Details for 2024 are yet to be determined.
If you're ready to hone your skills as a musician and learn new techniques on your instrument, Waynesburg University's Brass Camp is for you. This will be a drop-off/pick-up camp.
High school and advanced middle school band students currently participating in their school band programs on the trumpet, French horn, trombone, euphonium and tuba are welcome to register.
Brass Camp will give campers experience in small brass ensembles and help them to gain musical independence and confidence. These ensembles will be coached by professional musicians from Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Camp attendees will learn the fundamentals of music and brass techniques as they participate in a variety of settings, including group masterclass, lessons, music rehearsals and performances. Daily schedules will include one-on-one instruction, group instruction, ensemble coaching, practice, performance and a break for lunch at noon.
Brass Camp will be facilitated by Eric Brewer, music program director at Waynesburg University.
Each student will learn the following:
- Basic warm-ups and practice routines;
- How to improve their sound and endurance;
- Advanced techniques, such as multiple tonguing and range;
- How to play in small brass ensembles to gain musical independence and confidence;
- Preparation for the demands of a busy high school band program;
- Pennsylvania Music Educators Association audition materials; and
- Basic music theory, such as intervals, chords, scales and form.
Daily Schedule
9 a.m. - Students Arrive - meet in the Marsh Center
9:30 a.m. - Warm-up sessions
10:30 a.m. - Large Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
Noon - Lunch
1 p.m. - Music Theory
1:30 p.m. - Small Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
2:30 p.m. - Social Activity - take-aways for the day
3 p.m. - Students leave
Friday Schedule for Performance
9 a.m. - Students Arrive - meet in the Marsh Center
9:30 a.m. - Warm-up sessions
10:30 a.m. - Large Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
Noon - Lunch
1 p.m. - Small Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
2 p.m. - Social Activity
2:30 p.m. - Large Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
3:30 p.m. - Break for early dinner
4:30 p.m. - Warm-up
5 p.m. - Concert in the Goodwin Performing Arts Center
Mr. Brewer brings over 25 years of professional trumpet experience to the summer Brass Camp. He has performed with a variety of ensembles in multiple styles, from orchestral playing to large brass ensembles to opera and musical theater. After graduating from Yale University and the Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory, Brewer studied with the best teachers in the country including James Darling of the Cleveland Orchestra and Allan Dean of the St. Louis Brass Quintet. For over a decade, he served as Principal Trumpet of the Utah Festival Opera Company, where he performed numerous opera and musical theater productions with such artists as Marnie Nixon, Faith Esham, Joy Hermalyn and Michael Ballam.
As a sought-after freelancer in Dallas, Texas, Brewer performed with professional ensembles such as the Dallas Wind Symphony, Imperial Brass, Wichita Falls Symphony and the Lyric Theater. He has also been the featured soloist with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and the New Music Ensemble at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. Prior to coming to Waynesburg University, Brewer served on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin and Kent State University in Ohio.