Summer Trumpet Institute

Welcome to the Capital Region Summer Trumpet Institute

Monday-Thursday, July 15-18, 2024, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

A four-day intensive seminar at the School of Music, 78 Washington Ave., Schenectady, NY, for middle school and high school students ages 11-18, dedicated to the study of the trumpet. Students can anticipate rehearsals, masterclasses, musicianship classes, recording studio time, and a concert at the end! Led by and featuring premiere freelance musicians and educators in the area, the Summer Trumpet Institute will provide students with an educational laboratory to learn, play, and listen. Teachers who would like to audit the session are welcome.

Tentative Schedule

Monday

9:00 a.m.: Check-in/individual warm-up
9:15 a.m.: Camp meeting and introductions
9:30 a.m.: Panel Discussion and Demonstrations: What is Chamber Music?
10:30 a.m.: Trumpet Choir Rehearsal
12:00pm: Lunch and Time to Relax/Socialize/Practice
1:00 p.m.: Musicianship Class: Practice Techniques- How to Work Smarter, Not Harder
2:00 p.m.: Coached Trumpet Ensembles
3:00 p.m.: Trumpet Faculty Recital (Free and open to the public)
4:00 p.m.: Sign out/Parents Pickup OR practice time/private lessons until 5 p.m. pickup

Tuesday

9:00 a.m.: Check-in/individual warm-up
9:15 a.m.: Panel Discussion: Performance Anxiety
10:30 a.m.: Coached Rehearsals
12:00 p.m.: Lunch and Time to Relax/Socialize/Practice
1:00 p.m.: Musicianship Class: Improvisation
2:00 p.m.: Trumpet Choir Rehearsal
3:15 p.m.: Afternoon Fun - Jam Session
4:00 p.m.: Sign out/Parents Pickup OR practice time/private lessons until 5 p.m. pickup

Wednesday - Aaron Albert Day

9:00 a.m.: Check-in/individual warm-up
9:15 a.m.: Panel Discussion/Demonstration- Warm-ups and Technical Practice
10:30 a.m.: Coached Rehearsals
12:00 p.m.: Lunch and Time to Relax/Socialize/Practice
1:00 p.m.: Musicianship Class: Auditions/NYSSMA/College Prep- What are Judges Really Listening For?
2:15 p.m.: Trumpet Choir Rehearsal
3:15 p.m.: Afternoon Fun - Sight-reading duets/trios with others
4:00 p.m.: Sign out/Parents Pickup OR practice time/private lessons until 5 p.m. pickup

Thursday

9:00 a.m.: Check-in/individual warm-up
9:15 a.m.: Panel Discussion: Versatility and Professionalism in Music: How to Get Gigs, How to Keep Gigs
10:30 a.m.: Coached Dress Rehearsals
1:00 p.m.: Lunch and Time to Relax/Socialize/Practice
1:45 p.m.: Trumpet Choir Dress Rehearsal
3:00 p.m.: Final Concert featuring Mass Trumpet Choir, Institute Trumpet Ensembles, and Faculty Trumpet Ensemble
(Free and open to the public)
4:00 p.m.: End of Camp Outdoor Celebration/Reception

How to Sign Up and Cost

The CRN for the Summer Trumpet Institute is 60282, you will need to include this on the registration page.
If you would like to add one 30-minute lesson at the end of one of the institute days, please add CRN 60257 to the list of classes you are registering for.
If you would like to add one 60-minute lesson at the end of one of the institute days, please add CRN 60258 to the list of classes you are registering for.
You will receive a confirmation email with information on how to pay upon registration.

Cost: $258 per student
Individual lessons are available starting at 4 p.m. for an additional fee of $30 for 30-minutes or $60 for 60-minutes

Registration deadline: July 8
If you have any questions, please contact keyserab@sunysccc.edu.

Faculty

Dr. Allyson Keyser

Allyson Keyser is a tenured Professor of Music at SUNY Schenectady County Community College where she instructs the trumpet studio, coaches brass ensembles, teaches core music classes, directs the Wind Ensemble, and is the Brass Department Chair. Dr. Keyser received her B.M.E. from Virginia Commonwealth University and her M.M. and D.M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she was the trumpet teaching assistant for five years. In 2017, Dr. Keyser won the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Prior to her appointment at SUNY Schenectady, Dr. Keyser taught trumpet, theory, aural skills, and coached brass ensembles at Virginia Commonwealth University as a sabbatical replacement for her former professor, Rex Richardson. She also performed as principal trumpet of the Richmond Brass Consort, Commonwealth Winds, Richmond Symphonic Winds, Richmond Philharmonic, Greene City Brass Quintet, and played regularly with Market Street Brass Quintet. Her past trumpet teachers include Gary Gompers, Rex Richardson, Ed Bach, and Julius Schaikewitz.

Dr. Keyser currently performs as principal trumpet in the Capital Region Wind Ensemble, third trumpet in the Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra, leader of the SUNY Schenectady Concert Brass Quintet, founding member of Brass Abbey, principal trumpet of Albany Pro Musica, and often performs with the Albany Symphony and Glens Falls Symphony in addition to several local concert bands. She often presents trumpet masterclasses and conducting workshops at schools such as the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, Virginia Commonwealth University, Hartwick College, Skidmore College, NYSSMA, NYSBDA, CASDA conference, as well as to area high schools and middle schools.

John Fatuzzo

John Fatuzzo is a music educator and professional trumpeter from New York’s Capital Region. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with James Thompson, former Principal Trumpet of the Montreal and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Fatuzzo is currently on the music faculty at Guilderland Central High School, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble. The 2023 recipient of the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Early Career Achievement Award, Mr. Fatuzzo’s ensembles have exclusively received Gold and Gold with Distinction ratings at NYSSMA Major Organization Festivals. He has made guest conducting appearances with the Schenectady and Greene County High School All-County Bands as well as the Guilderland Town Band. Mr. Fatuzzo regularly coaches symphonic brass and orchestral winds sectionals for the Empire State Youth Orchestras in addition to annually serving on their trumpet audition panel. Mr. Fatuzzo is a Brass Adjudicator for NYSSMA Solo and Ensemble festivals and maintains a private trumpet teaching studio out of his home in Albany.

Outside of teaching, Mr. Fatuzzo has an active performing schedule as a freelance trumpet player. He has performed with the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra, Capital Region Wind Ensemble, Albany Pro Musica, Octavo Singers, and the Saratoga Voices (formerly Burnt Hills Oratorio Society) among other local professional ensembles. In 2016, he was a semifinalist in the Graduate Solo Division of the National Trumpet Competition. Fatuzzo has performed with and for several highly acclaimed artists including Bela Fleck, Doc Severinsen, and Livingston Taylor, as well as current and retired musicians from some of the world’s most famed symphony orchestras including Phil Smith, Mark Gould, David Bilger, Jim Wilt, Thomas Stevens, and Ethan Bensdorf.

Dr. Nikola Tomić

Nikola Tomić is a versatile trumpet performer and educator with over twenty years of professional experience. Based in New York’s Capital Region, Nikola previously lived and worked in the New York City area, performing at venues including The Jazz Gallery, Swing 46, the Drawing Room, the Cutting Room, the West End Theatre, New World Stages, Silvana, St. Peter's Church, the Slope Lounge, Williamsburg Music Center, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. He has appeared at festivals including the Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia, Italy), the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Tri-C JazzFest (Cleveland, Ohio), and the International Cervantino Festival (Guanajuato, Mexico).

Nikola is a teaching artist and brass coach for the Empire State Youth Orchestra’s CHIME program and teaches the trumpet in the Jazz & Contemporary Music program at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He taught previously at Cornell University, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and the Ithaca College School of Music. Nikola taught from 2010 to 2013 for the Eastman Community Music School, providing instruction in trumpet and music theory and working with the New Horizons Band Program, and was on faculty at the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy from 2013 to 2019. Nikola maintains a private teaching studio at his home in Voorheesville.

Nikola’s pedagogical articles “Upward Spiral” (March 2020) and “Alternative Approaches to Warming Up” (June 2019) were published in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, to which he has also contributed two dozen CD reviews.

Nikola holds D.M.A. and M.M. degrees in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media from the Eastman School of Music and a B.M. in trumpet performance from Ithaca College. In addition to long-term trumpet study with Clay Jenkins and Frank Gabriel Campos, Nikola has benefitted from private lessons with Brian Pareschi, Douglas Prosser, Marvin Stamm, Byron Stripling, Vincent DiMartino, Gary McCheyne, and Donald Byrd.

Dr. Peter Bellino

Dr. Peter Bellino is thrilled to be the new band/jazz band director at Greenville High School as well as the Director of the Empire State Youth Jazz Orchestra. During the summer months he teaches jazz and performs with the brass quintet at Luzerne Music Center. Until recently, he served as faculty at Bard College, The College of Saint Rose, Schenectady County Community College, Union College and Emma Willard School.

He performs regularly with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Albany, Glens Falls and Schenectady symphonies as well as many regional chamber ensembles. He has shared the concert stage with Ronan Tynan, Keith Brion, Aretha Franklin, Dave Holland, ‘Doc’ Severinsen and many others. Peter has performed throughout much of the Unites States as well as Japan, Canada and India.

As a student of the music and life of Miles Davis, he recently published a paper in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, titled, "A Decade of Change: Miles Davis’ Blues Solos 1954-1964" and recently gave a lecture-presentation on this topic at the College Music Society’s Northeast Chapter Conference.

Peter is a graduate of the University of Miami, the University of Kentucky, Eastman School of Music and Stony Brook University he studied with Gilbert Johnson, Vince DiMartino, Barbara Butler and Chris Gekker as well as jazz luminaries Fred Sturm, Bill Dobbins, Ronnie Miller and Gary Lindsay.

When not at home pondering the life and music of Miles or Sergei Prokofiev, you’ll probably find him running the picturesque trails of Thacher State Park. He is a Bach Performing Artist