Marching to the Trombone Beat:
Concert Honors Professor
“Give me a fish and I eat for a day; teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.” proclaims an old Chinese proverb. This phrase can also be used to describe the impact David D. Sporny, a member of the UMass Amherst Department of Music & Dance who is retiring at the end of this semester, has had on students.
Sporny is closing a 26-year career teaching trombone and jazz to students who in turn have been successful as both teachers and performers. In his trombone studio, Sporny inspired hundreds learning the fine art of the brass instrument. In the competitive Chapel Jazz Ensemble and the Trombone Choir hundreds more students were exposed to Sporny’s talents as a musician and teacher.
He founded the Dave Sporny Big Band and performed with other renowned bands and orchestras in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Forty years ago, he started the jazz program at the world renowned Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.
After their graduation, Sporny’s students have landed jobs at colleges, universities and high schools around the country, and his alums are heard in professional jazz and classical ensembles including the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the U.S. Navy Band.
To celebrate their professor, current and past students are performing on April 26 at 8 p.m. at the Trombone Choir’s final concert of the season in the Campus Center Auditorium with a reception following.
