The Approach
Most lesson studios hand you a routine and tell you to do it every day. That's not wrong — it's just incomplete. What nobody teaches you is why that routine works, or what to do when it stops working.
That's what we focus on here.
The core of my teaching is something I call the Modular System — a framework for building and adapting your own daily practice, based on where you actually are, not where a textbook says you should be. Six areas. Flexible structure. Built by you, for you, with guidance.
The goal isn't to build a player who can execute a prescribed routine. It's to build a player who knows what they need — and knows how to get it.
The Studio
Students in the SIUE Trombone Studio take weekly private lessons and participate in studio class, brass quintet or trombone ensemble, and occasional masterclasses with guest artists. We do regular technique check-ins, listening assignments, and repertoire study across classical and jazz literature.
The studio is small — intentionally. Every student gets real attention, real feedback, and a real relationship with their teacher.
Open to: Undergraduate music majors and minors, graduate students (MM), and non-majors by arrangement.
Instruments covered: Tenor trombone, bass trombone, alto trombone.
About the Instructor
Dr. Matt Hoormann is a bass trombonist and educator with a DMA in Trombone Performance from UCLA. He has performed with the San Diego Symphony Pops, Boston Brass, the USAF Band of Mid-America and Shades of Blue, and alongside artists including Doc Severinsen. He is an endorsing artist for Best American Craftsman and Conn Trombones and a Signature Artist for Warburton Mouthpieces, and is currently completing The Modular Trombonist, a pedagogical text on practice framework design.
Before joining the SIUE faculty, he spent over a decade at Lindenwood University co-designing and overseeing the Music Business & Entrepreneurship program — which means his students also learn how 21st Century music careers actually work.
Auditions/Contact
Thinking about auditioning?
SIUE holds scholarship audition days in February. If you're interested in studying trombone, reach out before then — I'm happy to answer questions, talk through repertoire, or arrange an informal visit.
Events
SIUE Brass Day — Annual one-day event for high school brass students. Masterclasses, mass brass choir, performances.
Next event: Spring 2027 - details coming soon