About Matt Waters

The short version

I hold a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Trombone Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles. I spent four years as Professor of Low Brass at the Nanhai Conservatory of Music, where I also directed the athletic bands, and I have taught brass players of every age and level for over fifteen years.

As a performer I have held bass trombone chairs in symphony orchestras and jazz orchestras, played in opera pits and theatre productions, worked cruise ship showbands, and recorded at Warner Brothers Studios. In 2013 I was an opening musician for the Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary Tour at the Staples Center.

Education

• 2014M.M. Trombone Performance, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2012B.A. Trombone Performance, UCLA

Teaching

• 2017–21Professor of Low Brass and Director of Athletic Bands, Nanhai Conservatory of Music
• 2017Education Outreach Coordinator, Golden State Pops Orchestra
• 2015–17Trombone Instructor, Grossmont Community College
• 2015–16Band Director, Mater Dei Catholic High School. Hired to build the programme from square one: organisation, planning, budget and fundraising.
• 2014–15Brass Lead Instructor, Esperanza Azteca Orchestra, Los Angeles. Managed the brass faculty and developed all brass pedagogy.
• 2012–15Assistant Band Director, San Marino High School
• 2013–14Teaching Assistant, UCLA Symphonic Band; rehearsal conductor, UCLA Wind Ensemble
• 2008–Brass and visual instructor for school marching programmes across California, and instructor for the UCLA Music Outreach Program

Performance

• 2017–19Bass trombone and founder, Phantom Brass
• 2016–17Substitute bass trombone, San Diego Symphony Orchestra and San Diego Opera
• 2015–17Bass trombone, La Jolla Symphony Orchestra
• 2014–17Bass trombone, Gaslamp Quarter Jazz Orchestra
• 2016–17Showband trombonist, Norwegian Cruise Lines
• 2011–13Tenor and bass trombone, Utah Shakespeare Festival: The Music Man, Les Misérables, Anything Goes
• 2013Opening musician, The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary Tour, Staples Center
• 2016Recording session, CMG, Warner Brothers Studios; sideline musician, Glee (2012)
• 2009–10Baritone soloist, Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps; DCI Individual and Ensemble Trombone Champion, 2009

My own teachers

I studied trombone with James Miller (Los Angeles Philharmonic), Michael Priddy (San Diego Symphony) and Bill Booth (Los Angeles Opera), brass pedagogy with the international tuba soloist Patrick Sheridan, and conducting with Dr. Thomas Lee and Dr. Travis J. Cross at UCLA. Good teaching is itself taught, and I was lucky in mine.