Dr. Brett Copeland is a tuba player, educator, composer, and music technologist that holds the position of Associate Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Northern Iowa where he teaches Applied Lessons, Low Brass Techniques, directs the UNITUBA ensemble, and teaches a course on Electronic Composition. 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, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, 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.
Backing Tracks
Putting the fun back in fundamentals
I've been making backing for my favorite fundamental exercises for years as a way to help keep myself engaged in my individual practice. These backing tracks have a rhythmically engaging metronome (aka drums) and sonically captivating drones to help players work on their sense of time/groove and intonation with focusing on the fundamentals of playing your instrument.
These backing tracks have worked really well for:
Individual Practice
Private Lessons
Band Camps / Low Brass Sectionals
Masterclasses
The LoFi Flow Studies are sequential or pattern-based exercises written to help players stay engaged and focused during their fundamentals practice. The exercises can help develop a players' sound in all registers, help with key fluency, and work on groove and intonation by playing along with a unique and engaging backing track. In addition to creating new original exercises, I've made backing tracks for some of my favorite fundamental exercises from Roger Bobo's Mastering the Tuba, Arnold Jacobs' Special Studies for the Tuba, among others.
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