Low Brass Workshop
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Check back soon for 2025 details! Info from 2024 provided below for reference.
The UNI Tuba/Euphonium and Trombone Studio will host this one-day event that focuses on low brass performance and pedagogy. Events will include masterclasses and performances by attendees, and guest artists. Open to students in grades 9-12. Registration for this event is $15. Please contact Anthony.Williams@uni.edu or Brett.Copeland@uni.edu to learn more.
Deadline extended! You may now register up until the start time of the event on Sunday, March 24, 12 p.m.!
Scroll down to find...
Guest Artists
Brent Mead
Brent Mead, a Mason City, IA native, is an enthusiastic performer, educator, and supporter of music in the Kansas City area. During his career, Brent has enjoyed serving his community in several performing and educational roles. He joined the Wichita Symphony as principal trombone in 2018. He has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Fountain City Brass Band, Sunflower Music Festival Orchestra, and many other ensembles. Brent created an educational program of new works for solo trombone, effects pedals, and fixed media designed around the struggles of life in 2022. This program, Stories, discusses topics like failure, jealousy, abuse, anxiety, and uncertainty of the future with the hopes of normalizing the sharing of our struggles. Brent is also passionate about education and enjoys sharing his love of music. In 2021, Brent joined the faculty at MidAmerica Nazarene University where he teaches applied low brass lessons, music history, and aural skills.
Drew Bonner
Drew Bonner (b. 1991) is a musician, composer, performer, and teacher. He is currently a DMA student at the University of Iowa where he is a recipient of the Iowa Performance Fellowship. He is a founding member of FivE, a euphonium quartet that performs theatrical shows and incorporates staging, choreography, singing, acting, and comedy into each performance. FivE has done performances and masterclasses throughout the US on topics ranging from pedagogy to business and entrepreneurship. Their debut CD, Five: Play, was heralded as “…entirely unique and exceedingly creative” by the ITEA journal. They have also collaborated with Christopher Bill, Maniacal 4, and Genesis Drum and Bugle Corps.
Drew is also a very active composer and arranger. Each year he writes dozens of arrangements for high school and college marching bands across the country including The University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and Kent State University. His music has also been performed at ITEC, ITF, TMEA, NABBA, the Midwest Clinic, The US Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Workshop, and many regional conferences and festivals.
As a performer and teacher, Drew has given guest recitals and masterclasses at Penn State University, University of Oklahoma, Truman State University, and the Texas Low Brass Academy. Drew has a Bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin. His primary teachers are Velvet Brown, Charles Villarrubia, and John Manning. Drew is a Besson performing artist and plays exclusively on a Besson Prestige 2051 euphonium.
Faculty Artists
Anthony Williams
Anthony Williams is Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of Northern Iowa. He teaches courses in applied trombone, chamber music, trombone pedagogy, trombone literature, and low brass techniques. He also serves as a member of UNI’s jazz faculty by teaching courses in applied jazz trombone and directing the UNI Jazz Trombone Ensemble.
Dr. Williams maintains a high frequency of performing in classical, jazz, and new music settings. His debut solo album, “Synthesis,” is a collection of five newly-commissioned works for solo trombone scored with various ensemble settings that combines classical, Latin, and jazz music. Other recent recordings include Dr. Williams performing as lead trombonist with the Mike Waldrop Big Band on recently released albums, “Origin Suite” and “Time Within Itself.” Additional recording credits include “Grosso for Trombone and Electronics” for Mexican-born composer, Jorge Sosa’s album, “Plastic Time,” and albums by UNI alums Ryan Middagh and Dave Lisik.
He is principal trombonist of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and performs regularly with other orchestras in the region. His current jazz and commercial music performance activity includes appearances with local and regional groups such as The Des Moines Big Band, Orquesta Alto Maiz, NOLA Jazz Band, Big Fun, and many others. Dr. Williams’ past experiences include engagements with the Memphis Symphony, Memphis Jazz Orchestra, Ray Charles Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Natalie Cole, and Aretha Franklin.
He is a member of the International Trombone Association and the Jazz Education Network.
Brett Copeland
Dr. Brett Copeland is a tuba player, educator, composer, and music technologist that holds the position of Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Northern Iowa. He previously held the position of Adjunct Lecturer of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Texas at Tyler while living in Dallas and teaching a private studio of low brass students. He's maintained an active performance career playing with groups such as: NewStream Brass, the Dallas Brass Band, Flower City Brass, Symphoria (Syracuse, NY), the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Buffalo, NY), and has held the position of Principal Tuba with the Venice Symphony (FL), Ash Lawn Opera (VA), and the South Shore Symphony Orchestra (FL).
Brett's artistic endeavors extend beyond performance, as he recently co-authored "The Creative Listener" with other members of NewStream Brass (Dr. Dakota Corbliss, Dr. Derek Ganong, and Dr. Austin Seybert). The Creative Listener is an innovative method book aimed at providing a resource for music educators to teach audiation and improvisation concepts effectively. Furthermore, his passion for composition shines through his acoustic and electro-acoustic works such as: "Yesterday, I Woke Up Sucking a Lemon," featured on the album recorded by NewStream Brass in 2022, Sorrowful Songs for bass clarinet and electronics (arr. Copeland); harbor for bass clarinet, tuba, and electronics (both written for and premiered by Alexander W. Ravitz at the CMS South Central conference in Spring '23); and two original works for trombone, tuba, and electronics, written for and recorded by Dr. Austin Seybert also in the spring of '23.
Brett earned a DMA in Tuba Performance and Literature with a Certificate in Arts Leadership from the Eastman School of Music ('20) where he was a Teaching Assistant for both the Tuba Studio and the Eastman Audio Research Studio. His primary teachers have been Don Harry, Jay Hunsberger, and Dr. Jeff Funderburk.