Louisiana Trombones
Louisiana Trombones is an annual event for trombone enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels. Join us for a day of playing trombone, listening to trombone, and learning about trombone!
Participants have the opportunity to perform with trombone choir, work with guest conductors, attend guest artist recitals, masterclasses. There will be a participant trombone choir performance at the end of the day!
Louisiana Trombones 2025
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Events are held at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Angelle Hall Band Room and the Main Hall
601 E St. Mary Blvd.
Lafayette, LA.
Participants can park along McKinly St. near Angelle Hall.
Schedule
All Events Free and Open to the Public | Angelle Hall School of Music
9:30 – Registration (168)
9:45 – Warm-up session (168)
10:15 – rehearsal: Participant trombone choir (168)
11:00 – Guest Artist Presentation: Nick Garrison (168)
12:00 – Lunch [Check out our sandwich fundraiser!]
1:00 – masterclass: Nick Garrison (153)
2:00 – rehearsal: participant trombone choir (168)
3:00 – Nick Garrison Quartet (Choir Room)
(short Break)
4:15 – Performance featuring Nick Garrison (Main Hall)
Guest Artists
Louisiana Trombones is dedicated to the education of professional, student, and amateur trombonists. Guest artists not only present a recital each year, but also provide a masterclass featuring ways of improving as a student, and conduct the participant trombone choirs.
Nick Garrison
April 26, 2025
Trombonist Nick Garrison maintains an active freelance career performing orchestral, jazz, and contemporary music. He is currently the second trombonist with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2010. Nick currently resides in North Carolina and has performed with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and holds a faculty position teaching Applied Trombone at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. As a freelance artist, he developed his career in New Orleans and south Louisiana over twelve years, performing with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Orleans Opera Association, and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. He has shared the stage with such musicians as Rufus Reid, Topsy Chapman, Ellis Marsalis, Sonny Landreth, Marcia Ball, Marc Broussard, Wessell "Warmdaddy" Anderson, Tony Dagradi, Lena Prima, The Treme Brass Band, Jovin Webb, Grammy-winning artists Lost Bayou Ramblers and Chubby Carrier, and trombone legends including Joseph Alessi, Bill Reichenbach, Alex Iles, and Phil Teele.
Announcing:
Louisiana Trombones 2026:
Tentative: April 18, 2026
Catie Hickey (she/her) is a trombonist, educator and arts advocate based in Chicago. Committed to expanding the role of the 21st century musician, she is the founder of Brass Beyond Binaries, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for female and gender expansive brass musicians through workshops and performance. An in-demand educator, Ms. Hickey currently serves on the faculties of Loyola, DePaul, and North Park Universities.
As a performer, Catie’s professional experience spans almost every situation where a trombone can be welcomed. Catie gained her road chops touring with the Foothills Brass Quintet from 2010-2013 (ask her about Saskatchewan). Putting her master’s degree to work, she has performed with the symphonies of Calgary, St, Louis, Rochester, and Culiacan, Mexico. At home in the Midwest, she performs in theater pits throughout the Chicago area with the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10-208, and with her Southeast Asian brass Band Butter Chicken. In addition to co-founding Taller de Trombones Panama, Catie is a frequent guest of Trombonanza, Urubrass and many other brass workshops in Latin America. She is a graduate of Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music, Jazz and Contemporary Media/Applied Trombone) and Rice University (Master of Music, Trombone Performance).
Louisiana Trombones
Thanks to our supporters!
M&W Custom Trombones are designed with the professional trombonist in mind and are built to the finest standards of quality and fit. The instruments are crafted so you, the player, will enjoy a classic, rich trombone sound with an ease of response throughout the entire range of the instrument. Trombonists will find M&W instruments embody equal capabilities of delicate, pianissimo playing as well as powerful projection in louder dynamics.
More information on the M&W Custom Trombones site.
UL Lafayette Low Brass Student Association.
Dr. Benjamin Yates, Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dr. Yates performs with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and Louisiana Brass Quintet. Yates is a M&W Custom Trombones artist and a MADPipe trombone mouthpiece and lead pipe system artist.
Cutaway Mouthpieces
Practice Smarter, Not Harder!
Reduce your time in the practice room by improving your efficiency. Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you are frustrated with your playing or want to play easier, then stop reinforcing the same habits that have been limiting your development.
More information found on the MKS Cutaway Mouthpieces site.
More Information
Please contact Dr. Yates with questions or for further information about Louisiana Trombones.
Past Guest Artists
2024
Erica Nichols
Erica is a native from Decatur, Mississippi. She is currently the bass trombonist for the Nashville African American Wind Symphony. She has attended SAE Institute-Nashville, Tennessee for a Diploma in Audio Engineering. Before SAE, she attended The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music in Hattiesburg, MS. There, she studied with Dr. Ben McIlwain and pursued a Bachelor of Arts (BA 2020).
2023
Mr. Matthew Wright
Louisiana Philharmonic Symphony
Trombonist Matthew Wright joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011. He has performed and recorded with numerous orchestras, big bands, and chamber ensembles from Carnegie Hall to Birdland, and Beijing to New Orleans. He was in the first horn section to play with the band Cake. He was a soloist with the the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, but he was dressed as Santa Claus. His primary teachers are Jeannie Little, Matthew Vaughn, Per Brevig, Steve Norrell, and Scott Hartman.
Past Guest Artists
2021
Dr. Michael Smith
Luther College, Decorah, IA
Dr. Michael Smith is currently Associate Professor of Low Brass at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he teaches low brass, low brass methods, coaches small brass ensembles, and conducts the Luther College Brass Choir and Trombone Choir. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, a Master of Music Education from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and a doctorate in Trombone Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2022
Dr. Jason Sulliman
Troy University
Dr. Jason Sulliman is Assistant Professor of Trombone at Troy University and Trombone Tutor for the North American Brass Band Summer School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Previous teaching positions include the University of North Alabama and Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana. Jason has a unique background in kinesiology as well as music, and his research combines the disciplines of brass pedagogy, motor learning, and cognitive science. He has given hundreds of clinics and guest lecture appearances all over the United States including The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, TMEA, the International Trombone Festival, the International Trumpet Guild, the Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music. Jason is also in high demand all over the world as the creator and consultant for the Sulliman Stability Training Method, which helps wind instrumentalists develop their embouchure utilizing research based in physiology, neuromuscular control, and biomechanics as well as traditional brass pedagogy.
2023
Mr. Matthew Wright
Louisiana Philharmonic Symphony
Trombonist Matthew Wright joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011. He has performed and recorded with numerous orchestras, big bands, and chamber ensembles from Carnegie Hall to Birdland, and Beijing to New Orleans. He was in the first horn section to play with the band Cake. He was a soloist with the the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, but he was dressed as Santa Claus. His primary teachers are Jeannie Little, Matthew Vaughn, Per Brevig, Steve Norrell, and Scott Hartman.