Oakwood Brass brings Instrument Introduction concerts to Elementary Schools and Middle Schools throughout the school year. Our concerts focus on teaching students about the history of brass instruments and music concepts through age appropriate music selections from multiple genres including Classical, Jazz, Latin, and Media music. Our program is designed to walk students through the process by which a brass instrumentalist produces sound, from breathing to buzzing, in a fun and interactive way. Our high energy programs are designed to foster a desire to study a brass instrument in their school music program.

A complete list of program options include:

• In-School Concerts with Instrument Introduction for 4th and 5th grade students.

• Concerts for all students Kindergarten through 12th grade.

• Introduction to brass instrument lessons with elementary school brass students.

• Lessons for students in middle and high school studying brass instruments in their school music programs.

All concerts occur during school hours creating equitable access to the arts for all students.

Our school projects are supported in part by the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission, City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. It is also supported in part by the Tournament of Roses Foundation, the Recording Industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund, and donors to the Oakwood Brass - Outreach Project.

Oakwood Brass In School Concerts

In 2023-24 Oakwood Brass presented 29 school concerts to
approximately 964 students with performances at eight elementary
schools in the Pasadena Unified School District. Our exciting program
was designed to inform and create interest in studying brass
instruments in their school band programs. This program featured
music from all over the world including a classic Bach fugue, an
Argentinian tango, and a Puerto Rican danza. Kristin Forest, principal at
Webster Elementary, shared this comment from one of her parents,
“The mother of a 4th grader told me that her son now wants to play the
trumpet because of this concert!”

Elementary Schools receiving our programs include: Mary W. Jackson STEM Dual Magnet Academy, Madison, Norma Coombs, McKinley, Sierra Madre, Webster, and Willard. Longfellow will hear OBOP in the Spring of 2023 as students are moving into Middle School and choosing elective options.

Our 50 Minute In-School concerts for 6th grade middle school students occur in August and September. We time the concert date to coincide with when students are choosing electives in order to increase student interest in joining their school band program. This is an inspirational concert that focuses on showstopper instrument virtuoso features such as La Virgen de la Macarena (trumpet solo) and St. James Infirmary (trombone solo). We use these pieces to showcase the strengths and sounds of brass, giving students listening examples to highlight the differences between the various instruments.

Middle Schools receiving our programs include: Eliot Arts Magnet, Octavia E. Butler Magnet, Blair International Baccalaureate, Marshall Fundamental School, and Sierra Madre Middle School.

Supporting Schools with lessons by our teaching artist: Nico Bejarano, Darren Dvoracek, Danny Lawlor, Callan Milani, Aija Mattson-Jovel, and Cameron Wilkins.

Elementary Schools
Jackson, Willard, and Sierra Madre

Middle Schools
Eliot Arts, McKinley, Marshall, and Octavia E. Butler Magnet

High Schools
Blair, Marshall, Muir, and Pasadena

Oakwood Brass - Outreach Project is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring the classical brass quintet sound to the community. Donations to Oakwood Brass - Outreach Project are tax deductible. Oakwood Brass - Outreach Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.