This page will be updated every month with informantion about a different student from each of the 3 trombone studios at IU. First...let's get to know the faculty.

M. Dee Stewart

Welcome back to IU. For those of you who are new, it is great to have you on campus as a regular student. For the rest of you “old timers”, it will be great to see you again.. We have a great year ahead for IU and the IUITA. The IU Trombone Weekend will be an especially important and exciting event for all of us. You will be getting lots of info on that but, suffice to say, with Alessi, Ewazen, and the Midwest Clinic involved it can’t help but be spectacular. Jon Whitaker has been working hard on this and it is all coming together nicely. I am sure we will all be involved as it develops and that is the fun of it. Of course, there are many other trombone events planned and IUITA will always be present in some way. I can’t wait to get started.

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Carl Lenthe

Welcome to IU SoM! Welcome to what can be a wonderful period of personal and musical development and experience. There is more here than you can possibly take in - but please try anyway!! There is no other music school in the world where you can expose yourself to such a complete variety of musical experience at such a high level. Try out as much as you can. Go deep in your specialty. Broaden your horizon and enrich yourself with as many subjects as possible. Talk to people. Listen a lot. Make music with others. Have fun!

Hometown:
Springfield, PA (Delaware County)
Education:
BM from the Curtis Institute of Music
Birthdate:
1956
Instruments of choice:
do you mean, like, piano, noseflute, harmonica - or make and model of trombone? If the latter, then Conn 88H
Teachers and influences:
1966-68: Richard S. Miller (Director of Instrumental Music, Springfield Jr. HS - now Director of Bands at Drexel University) Influence - great task master, hunted me through the Rubank and Arban books, drilled articulation, scales, solos with band, etc. Ran one of the most disciplined band programs I have known.
1969-72: Glenn Dodson (Curtis Institute of Music, Principal-trombonist w/ Philadelphia Orchestra - now retired) Influence - very inspiring musician and trombonist, super clean player with pure tone, never talked of technique (but had lots), played a lot in lessons. I still think of him almost every time I play the trombone.
1973-77: M. Dee Stewart (Curtis Institute of Music, Trombonist w/ Philadelphia Orchestra - now Indiana University) Influence - very caring approach, could talk and coach me into tonal and production/execution experiences that awakened and inspired. Cultivated and passed on a wonderful sense of niceness in the music profession. Tone, tone, tone, air, air, air. Unpretentiously awesome.
Further significant influences include early symphonic experiences in our excellent public school music program and later with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, over two decades of operatic and symphonic experience in Germany - with all of the inspiration that the world's greatest singers, orchestras, and conductors can provide while working the great classics.
Most memorable musical moments include:
As a listener - Britten's War Requiem (IU SoM 1995), Maynard Furguson live in the 70's, Maurice Andre live in the 80's, guitar recital in a large concert hall, Heifetz recording of the Brahms Concerto, Bernstein "Mass" (IU SoM 2000), various youth music performances and contests, "Pictures" and other performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, many others...
As a player - "Universal Judgement" in Jr. HS band, Rachmaninoff 2nd Symphony with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, many performances as a professional orchestral musician - especially "Ring of the Nibelungen" cycles, and other great operatic and symphonic classics - performances with the Bamberg Brass Quintet, Munich Trombone Quartet, Summit Brass.
As a teacher - working with the coming musical generation.
Hobbies other than trombone:
Family - and all that goes with it, house and garden, music in general, following MLB, humor, outdoors, life in general.
Favorite etude book:
Bozza 13 Capricious Etudes, Kopprasch, Blazevich Clef Studies
Favorite solo:
Eugen Reiche "Concerto in A-major", Albrechtsberger "Concerto", Milhaud "Concertino d' Hiver", Guilmant "Morceau Symphonique, Pryor "The Patriot"
Favorite orchestral work:
Many great operas (Pfitzner "Palestrina", Strauss "Arabella", Mozart "Magic Flute" and Don Giovanni", Puccini "Boheme", Verdi "Othello", and many, many more...), great symphonies (Schubert 9, Bruckner 9, Mahler 9, Beethoven 9, Dvorak 9, hmmm...), Bach "Brandenburg Concertos", "Orchestral Suites", and "B-minor Mass", Handel "Messiah", Brahms "Requiem", Beethoven "Missa Solemnis". Usually my favorite orchestral work is the one I am currently playing.

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Peter Ellefson

Hey Everybody! I am thrilled to be beginning my second year here at IU. As the new kid on the trombone block I also have the unique perspective of having been a student here---and not that long ago.The trombone department at IU has a longstanding tradition of quality and success. It is a distinct honor for me to teach along side such wonderful colleagues. We are all here for YOU! Remember, no question is too large or too small---there are tremendous resources here---just ASK! My advice is to challenge yourself to be the best that YOU can be. I will close with 2 four letter words: PRAC TICE.

Hometown:
Myrtle Creek, Oregon
Education:
Linfield College, Northwestern University, Indiana University
Birthdate:
August 14, 1962
Instruments of choice:
Currently, Shires tenor, Yamaha alto, Yamaha euphonium, Greg Black mouthpieces
Teachers and influences:
Warren Baker, Mark Lawrence, Frank Crisafulli, Dee Stewart, Joe Alessi
Most memorable musical moment:
Hearing the deafening silence that occurred between the end of Mahler 9 and the applause with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado at Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
Hobbies other than trombone:
Taking care of Samson the dog.
Favorite etude book:
Depends on which day it is. I am currently going through Phil Snedecor's Lyrical Etudes for Trombone, which I find musically challenging. I also like Ralph Sauer's Orchestral Etude book.
Favorite solo:
Depends on which day it is. Some of my favorites are the Bourgeois Concerto, the Pugh Concerto and I am learning a wonderful Sonata by Salvador Brotons. I am also chipping away at the Rouse Concerto, which I hope to perform one day.
Favorite orchestral work:
Depends on which day it is. I go through phases---sometimes I have to listen to all of the Strauss I have, sometimes nothing is better than Tristan and Isolde. I don't know if it reveals a morbid streak in me but I love the Mozart Requiem, the Brahms German Requiem and the Verdi Requiem. Speaking of Verdi, his operas are high on my list as well.

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