by Douglas Yeo (August 24, 2024) Anniversaries are a big deal. This summer, I got to take part in two trombone anniversaries with the Wheaton (Illinois) Municipal Band. Since 1930, the Wheaton Municipal Band—a high level community band that is supported by the city of Wheaton, the Municipal Band Commission, and the Board of Directors ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (August 15, 2024) I’ve loved reading, researching, and writing for as long as I can remember. My curious nature leads me to want to know more about things. And when I learn things, I like to tell others about them and share the excitement I feel when I make a new discovery ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (August 2, 2024) Life is full of surprises, unexpected moments that lead to bigger things. Try something that’s a little outside your box—your comfort zone—and you’ll probably learn something. If you’re open to learning. Our friends, Phil and Laura Spotts, taught us something about this. My wife, Patricia, and I met Phil ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (June 6, 2024) Since the International Trombone Association (ITA) was founded in 1972, it has held an annual gathering of trombonists. In the Association’s early years, the gathering was called the International Trombone Workshop, and in recent years, it’s been the International Trombone Festival (ITF). I have been to eight of these events, in 1982 (Nashville, TN), 1999 (Potsdam, NY), 2004 (Ithaca, NY), 2014 (Rochester, NY), 2017 (Redlands, CA), 2018 (Iowa City, IA), 2022 (Conway, AR), and, last week (Fort Worth, TX). Since the conclusion of the Festival on Saturday, I’ve been r ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (May 19, 2024) The Bible gives us answers, and it reminds us of this (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, English Standard Version): For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (May 6, 2024) The academic and performing arts worlds are roiled today by the recent exposure of the latest in a long, sordid string of despicable acts of harassment and assault by male brass instrument players against female colleagues in symphony orchestras and against female students at colleges and universities. To the frat house mentality brass boys who dismiss these concerns with a shrug, my or anyone’s words of condemnation may not mean much as you sit in your cave of self-justification while continuing to destroy lives—until you find yourself dismissed from your job, you ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (April 2, 2024) I’ve been playing the trombone for 60 years. I started on the instrument when I was nine years old, in 1964, and while my end is nearer than my beginning, I never think of myself as “getting older.” Life is a steady rhythm of engaging activities, individual and shared activities, and the blessing of regularly being with family members and friends. The International Trombone Association was founded in 1972 and I joined it in that same year. I was a senior in high school at the time and in those days, I ordered a lot of trombone music from Robert King Music Sales i ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (March 5, 2024) University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has recently made two important, happy announcements that I’d like to share with readers of The Last Trombone. I have been serving as trombone professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for the last two years, since August 2022. At that time, the UIUC School of Music was in need of a trombone professor when its previous full time trombone professor abruptly resigned in May 2022. I was happy to accept the offer to take on this work while the School of Music conducted a search for a new full time trombone professor ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (February 23, 2024) In late 2021, Rowman & Littlefield published my book, An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Tuba, and Euphonium Player. This book is the product of several years of writing and a lifetime of exploration into the world of low brass instruments. Since the book hit the market, it has received generous reviews and I’ve been heartened knowing that so many individuals and libraries have purchased the book. Here’s a sample of recent reviews: To simply list all of the topics in this dictionary is not practical; however, suffice it to say that if a ..read more

by Douglas Yeo (February 12, 2024) Last Friday, I arrived at my office at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at 7:00 am to get ready for a full day of teaching. As is my habit before taking out my trombone and warming up, I opened my laptop, quickly checked my email, and scanned the morning’s news headlines where I read an announcement that conductor Seiji Ozawa had died on Tuesday, February 6, at the age of 88. I burst into tears and cried like a baby. Seiji Ozawa hired me into the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1985. At age 29, I joined the BSO for a career that extended until 2012, 27 ye ..read more