8th Position 8th Position

Introducing our final guest of the season we have the incredible Martin Schippers. From first taking lessons with his grandfather to now becoming one of the most prevalent and respected musicians of today. Martin goes in depth about his musical upbringing, approach to work/life balance, and elaborates on new upcoming projects. Martin is currently the current tenor/ bass trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouworkest and professor at Lucerne University in Switzerland, and has appeared at numerous events and festivals such as the International Trombone Festival, Lätzsch Trombone Festival, and Peru Low Brass Festival just to name a few.

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Transition Music #1: Colores, Steven Verhelst, feat. Martin Schippers and the Schwob Trombone Ensemble

Transition Music #2: Devil's Waltz, Steven Verhelst, feat. Martin Schippers and Tomer Maschkowski

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_

For our second to last episode this season, we have the most subbed brass musician on YouTube, Christopher Bill. Originally building his brand on YouTube in the 2010s and expanding to several other social medias, Chris started his channel with all-trombone arrangements of popular songs and has gained serious popularity since then. Now known internationally for his arrangements, compositions, and his album Half Man, Half Machine, Christopher Bill has one of the most unique careers of nearly any musician out there, giving us a great unique interview full of experiences we have yet to hear.

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Transition Music #1: Power Down, Christopher Bill

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_

Exciting episode today, as we have an international guest on the podcast today, interviewing Ilan Morgenstern! Ilan has experienced such a spectacular orchestral and solo playing career. He has subbed with numerous top orchestras across the United States and even overseas in Israel such as Israel Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and many more. He has won many awards from internationally renowned competitions including the Jeju International Brass and Percussion Competition, Zellmer-Minnesota Orchestra Competition, and the National Repertory Orchestra’s Concerto Competition. His official positions in the past include San Antonio Symphony, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony. Originally from Rehovot, Israel, Ilan has unique stories about his time growing up in Israel, how he eventually moved to the United States for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and continue through his progression as one of the top bass trombonists in North America up until his present day position in the Vancouver Symphony.

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Transition Music #1: Ballade for Bass Trombone Strings and Harp, Eric Ewazen, featuring Ilan Morgenstern, Rachel Ferris and the San Antonio Symphony

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_

Continuing on with the second half of season 4, our guest today is Dr. Joshua Bynum, Professor of Trombone at the University of Georgia (Athens). We have a new record breaker set with this one as this is now the longest episode we have done so far, and it is absolutely full of truly incredible information and wisdom, for all ages, especially those who are getting into the collegiate teaching world. Dr. Bynum has had phenomenal teachings and pedagogy throughout his college years studying at Jacksonville State University, Temple University, and the University of Iowa. He is recognized as a great trombone professor and trombone player, giving clinics and performances at the Eastern Trombone Workshop, International Trombone Festival, Georgia Music Educators Association Conference, JanFest, and various workshops across the nation. Dr. Bynum’s regular duties outside of Professor of Trombone include the Georgia Brass Quintet, the MOD[ular] Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the Resonant Projection trombone quartet. In this episode we discuss his early life, his thoughts on college football, how he got into the teaching world, and how he has developed a fantastic studio over the years at the University of Georgia.

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Transition Music #1: Georgia On My Mind, Arr. Sammy Nestico, featuring the UGA Trombone Choir

Transition Music #2: Reflection & Celebration, David Wilborn, featuring the UGA Trombone Choir

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_

It’s time for us to begin the second half of season 4 and today for our guest, we have the amazing Myles Blakemore! Myles serves as trombonist in the US Navy Band and is also the Professor of Trombone at Howard University. Prior to those positions he has held a position with New World Symphony, was the inaugural Minnesota Orchestra fellow, and participated in National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and Brevard Music Center. Performing on international stages such as Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, International Trombone Festival, American Trombone Workshop and many more, he has an incredibly rich story for us today, and its nowhere near the end! We naturally talk about his beginnings as a trombonist, exploring his earliest starts to being a fellow at New World Symphony, and his current life in the US Navy Band. We even discuss his process of making his album that is out now and is entitled "Bach-Ish," we highly recommend checking out after this interview to show your love for this terrific musician!

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Transition Music #1: The Gift of Little G for Trombone and Piano, featuring Myles Blakemore

Transition Music #2: Hommage a Bach pour Trombone et Piano, featuring Myles Blakemore

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_

It’s time for our mid-season finale and today for our guest, we have one of the greatest bass trombonists out there, Mr. George Curran! Mr. Curran became the bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic in 2013 and prior to that he was a member of Atlanta Symphony, and a fellow with the New World Symphony. Due to his terrific personality and incredible skills on the trombone, he has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and many more. In addition to his impressive orchestral career, Mr. Curran is a renowned soloist performing solos in two International Trombone Festivals, being featured for the United States Air Force Band, and even the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival in South Korea. With such a great resume and history in the trombone world, we get right down to how he got into music by diving into the story of how he quit engineering to pursue music, how he transitioned from euphonium to bass trombone, how his orchestral career has progressed through the years and of course, we hit him with some rapid fire questions resulting in one of the most controversial responses yet!



Fun Fact: When I (Darien) was first trying to start this Podcast with Lawson, I was studying with Mr. Curran at the time and asked him if this podcast was a good idea and how we should go about it. He supported the idea fully and told me how to reach out to all these wonderful musicians for these interviews! Without Mr. Curran's support and advice, this Podcast wouldn't have been possible!

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Transition Music #1: Barnacle Bill, Steven Frank, United States Air Force Band featuring George Curran 

Transition Music #2: Rolling Thunder March, Henry Fillmore, Schwob Wind Ensemble featuring George Curran

Instagram: @8thposition @dbaldwin903 @_mehurst_