About Douglas Yeo
Biography
Douglas Yeo served as Associate Professor of Trombone at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2022 to 2024 while the School of Music was conducting a search for a new full-time, permanent trombone professor. He retains an affiliation with the UIUC School of Music as a passionate advocate for student success, and a leading voice for the promotion of excellence in performance, teaching, and research.
Born in Monterey, California, Yeo grew up in Queens and Valley Stream, New York where he began playing the trombone at the age of nine. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Wheaton College, Illinois (1976)—where he studied trombone with Edward Kleinhammer (bass trombonist of the Chicago Symphony, 1940–1985)—and his master’s degree from New York University (1979). Before joining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1981, Douglas Yeo was an active freelance musician in New York City where he was a member of the Goldman Band for four years, and he also performed for Broadway shows, big bands, and other ensembles including the American Symphony Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. He also served as a high school band director for two years. In 1985, Seiji Ozawa appointed Yeo as bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he held the John Moors Cabot chair.
During his nearly three decades in Boston, Yeo served on the trombone faculty of New England Conservatory of Music where he was also chair of NEC’s brass and percussion department, and conductor of the New England Trombone Choir. He was music director of the New England Brass Band from 1998–2008 and was vice-president and a member of the board of directors of the North American Brass Band Association. Since his retirement from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012, Yeo has served as trombone professor at Arizona State University, Wheaton College, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has given master classes and recitals on five continents, and he continues to teach, lecture, and lead residencies at universities and festivals around the world including the International Trombone Festival (eight times), the Banff Center (Canada), the Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy and Festival (nine times) and the Nagoya Trombone Festival (Japan), the International Trombone and Tuba Festival (Beijing), and the Dutch Bass Trombone Open (Holland).
In 2014, Yeo was the recipient of the International Trombone Association’s highest honor, the ITA Award, given to him “in recognition of his distinguished career and in acknowledgement of his impact on the world of trombone performance.” He has also received the International Trombone Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2024) and the International Tuba Euphonium Association’s Clifford Bevan Award for Meritorious Work in Low Brass Research (2010). He has written book chapters and articles for many publications including the International Trombone Association Journal, the Historic Brass Society Journal, the International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal, and the Galpin Society Journal. He is the author of The One Hundred: Essential Works for the Symphonic Bass Trombonist (Encore Music Publishers), Serpents, Bass Horns and Ophicleides at the Bate Collection (University of Oxford Press), and co-author (with Edward Kleinhammer) of Mastering the Trombone (Ensemble Publications). Yeo’s most recently published books are An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Tuba, and Euphonium Player (2021, Rowman and Littlefield), and Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry (2021, co-authored with Kevin Mungons, University of Illinois Press)—the book was the 2022 winner of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Award for best historical research in recorded blues, gospel, hip hop, soul, or R&B. Yeo’s instructional DVD and seven solo recordings have received critical acclaim as have his 12 music arrangements that are published by G. Schirmer, International Music, Southern Music, and De Haske Music.
As an early music specialist, Yeo is an active performer on serpent, ophicleide, and the early bass trombone (popularly known as the sackbut). In addition to playing with leading early music groups including Philharmonia Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Baroque, his historical instrument playing is heard on museum audio and video guides around the world. He has presented demonstrations, recitals, and lectures on historical instruments at the Bate Collection (Oxford, England), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music (Champaign, Illinois), National Music Museum (Vermillion, South Dakota), and the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (Japan).
Douglas Yeo’s website, yeodoug.com (1996), was the first site on the internet devoted to the trombone, and his blog, TheLastTrombone.com—Occasional thoughts on Life, Faith, and the Trombone—was launched in 2016.
Teaching Philosophy
The pursuit of any artistic enterprise must begin with the fundamental thesis that it is consequential. To that end, my philosophy of teaching—which has been developed through my own life experience as a professional artist/musician/trombonist and my over 40 years of teaching at the Conservatory/University/College level—may be summarized in two tripart pillars:
WHAT WE DO
STEWARDSHIP. This is the why of what we do. Each person is uniquely gifted in various ways. When an individual achieves awareness of their particular type of gifting, one has a responsibility to be a faithful steward—a good manager, a capable caretaker, a passionate exponent—of same. This stewardship of our gifting is at the root of our artistic personhood, and we strive to diligently and joyfully fulfill the promise we have within.
EXCELLENCE. This is the how of what we do. I have never met a person who wakes up in the morning and says, “Today, I wish to achieve mediocrity in all of my tasks.” If one understands the importance of good stewardship of one’s gifts, then, in the words of Dr. Harold M. Best (Dean emeritus, Wheaton College Conservatory of Music; past president, National Association of Schools of Music), “Excellence is the norm of stewardship.” Each individual aspires to excellence commensurate with their level of gifting. Excellence is not a fixed, one-size-fits-all end point. Rather it is a movable ceiling that each individual continually pushes up against in order to actualize their potential.
MISSION. This is what we desire to accomplish through what we do. Since we operate from the principle that what we do as artists/musicians/trombonists is consequential, we endeavor to shape society with our artistic pursuits. In an increasingly chaotic and disjointed world, our artistic work provides encouragement, comfort, challenge, and inspiration to those who come in contact with us. No matter how we express our gifts—whether as a performer, an educator, an administrator, a composer or arranger, a music therapist, or as one who pursues any of a host of artistic callings—we do so fervently and with the knowledge that we are making a difference.
STRATEGIES TO IMPLEMENT WHAT WE DO
PAY ATTENTION. Fundamental to learning is the ability to pay attention. With myriad demands on our lives that require us to multi-task and manage a wide variety of activities, there are times when we must single-mindedly focus ourselves on a particular project or event. Eliminating distractions and developing the ability to compartmentalize aspects of our lives and living is fundamental to developing the ability to engage in accurate self-evaluation. Such self-evaluation is critical to making positive progress toward goals. In addition, it is not enough to pay attention to things that self-evidently seem related to the trombone. Rather, we recognize that by paying attention to everything that intersects with our lives, we can bring lessons from diverse experiences to our work as artists/musicians/trombonists.
ASK QUESTIONS. Nobody knows everything about anything. It is by asking questions that individuals increase their knowledge base, and teachers and students who understand this have the potential to engage in active, meaningful, and transformative learning. Rather than simply giving a student information and strategies to implement so they can improve their skills, my teaching encourages the asking of questions so both teacher and student engage in the acts of discovery and understanding together.
TRY EVERYTHING. Discovery and understanding are active, ongoing processes. If one assumes that, after determining the “best” way to accomplish a task, they no longer need to continue exploring alternative strategies for both execution and improvement, an individual will fossilize their learning at an early stage. Since new knowledge and more highly developed skills lead to improved methods of solving problems, trying every possible means of addressing tasks ensures that one benefits from the ongoing improvement an individual has been continuously pursuing.
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