Trumpet Studio

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Lamont offers an exceptional environment for trumpet students, combining individualized instruction with world-class resources and performance opportunities. Our studio is vibrant and collaborative, where trumpet players challenge and support one another in pursuit of artistic excellence. Guided by Prof. Brian Neal, students engage in intensive private lessons, chamber music, performance class, large ensembles, and masterclasses with renowned guest artists. In Lamont’s trumpet studio, students celebrate each other’s successes and push one another to reach new artistic heights.

Portfolio Requirements

Trumpet Auditions

Studying Trumpet at Lamont

At Lamont, trumpet students receive personalized, one-on-one instruction tailored to their individual goals, experience levels, and musical interests. Your comprehensive training will focus on developing technique, tone, range, and musicianship, nurturing the confidence and versatility necessary to perform on any stage. As a trumpet student at Lamont, you’ll have abundant opportunities to perform in studio classes, recitals, and ensembles, while engaging with masterclasses and guest artist visits from renowned professional trumpet players and educators.

Our supportive and collaborative studio community encourages students to challenge and inspire one another, fostering artistic growth and lifelong connections. We emphasize healthy playing habits to ensure long-term success and prevent injury, alongside building a strong, consistent daily practice routine to develop technique, strength, and endurance.

In your weekly private lessons with Prof. Brian Neal, you will explore an extensive repertoire that spans solo literature, orchestral excerpts, jazz, and contemporary works, gaining fluency in orchestral transposition across all standard keys. Our curriculum promotes versatility across trumpet types—including Bb, C, D/Eb, and Piccolo trumpets—and embraces a wide range of musical styles, from Baroque and Classical to modern commercial and jazz genres. Lamont’s trumpet students participate in rotation-based practice sessions so every student has opportunities to work with different peers and gain new perspectives.

Outside the studio, opportunities abound. Lamont’s size allows for personalized attention and meaningful connections, while the city of Denver offers a vibrant music scene with regional orchestras, gigs, and teaching opportunities. Our students are active performers in the community and often get paid work before they even graduate.

Whether preparing for auditions, competitions, or professional opportunities in classical and commercial settings, Lamont’s trumpet studio offers a vibrant and supportive home.

8-10 trumpet students at Lamont

Over 5 ensembles to participate in each quarter

300+ performance opportunities per year

Faculty

Lamont trumpet students study with Prof. Brian Neal, an accomplished trumpet soloist and chamber musician whose career has taken him across the U.S., Europe, and Russia, performing in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to remote schools in Alaska. Currently in his 14th season with the internationally renowned Dallas Brass, he is also an active clinician who regularly collaborates with orchestras and student ensembles nationwide.

Degree Programs

Auditions

Applicants may choose to either audition in person in Denver OR submit a recorded video audition.

Applications received after January 15 will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. You may indicate your preference for a live or virtual audition on the Lamont application.

Click here to view the current year’s audition dates and the full steps for how to apply.

In-Person Audition Requirements
All auditions are approximately 15 minutes in length.

Undergraduate (BM, BA and Minor)
- All major scales, two octaves when possible
- Pick one from the following selections:
  - One of the 14 Arban Characteristic studies
  - One major solo work for trumpet
  - One Brandt, Bosquet or Charlier etude
- Joseph Haydn, Concerto for Trumpet, second movement
Graduate (MM and Certificate in Performance)
- All major and minor scales, two octaves when applicable
- One Charlier etude
- Student's choice of a major solo work for the trumpet
- Two contrasting excerpts from the orchestral literature
Review Requirements for Artist Diploma
Review Requirements for Certificate in Orchestral Studies
Video Audition Requirements
Applicants unable to travel to Denver for a live audition may submit a video audition via the Lamont application. Repertoire may be recorded separately in multiple takes; editing within each take is prohibited.

Undergraduate (BM, BA and Minor)
- All major scales, two octaves when possible
- Pick one from the following selections:
  - One of the 14 Arban Characteristic studies
  - One major solo work for trumpet
  - One Brandt, Bosquet or Charlier etude
- Joseph Haydn, Concerto for Trumpet, second movement
Graduate (MM and Certificate in Performance)
- All major and minor scales, two octaves when applicable
- One Charlier etude
- Student's choice of a major solo work for the trumpet
- Two contrasting excerpts from the orchestral literature
Review Requirements for Artist Diploma
Review Requirements for Certificate in Orchestral Studies

View Jazz Requirements

Life After Lamont

Lamont students have worked with some of the most prestigious music organizations in the world. Alumni have performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolf Trap, Vancouver Symphony, Broadway, the West End, and San Francisco Opera. Lamont composers have premiered works at Carnegie Hall and the Monterey Jazz Festival, and conductors have led orchestras from Brazil to Hungary. Graduates of our Musicology and music theory programs hold posts at prestigious institutions nationwide. And our recording and production students have launched careers in Hollywood, editing soundtracks for films like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Sam Oatts - MM 2020

Associate Principal/3rd Trumpet, New Mexico Philharmonic; 2rd Trumpet, Santa Fe Symphony
Ryan Spencer - MM 2016

Trumpet, United States Air Force Academy Band
Miles Roth - PC, MM 2020

Assistant Professor of jazz trumpet, University of Northern Colorado