Brass Program

Brass students at Northern Kentucky University are provided an excellent array of opportunities for growth as solo performers and in ensembles. In addition to the usual mixed ensembles, the department supports the Brass Choir, Trompeterchor, Trombone Ensemble, and Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble. Performance in these brass groups develops individual concept of sound, increased independence of playing and advancement of musicianship.

Brass students benefit from performance and teaching by the NKU Faculty Brass Quintet, and the Cincinnati metropolitan area provides easy access to performance by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and other professional ensembles. In addition, the Cincinnati area is a good place for advanced brass students to find paid performance opportunities to supplement income.

As a part of their applied lesson study, brass students participate in a monthly brass class as well as master's classes for their individual areas. Applied brass students also perform on the weekly Recital Review.

Brass Choir
The Northern Kentucky University Brass Choir was founded in 1983 by the ensemble's previous conductor, Dr. W. Jonathan Gresham. The ensemble is open to all students by audition and performs two concerts on campus each term. In addition, the Brass Choir performs for events on and off campus, including ceremonies honoring veterans and prisoners of war, and concerts in local schools.

The NKU Brass Choir provides opportunities for chamber wind performance of a variety of literature for brass and percussion. Programs have included major works for brass ensemble such as the Alfred Reed Symphony for Brass and Percussion, Benjamin  Britten's Russian Funeral, and Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.  The Brass Choir has performed world premiere performances of Professor Emeritus Dr. Philip Koplow's Praeludium for Brass and Percussion (1988), ...to create heaven and earth...(2003), and NKU music faculty member Gary Johnston's Childhood Scenes, commissioned for the Brass Choir in 1994. The ensemble also performs transcriptions of early music by Gabrieli, Pezel, Handel, Bach, and others, as well as transcriptions of film and Broadway numbers such as Sondheim's Send in the Clowns, and music from Schindler's List by John Williams. Recent graduates of the Brass Choir have performed with some of the top corps groups, including Madison Scouts, Cavaliers, and the Star of Indiana, as well as Blast!

The unique nature of the Brass Choir provides a complement to both solo and large ensemble performing experience. The Brass Choir operates on a pool-of-players concept, performing works of varied instrumentation. A unique activity of the NKU Brass Choir is an annual Brass Choir Camp held each year at Butler Springs Camp in Ohio. The group holds the retreat for a weekend in September as a way of creating cohesiveness in the group early in the academic year. Camp sessions are used to develop concepts of ensemble sound and technique, and to begin work on repertoire for the year. Because of the camp, the ensemble is able to perform a concert early in the term, usually in September.

The NKU Brass Choir has performed outreach concerts during the spring term, including recent trips to schools at Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Owen, Pendleton, and Grant Counties under the NKU Community Connections Program, and the Grant County Arts Federation.

Trompeterchor
Trompeterchor provides small ensemble experience in trumpet performance, and in pedagogy. The ensemble studies and prepares a repertoire of music for trumpet choir for performance on recital and for various ceremonial events.

The name of this ensemble pays homage to the European trumpet guilds of earlier times. The Trompeterchor performs each semester in concert, and provides fanfare support for ceremonial functions. Membership by audition.

Trombone Ensemble
Directed by Mr. David Dunevant, the Trombone Ensemble is an extension of the trombone studio and performs each semester in concert. Membership by audition.

Faculty Brass Quintet
The Northern Kentucky University Faculty Brass Quintet was founded early in the history of the Department of Music, and has been active as an ensemble for more than 25 years. The quintet is featured by the Department of Music in concert at NKU each semester, and performs annually in January on the concert series of St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington. The group has performed at meetings of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association, the Ohio Music Educators Association, and on FM radio stations WNKU and WGUC, and performs numerous educational and community performances in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area throughout the year. The Faculty Brass Quintet has been a featured ensemble at the Brass Symposium hosted by the University of Cincinnati, and is called upon to perform for major ceremonial events at Northern Kentucky University. The quintet has been featured in such venues as Midday Music at Trinity in Oxford, Ohio, St. John's United Church of Christ Twilight Concert Series, the Madiera Presbyterian Church Concert Series, and at Border's Books.

The Faculty Brass Quintet performs a varied repertoire including such standards as the quintets by Malcolm Arnold, Robert Sanders, Jan Koetsier and Alec Wilder. The quintet enjoys collaboration with colleagues and has performed works in the past with Richard Jensen, Eric DeForest, Kurt Sander, and former faculty member James Bunte. The group explores interesting recent works composed for the brass quintet as exemplified by Randall Reyman's Steppenwolf, performed with projected artwork, and Witold Lutoslawski's Mini Overture. In addition, the quintet members are accomplished arrangers who frequently provide custom editions of earlier music for concert performances.