Low Brass Artist
Here’s something I’ve been toying with recently. It’s from a great little book of trombone quartets I’ve been playing recently — maybe a summer project for 2025?
By Paul Koepke. Excerpted from Quartet Repertoire for Trombone, pub. Rubank/Hal Leonard
There are two groups I want to promote today:
The Da Capo Ensemble is aimed for intermediate middle-school students who want more of a challenge than what school band might offer.
VYOA Jazz is for high school students, and is definitely more of a challenge than most high school jazz programs!
Both programs start soon so jump on it!
Performances are at 20 Allen St:
Friday 7pm
Saturday 2pm and 7pm
Sunday 4pm
Arranged here for 6th graders Jace and Noah.
Hey all! I’ve got a special gig coming up that I’d love to see students at! Some of my favorite brass colleages and I will be performing holiday tunes at The 126 on Friday, Dec. 20. All ages-friendly, 7-9pm at 126 College Street. Here’s a sample from last week.
12/13 and 12/20 — Holiday Brass Quartet @ The 126 — 7-9pm
12/21 — Tuba Christmas on Church Street! Around 50 tuba and euphonium players congregate together to play our favorite holiday carols. 1pm
12/31 — Alma Picante @ Arts Riot — Top notch Salsa band playing the year out. Band plays 8-10pm, Tickets Here!
1/1 — Beethoven’s 9th Symphony — 3pm, Elley-Long Music Center
1/3-1/5 — Very Merry Theater presents Hadestown! Show info here.
1/18 — High Summer @ Zenbarn, night
1/23 thru 2/1 — Hadestown @ U-32 Montpelier. Seven shows 1/23-1/25 and 1/30-2/1
Every set my band High Summer plays includes at least one fully-improvised song — even Miriam’s lyrics. Here’s one from our recent ZenBarn gig.
Here are some gigs I’m doing this summer, click the links for more info!
7/13 — Vermont Jazz Ensemble @ Middlebury Green
7/26 — Barika Block Party! @ Burlington NNE
7/27 — Maple Roots Festival @ Morse Family Farm, Middlebury
8/1 — Saturn People’s Collective @ Hubbard Park, Middlebury
8/7 — Maple Street Six @ American Flatbread, Burlington
8/15 — Barika @ Hubbard Park, Middlebury
8/16 — High Summer @ Camp Meade, Middlesex
8/22 — High Summer @ Hubbard Park, Middlebury
8/29 — Onion River Jazz Band (on tuba!) @ Basin Harbor Club, Vergennes
8/31 — High Summer @ Deva’s Farm
One of my favorite points in teaching is when a student becomes comfortable enough with reading notation and confident enough with their technique to be able to play their own part while I play a duet part right next to them. It really amps up the fun we can have! This spring I was lucky enough to have three students who were eager to try an exciting and ambitious trio by Eric Ewazen, a terrific composer for brass. His music is often exciting and uplifting, but full of hidden pitfalls for the performer, because he modulates keys so frequently. These kids put in such great effort to learn this music separately in a matter of weeks, and we got together last week to try it all together. Enjoy the result!
