Tuba/Euphonium Faculty
Applied instruction in Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba
Undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music Education and Performance
Dr. Jeff Baker, Associate Professor of Music
Jeff Baker is Associate Professor of Tuba & Euphonium at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Dr. Baker received music degrees from the University of Oklahoma (BM) and the University of North Texas (MM and DMA). He has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of North Texas and Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, and taught private lessons in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex for almost 20 years.
Dr. Baker is the Principal Tuba/Cimbasso for the Dallas Opera Orchestra. As a freelance musician, he has performed with numerous ensembles including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Winds, the Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, and the Wichita Grand Opera. Dr. Baker has also been a part of over twenty recording projects on the Dallas Opera, EPR, Ft. Worth Symphony, Klavier, Mark, and Naxos labels. He has performed as a featured soloist with a variety of groups in the United States and Brazil, most notably with the US Army Orchestra (Pershing's Own) and as a concerto competition winner with the University of North Texas Symphonic Band.
In 2018, Dr. Baker received the H.M. Lafferty Distinguished Faculty Award, the highest research honor offered by Texas A&M University-Commerce, and in 2019, he was recognized as a Global Fellow for his teaching, service, and research in South America.
Dr. Baker serves as the coordinator for the Commerce, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Allen TUBACHRISTMAS events and is the master of ceremonies for the Denton TUBACHRISTMAS. These annual holiday concerts involve over 650 tuba and euphonium players from the North Texas area and total audience numbers in the thousands. He is the creator and artistic director for the Texas Tuba Camp and a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, the International Trombone Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Brian Davis, Adjunct Instructor of Music
Brian Davis is the band director at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas and one of the busiest professional low brass players in Dallas. He has been the principal euphonium player for The Dallas Winds (formerly The Dallas Wind Symphony) since 1995 and has appeared on 14 recordings and hundreds of performances with the group. Mr. Davis has also performed on euphonium and bass trumpet with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Fort Worth Symphony, The Dallas Opera, and numerous other regional orchestras. He is also founder and euphoniumist for the Texas Star Brass Band.
An accomplished trombonist Mr. Davis has performed all over the Dallas area in numerous orchestras, shows, and bands such as the RAJE Big Band, Dallas Jazz Orchestra, Good Question Band, Carabali and Caribbean Breeze Salsa/Merengue Bands, and The Ft. Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Band.
Mr. Davis holds Bachelor’s degrees from Florida State University and The University of North Florida, and a Master’s degree from The University of North Texas where he was a member of the One O’Clock Lab Band and the UNT Wind Symphony.
Dr. Ken Drobnak, Adjunct Instructor of Music
Ken Drobnak, a native of Medina, Ohio, specializes in tuba performance and low brass
instruction. His research interests include the history of Frank Holton & Company and
the career of Mr. Oscar Stover, who served as Director of Bands at Coffeyville Junior
College (Kansas), Assistant Band Director at Michigan State University and Director of
Bands at Northwestern State College in Alva, Oklahoma.
Drobnak holds a D.M.A. in Tuba Performance from Michigan State University, an M.M. in Conducting from The University of New Mexico and baccalaureate degrees in Music
Education and Tuba Performance from The University of Akron. He currently serves as
Historian of the International Tuba Euphonium Association and as Adjunct Instructor of
Tuba & Euphonium at Texas A&M University - Commerce. He is an active artist in the
Dallas Metroplex and teaches in Rockwall, Forney and Mesquite.
Drobnak has performed with the Greater Lansing Symphony, Sulphur Springs
Symphony, Billings Symphony, Helena Symphony, South Dakota Brass Quintet
and numerous other chamber ensembles. Tuba-Euphonium Press and Cimarron Press
have published many of his arrangements. His primary tuba teachers include Tucker
Jolly and Phil Sinder. He also studied with Deanna Swoboda, Curtis Olson and Karl
Hinterbichler.
Drobnak has authored several articles and presented numerous clinics on the history of
Frank Holton & Company, most recently at the 2014 International Tuba-Euphonium
Conference and 2015 Great Plains Regional Conference. Drobnak presented a poster on
Oscar Stover at the 2015 CBDNA National Conference. Drobnak co-hosted the 2017
South Central Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference at the University of Texas Rio
Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas. His personal website can be found
at drobnakbrass.com.