Patrick Young

Dr. Patrick E. Young serves as the Director of Bands, Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at Samford University. He works with the athletic bands, conducts the wind ensemble, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, and teaches the tuba and euphonium studio. Prior to assuming his position at Samford, Dr. Young previously served as the Director of Bands/Low Brass at Idaho State University and Young Harris College.

Dr. Young is an active conducting clinician and adjudicator for regional and state-level wind bands, and is regularly invited to adjudicate solo, marching, and large ensemble competitions across the Western and Southeastern United States. He previously served as the higher education chair for the Idaho Bandmasters Association, and was responsible for organizing the annual Idaho All-Collegiate Band.

Dr. Young routinely commissions and premieres new works by younger and underrepresented composers for the wind band medium, and also is a frequent presenter at state and national level music conferences. His past presentations include Sing Through Your Baton – Expressive Conducting for the Band Director, Conducting Tips: A Performer’s Perspective, SPEAK CLEARLY: Articulation Tips for the Band Director, cNAFME - Preparing for the Job Interview, and Exploring Chat GPT for Music Teachers.

In addition to his duties at Samford, Dr. Young currently serves as the principal tubist of Opera Colorado in Denver, Colorado, and the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra in Branson, MO. As a soloist, he has performed at International Tuba & Euphonium Conferences, and the Southeastern and Northwestern Regional Tuba & Euphonium Conferences.

He has received two Global Music Awards in the Solo Instrumentalist and Creativity categories for his album Counting Rests, and earned First Place in the Rocky Mountain Brass Solo Contest. Dr. Young was also a two-time semi-finalist in the International Leonard Falcone Festival and Competition in Michigan, and formally served as the principal tubist with the Symphony of the Rockies and the Longmont Symphony Orchestra in Colorado.

Dr. Young is an advocate for chamber music and regularly provides chamber coaching and tuba/euphonium masterclasses with the Cantare Brass Quintet, a group dedicated to premiering new and diverse works for the brass quintet medium while also performing classic brass quintet repertoire at the highest level. He has coached at institutions such as the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Wyoming, the University of Utah, Boise State University, Brigham Young University–Idaho, and the University of Oregon.

In 2019, he was a guest artist at the Moscow Conservatory, the Gnessin Musical College, and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia on a tour with the Fortress Brass Quintet, where he performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Conservatory Orchestra, taught masterclasses and individual lessons, and gave numerous recitals with the ensemble.

Dr. Young is a Melton Meinl Weston and B&S Tuba Performing Artist and is a member of the International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA), the National Association for Music Education (NAFME), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Young Harris College, a Master of Music Performance in Tuba from the University of Georgia, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder. His primary conducting teachers include Dr. Don McKinney, Dr. Dan Bara, Dr. Jaclyn Hartenberger, Dr. John Lynch, Dr. Mary Land, and Dr. Mike Campbell. His primary tuba instructors include Professor Mike Dunn, Professor David Zerkel, Dr. David McLemore, Dr. Simon Wildman, and Mr. Howard Levine. In his free time, Dr. Young enjoys grilling, watching the Atlanta Braves, and going on hikes and walks with his fiancé, Jenna, and Kirby, their Siberian Husky.