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.
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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.
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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.
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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 serves as Instructor of Tuba & Euphonium at Texas A&M University -
Commerce and is a freelance teacher, clinician and tuba artist in the Dallas-Fort Worth
Metroplex. Previously, he has held university teaching positions at the University of
Texas Rio Grande Valley, Del Mar College, Northwestern Oklahoma State University,
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, The University of South Dakota and Rocky
Mountain College (Billings, Montana).
Dr. Drobnak has performed with the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, North East
Texas Symphony Orchestra, Billings Symphony Orchestra, Allen Philharmonic
Orchestra, Helena Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Winds, the South Dakota Brass Quintet
and numerous other chamber ensembles.
In July 2018, Drobnak performed in Madrid, Spain at the invitation of the Spanish
Association of Tubas and Euphoniums. He has performed at many universities in the
central United States and co-hosted the 2017 South Central Regional Tuba Euphonium
Conference at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He performed in Carnegie Hall
with the National Wind Ensemble and in Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra
Youth Orchestra. He appears almost every summer as a soloist with the Rapid City
Municipal Band (South Dakota).
Dr. Drobnak currently serves as Historian of the International Tuba Euphonium
Association and writes the Looking Back column for the ITEA Journal. He coordinates
the Clifford Bevan Award for Research for ITEA. Dr. Drobnak has presented research at
Regional and International Tuba Euphonium Conferences and also Regional and
National Conferences hosted by the College Band Directors National Association. Tuba-
Euphonium Press, currently part of Cimarron Press, has published many of his
arrangements and settings for tuba.
In 2005, Drobnak received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance from
Michigan State University. He also holds a Master of Music in Conducting from The
University of New Mexico and baccalaureate degrees in Music Education and Tuba
Performance from The University of Akron (Summa Cum Laude).
Dr. Drobnak’s former students can be found teaching in the public schools, performing
with military bands, teaching at the university level, performing abroad and contributing
to the music community. He is a member of the International Tuba Euphonium
Association, College Band Directors National Association, Texas Music Education
Association, Historic Brass Society and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
More information can be found at www.drobnakbrass.com.