Beyond the Classroom: BU Women’s Brass Players

The all-female group proudly represented BU at the renowned 2024 International Women's Brass Conference.

CFA Students

Dream big: Our experience at The International Women’s Brass Conference in Japan

In CFA’s Beyond the Classroom Series, music, theatre, and visual arts students at BU share their professional work experiences. These Terriers express how the resources at BU prepared them for success beyond the classroom.

November 5, 2024
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Beyond the Classroom: BU Women’s Brass Players

What’s the only thing better than one CFA student excelling in the world of fine arts? A whole septet of them! The driven and talented Boston University Women’s Brass group, consisting of School of Music students Cassandra McDonald (CFA’25), trumpet performance; Yeonjo Oh (CFA’27), horn performance; Misa Womack (CFA’25), trombone performance; Nyla Mawire (CFA’25), tuba performance; Aysel DeBakey (CFA’25), trumpet performance; Sarah Brustin (BUTI’21, CFA’27), trumpet performance; and Tori Gervais (CFA’27), trumpet performance and music education, believed they had a chance to not just show their performance skills outside the city of Boston, but on an international stage.

Their aim was an impressive career opportunity in Mito, Japan, at the well-renowned 2024 International Women’s Brass Conference in August. Third-year Doctor of Musical Arts student Cassandra McDonald was able to pull together her brass dream team.

With help from the School of Music Director, CFA Dean, and a GoFundMe post, the brass septet was able to make this dream a reality, making it to competition finals, participating in masterclasses, playing in a concert with real legends, and learning along the way that risks always pay off!

Q&A

WITH BU WOMEN’S BRASS GROUP

CFA: How did you learn about this international conference in Japan, and what steps did you take to secure it?

Cassandra: We had this crazy idea to bring a group of us women brass players to the International Women’s Brass Conference in Mito City, Japan during the August 2024 conference. In short, we made it happen and did several competitions together and collectively, performed in masterclasses and a recital, presented a clinic, and made a lot of important professional and friendly connections.

It started as a pipe dream, something unrealistic, but I pulled a group together for some brainstorming in case it were to actually happen. I talked with our professors (Hazel Dean Davis, Terry Everson, and Don Lucas) to get advice and guidance. Most importantly, I sent a rather audacious (and graciously successful!) email to our School of Music Director and CFA Dean Harvey Young to request funding. We also put together a GoFundMe to help with additional funding. For the ensemble competition, the other six (Sarah, Tori, Yeonjo, Aysel, Misa, and Nyla) met twice over the summer, first for three days and then for five days before we left [to Japan] to put together the ensemble competition piece, and they had all done the work beforehand to memorize the music.  

CFA: What are some of the group’s most notable accomplishments participating in the conference?

Cassandra: The sextet (Sarah, Tori, Yeonjo, Aysel, Misa, and Nyla) played AMAZINGLY and made it to finals, placing third overall. I believe they were the only ones to perform with their music memorized. It was very impressive! Misa our trombonist, Nyla our tubist, and I all went out for the solo competition. Everyone did so well! I won the trumpet category and then received third place overall.

Tori, Aysel, and I all competed in the mock band audition competition, and I’m so proud of them! It was their first competition as individual players, and they both placed, Tori in second and Aysel in third, with me in first.  I’m happy to have won, but I’m really proud of the work they did. I also got an honorable mention in the orchestra mock competition, but I met the first prize winner, Seretta Hart, and she sounded so good. We were the only two competitors in that competition, and meeting her was so pleasant, perhaps a little different than how I imagine most meetings of competitors at conferences go (especially of trumpet players…). I’m sure we’ll meet again, and I look forward to it!

Misa and I got to share a recital with a duet, and from that and with some encouragement, we’ll be forming a touring duet called “ADH-Duo.” We all got to participate in masterclasses, me with (Gale) Nuttakamon Supattranont, Misa with her trombone hero, Megumi Kanda, and the sextet with Kanako Abe. We all learned so much from these sessions.

The four of us trumpet players played in a massive trumpet ensemble concert with some real legends working with us. That was certainly an unforgettable experience. I also got to do my very first conference presentation. It was on Neurodivergence in Music, and I felt really good about it!

CFA: Did any courses or resources at CFA help the team prepare for success?

Cassandra: The School of Music generously paid for our flights, and we are all so incredibly grateful for that. We are also grateful for horn professor Hazel Dean Davis for working with us before the conference. Trumpet and trombone professors Terry Everson and Don Lucas came out to work with us, as well!

BU also provided us with group business cards, including having all our names and instruments in Japanese Kanji, which was a great tool for us to build connections with people.

CFA: How did the coursework at CFA connect with this experience?

Cassandra: I think it is safe to say that we all took what we’ve learned in our lessons, chamber classes, and ensemble rehearsals to this conference in so many different ways, including musically and professionally.

CFA: In what ways do you think this opportunity helped the women’s brass group prepare for work beyond BU?

Cassandra: For me personally, I’ve lived in the Boston area for eight years, and having lived here for six years and not being a Boston or East Coast college alum was challenging in trying to break into the gigging scene because you make so many connections in school. But between making connections at school and now especially making international connections, I feel like my world has expanded, and I think the others in our group would say the same. The people we met at this conference will most definitely help us in the future.

“Between making connections at school and now especially making international connections, I feel like my world has expanded, and I think the others in our group would say the same. The people we met at this conference will most definitely help us in the future.”


-Cassandra McDonald (CFA’25) DMA Trumpet Performance

CFA: What did each of you learn about yourselves through this experience?

CFA: Any advice for current CFA students looking into pursuing similar opportunities?

Cassandra: BE AUDACIOUS. Don’t give in to safety-ism and anxiety, just do the thing that seems impossible. Also, pay attention to deadlines.

CFA: What’s next for the BU Women’s Brass team?!

Find out below and follow the group on social!

CAREER & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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