Trombone Lessons For Beginners, Intermediates & Advanced

Applied Trombone – Course Syllabus: Course Goals:  This course seeks to explore and improve the ability of each student to study, practice, and perform on the trombone.  Students enrolled in lessons, regardless of degree and career goals, should finish each term a more capable performer than they began.  This is achieved through the study of fundamentals, etude/study materials, solo literature, orchestral/band excerpts, jazz materials, recordings of other musicians (as well as the student themselves), and written literature. 

Students will receive either 30-minute or 60-minute lessons, depending on their registration. Each lesson will cover short warm-up, technical work (Edwards, Fink, Rochut, Remington, Everett, Alessi, Arban, Marstellar, Schlossberg), repertoire (solo, ensemble, orchestral excerpts, and/or jazz), and Theory/history (if applicable).  

In this course, students will learn to read and interpret music, specifically in the bass, tenor, and alto clefs. They will also learn proper breath control, tone generation, and slide operation techniques. Further, they will learn the basics of how a trombone works, how it is designed, and which models are viable and available. Finally, students will learn the basic repertoire of warm-up exercises, etudes, solo works, orchestral repertoire, and jazz standards.

Dr. Andrew Rozsa earned a Doctor of Music degree in 2015 from McGill University.  While at McGill, he was a two-time Schulich Award winner, and a featured soloist with the McGill Trombone Ensemble.  His doctoral research involved the study of metallurgical and design properties of trombones and their effects on the feel and sound of said instruments. Rozsa is currently an Adjunct Instructor of Trombone at College of DuPage and Elgin Community College.  He also serves as bass trombonist with the Illinois Philharmonic and the Quad City Symphony.  An active educator, Andrew has previously served on the faculty of McGill University, McGill Conservatory, Illinois Wesleyan University, and numerous high schools in the suburban Chicago area, before assuming his current positions at ECC and COD. 

A frequent guest musician, he has performed as a substitute with the Montréal Symphony, Madison Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Des Moines Symphony, Thunder Bay (Ontario) Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Elgin Symphony, Northwest Indiana Symphony, Illinois Symphony, New Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Rockford Symphony, among others.  As a composer, his works have been launced by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Albuquerque City Schools’ string program, among others. Dr. Rozsa also holds a Performers’ Certificate from DePaul University and a Master’s degree in performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music; he completed his Bachelor’s degree in composition and theory at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music.  His major trombone teachers were Doug Bennett, Allen Kofsky, Thomas Klaber, Charles Vernon, Mark Fisher, Floyd Cooley, James Box, and Pierre Beaudry.  He studied composition with Dan Adams, James Feldman, and Loris Chobanian.  He was also a participant at the 2011 Alessi Seminar.