Trombones of Dayton performs arrangements of classical music, jazz, ragtime, TV, and movie themes. We perform at concert halls, libraries, senior centers, art museums, shopping malls, and other facilities. We also offer educational programs that teach about music and our instruments.
If you would like to hire Trombones of Dayton please contact Rich Begel through the information at the top or bottom of the page, or submit a comment on the main page of this site.
Sean McGhee, Bass Trombone
Sean McGhee is the Bass Trombonist of the Canton Symphony, the Akron Symphony, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and the Kentucky Symphony. He performs regularly with other orchestras in the Tri- State area, with his quintet which has been active in Cincinnati since 2009, the Ohio River Brass Quintet and with his trombone quartet of other university professors, the Blue Ridge Trombone Quartet. He maintains a studio of young musicians of all levels in the greater Cincinnati area. He received his Masters degree from C-CM and his Bachelors from Indiana University, both in trombone performance. When not performing Sean enjoys trail running, cooking, brewing and fixing old houses.
Mike Keener, tenor trombone
Michael Keener, a native of the Dayton, Ohio, area, retired as Professor of Trombone at the University of Dayton. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a trombone student of Betty Glover. While in undergraduate school at C-CM he performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as well as other orchestras and bands in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.
Upon completion of his Bachelor’s Degree, Mike moved to the Chicago area and received his Master of Music, with a major in trombone performance, from the American Conservatory of Music. While in Chicago he studied trombone with Edward Kleinhammer and Jay Friedman, and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for two seasons. Summers during graduate school were spent working as second trombonist with the Cincinnati Summer Opera Company.
Dr. Keener then moved back to Cincinnati and again worked with the Cincinnati Symphony and, for four seasons, was second trombonist with the Cincinnati Summer Opera Orchestra. In addition, he freelanced on trombone and related low brasses in the Cincinnati area. Mike also taught the low brass instruments privately in public and private schools in the Cincinnati area, including the Preparitory Education Department of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
For eleven years Dr. Keener was a manufacturers’ representative for electronics companies, covering northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin. During that time period he graduated with honors from the Fred W. Tremper School of Piano Technology and earned his Amateur Extra Class radio license from the Federal Communications Commission.
In 1996 Mr. Keener relocated back to the Dayton, Ohio, area and, in December, 1997, entered the doctoral program at The Union Institute in Cincinnati, pursuing the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music, with a concentration in Trombone Pedagogy. Participating faculty consultants in Mike’s Ph.D. program included Jay Friedman (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and Thomas Everett (Harvard University). The Ph.D. degree was conferred upon Mike in May, 2000.
For over twenty-five years Mike has owned and operated an independent piano service company, both in Chicago and Dayton, tuning and servicing pianos for schools, churches, recording studios, concert venues, and individuals. In addition to continuing his studies and practice in trombone, piano technology, and tuning, he has developed and taught comprehensive courses in piano tuning and repair both in his own studio and at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. As an Adjunct Professor at Wright State University, Mike has taught brass methods courses and applied trombone.
This tutorial is an outgrowth of Dr. Keener’s doctoral dissertation, A Tutorial on the Principles of Harmonic Intonation for Trombonists. It is hoped that the information and exercises contained in the tutorial will be of benefit to many musicians and teachers.
Connor Fuhrmann, tenor trombone
Connor Fuhrmann is an aspiring young musician who performs in various university, community, and professional productions. He is a trombone performance major at the University of Dayton. Connor is the principal trombonist of the University Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble, lead trombonist of the Dayton Jazz Ensemble and Trombone Ensemble, and trombonist in the early music ensemble and Brown Street Brass Quintet. In addition to his involvement in university ensembles, he plays in a brass choir in Phi Mu Alpha, a campus rock band, and several community groups like the Kettering Civic Band, Centerville Community Band, Englewood Civic Band, Kettering Praise Orchestra, and Psalm 150 Brass Choir. He has played all genres of music including musicals like Hairspray, Evita, and Fiddler on the Roof, jazz with the Hauer Swing Band, Sinclair Community Jazz Band, and Tom Daugherty Orchestra, and church music at over twenty five churches locally. Connor received awards including the Semper Fidelis Award for Music Excellence and Clark J. Haines Music Award, and he is a National Scholastic Collegiate Scholar.
Connor was inspired to pursue music after being principal trombonist of the Dayton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for two years. He is a frequent assistant principal trombonist and substitute of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and a founding member of the MVSO Trombone Quartet. Connor has chamber music experience from his university ensembles, MVSO Trombone Quartet, and in subbing with Five on Brass and Oakwood Brass. He also stresses the importance of music education in the community and serves as a band camp clinician for several high school marching band programs. Other activities include performing at the Bay View Music Festival and recording a CD with the Hauer Swing Band. Connor’s principal teachers and mentors are Rich Begel and Chad Arnow, both members of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. He plans to continue musical studies in graduate school.
Rich Begel, tenor trombone
Richard Begel has been a trombonist with the Dayton Philharmonic since 2003, and he is in Malarkey, Trombones of Dayton, and The Greater Dayton Brass Ensemble. He has performed as a substitute with ensembles around the country such as the Naples Opera, Southwest Florida Symphony, Charlotte Symphony (FL), the Klezmer Company Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Boston Ballet, Alabama Symphony, Kentucky Symphony, Summit Brass, Canadian Brass, Scythian, Enter the Haggis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, The Indigo Girls, The Temptations, Sarah McLachlan, John Pizzarelli, Arturo Sandoval, & others. He is a former member of the Springfield Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Tanglewood Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto Festival, And Festival of Two Worlds (Italy).
Rich has been a soloist with the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Kettering Seventh Day Adventist Church Band, the Sinclair Community College Band, the Northwest Indiana Symphony, a chamber orchestra in Anchorage, Alaska, and he performs solo jazz at retirement facilities and Klezmer music at Jewish facilities.
Rich teaches Music Technology, Music Appreciation, and Low Brass at Sinclair Community College; Low Brass & Brass Choir Director at Earlham College; Low Brass at Indiana University East and Spring Valley Academy; and Brass at the Miami Valley School. He has been a clinician for Sinclair, Valparaiso University, University of Alaska Anchorage, the USAF Band of the Pacific in Anchorage, the Raphael Mendez Brass Institute, & more. Rich has taught at the Park City International Chamber Music Festival (UT), Pine Mountain Music Festival (MI), & other festivals. In addition, Rich has been public-school certified in three states and taught general music, orchestra, and brass class.
He is the author of A Modern Guide for Trombonists & Other Musicians & the editor of Intonation Repair Tool (first edition). His students are now in youth orchestras, colleges & conservatories (on scholarship), professional performers, teachers, & administrators.
Rich received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education & Performance from The Crane School of Music at The State University of New York at Potsdam and a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory. He later did doctoral work at Michigan State University. Rich’s instruments include the trombone, alto trombone, and euphonium.