesota. She recently moved to Dundas, Minnesota with her husband and 3 year old daughter, Isabelle. She is a Hastings High School alumna where she was actively involved in music with Riverside Company and Vocal Jazz. Jenna has been teaching lessons for a couple of years, but has been playing piano and singing most of her life. Jenna attended McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, majoring in vocal performance with a minor in piano. She has performed at weddings, coffee shops, and competed in a few local competitions including Hastings Sings during Rivertown Days. Jenna's favorite styles of music to sing are jazz, blues, contemporary, and classical. She also enjoys the outdoors, camping, rollerblading, swimming, and most of all being a mother and wife.

Melyssa Rice: voice

Melyssa Rice has taught singing using humor and empathy for over 20 years, to students of all ages, genres and experience levels. Her specialty is communicating high-level vocal technique -- how to produce relaxed, healthy, beautiful sound throughout the range, every time you sing. Melyssa uses plain English, anatomical explanations, and imagery to guide students as they build muscle memory, and she creates exercises and selects repertoire customized to each student's goals. Topic covered include: diaphragmatic breathing, support, eliminating laryngeal tension, resonance, vowel optimization, projection, placement, chiaroscuro, and high voice release. In addition to vocal technique, Melyssa also coaches German and Italian diction, judges singing competitions, coaches audition performances, and gives master classes. Past teaching positions include voice faculty at Seattle Central, South Seattle, Bellevue and Shoreline Community Colleges, and at the Music Center of the Northwest. Melyssa's students are performing on opera stages, as musical theater soloists, as paid choristers, and as lead singers in pop, alternative, jazz and heavy metal bands; some of them are voice teachers themselves; and 100% of her long-term classical high school students received college vocal music scholarships. As a singer, Melyssa has performed opera roles, opera/oratorio solos with orchestra, and classical music in six solo concerts and too many shared concerts to count! She has also been lead singer for two bands: a 16-piece swing band and a small folk/funk band. Currently, Melyssa is an active professional soloist for Thursday Musical.

Carolyn Campfield: Voice

Carolyn Campfield received her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Minnesota. As a professional musician, Carolyn has performed with the Minnesota Opera and area Twin Cities orchestras. This year she performed several recitals throughout the area with her collaborative pianist, Sarah Lockwood. Her love of art song is fueled by her life experiences and musical collaborations. She is especially drawn to contemporary American works and she is passionate about sharing art song with her community in the south metro. A classically trained voice teacher, Carolyn was awarded her Voice Movement Therapy practitioner credentials in 1999. Since that time, she has prepared and presented lectures and courses that center upon the connections between body, voice and psyche. Carolyn has an active Voice Movement Therapy Practice at the Center for Performing Arts in Minneapolis, and is looking to teach new students at Blessings Academy.

Natalie Vanburkleo-Carbonara: Violin & Viola

Art teachers

Dianne Ginsberg: painting

Dianne has taught art to adults and youth for over three decades, sharing her love of the creative process by motivating her students to stretch artistically. She welcomes all ability levels into her classes, giving instruction in best practices and various techniques, delivered in a relaxed atmosphere of individual encouragement and guidance. Dianne holds bachelors and masters degrees in Art and Elementary Education. She resides in River Falls, Wisconsin where she maintains her working studio. Dianne currently teaches oil painting privately, as well as at the White Bear Center for the Arts and the Phipps Center for the Arts