Robert Slack, MM
Applied Instructor, Trumpet; Director of Jazz Ensemble
Robert Slack received a MM in Trumpet Performance from the Indiana University School of Music; since then, he has grown to be a respected professional in the music industry. While at IU Mr. Slack studied with renounced trumpet teacher William Adam and receiving tremendous insight when he was chosen to be a graduate teaching assistant for Mr. Adam’s trumpet studio. Some of today’s top performers and educators began their careers in William Adam’s studio.
Mr. Slack shares with his students an impressive resume of personal and professional experience; he has extensive experience with virtually every type of ensemble including orchestras, brass Quintets, Chamber ensembles and jazz and Pop groups. Mr. Slack lived and worked in Las Vegas, performing in major production shows and with solo acts at Caesars Palace, The MGM Grand, The Hilton and the Golden Nugget backing up artists such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Julio Iglesias and Tom Jones. After touring with Buddy Rich and Paul Anka he relocated to Los Angeles.
While in Los Angeles Mr. Slack has been busy both teaching and with recording sessions, including accounts for Mattel Toys, Toyota, Hanna- Barbera, Diet Coke, Pillsbury, Mary Tyler Moore Productions, Mad About You, Ford Motor Co., Taco Bell, Tri-Star Pictures, Disneyland, NBC, CBS and CNN News. Just a few Film credits include The Shipment, Disney’s D3: The Mighty Ducks, Casper, Dillinger and Capone, and dozens of projects for HBO and the hit movie That Thing You Do, to name a few. Mr. Slack has also performed at the White House and a CBS TV special for President Ronald Reagan.
Mr. Slack also taught at Citrus College for thirty years developing many of the outstanding programs within the Visual and Performing Arts Division. Fourteen of those years he was the Dean of the Visual and Performing Arts. Mr. Slack is still busy performing, teaching and recording, currently he is the trumpet professor at Azusa Pacific University, where he has taught for the past twenty years.
Education
- MM, Trumpet Performance, Indiana University School of Music
- BA, Music, California State University
Academic Area
- School of the Arts
Expertise
- Trumpet Performance
- Jazz Studies
Courses Taught
- MUS 1B1 – Applied Brass
- MUS 1B2 – Applied Brass
- MUS 2B1 – Applied Brass
- MUS 2B2 – Applied Brass
- MUS 3B1 – Applied Brass
- MUS 3B2 – Applied Brass
- MUS 153 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 154 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 253 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 254 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 357 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 358 – Chamber Ensemble: Brass
- MUS 382 – Jazz and Commercial Ensemble