Beyond the Notes and Rhythms: A Practical Approach to Musical Expression

Beyond the Notes and Rhythms: A Practical Approach to Musical Expression by Samantha Keehn is appropriate for advanced high school and collegiate trombone players.

Beyond the Notes and Rhythms is a unique way for trombonists to cultivate creativity, listening skills, and musical expression using theater pedagogy techniques. The first three chapters outline these techniques, discussing how to apply them musically, and chapter four is comprised of thirty-one etudes designed to promote musical experimentation in a variety of styles. An access code to Mountain Peak Methods is included, which houses supplemental resources including links to related websites and audio recordings of the etudes.

"There are thirty-one etudes in this book, purposefully written without any markings in choice of tempi, styles, articulations, or dynamics. The etudes are written in a wide variety of keys and time signatures, often changing effectively within an etude. The lack of markings requires the performer to decide what it is they wish to communicate to the audience using the acting training techniques. I believe once a performer develops these techniques, there will then be a natural flow enabling the performer to better project their musical ideas. I highly recommend this book for all performing and teaching musicians; I will use it in my own practicing and teaching." — Don Lucas, Professor of Trombone, Boston University

Samantha Keehn is currently the Low Brass Instructor at Augustana College, a four-year liberal arts institution in Rock Island, Illinois where she teaches trombone, euphonium, and tuba students as well as in the General Education and Music Education programs. In addition to teaching, she is an active freelancer in the area.

She holds her D.M.A. in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she studied with Dr. William Stanley. A native of Victoria, TX, she also attended Texas Tech University (B.M.) studying with Don Lucas, and Baylor University (M.M.) where she studied with Brent Phillips.

Dr. Keehn has a significant amount of experience performing and researching trombone theatre. She will be performing a show and coaching students in theatrical works as a guest artist at Illinois Wesleyan University this Fall. She has presented her research and method exhibited in this etude book at the International Women’s Brass Conference (2010), The Big XII Trombone Workshop (2010), and the Tubonium Conference (2011).

She has also won numerous awards and grants, including the Bronze Medal of the Senior Wind Division at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, winner of ETW Jazz Bones Competition, the Best Should Teach Silver Award at the University of Colorado, and winner of the ITA Emory Remmington Trombone Choir Award.

She has performed with the Wyoming Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Colorado Light Opera, Victoria Symphony, Roswell Symphony, and the Waco Symphony. Dr. Keehn also participated in the Hot Springs Orchestra for two summers, the Rafael Mendez Institute, and the Masterworks Festival Orchestra. She has also performed at ETW, ITA, TMEA, the Big XII Trombone Workshop, ITEC, Tubonium, and IWBC.