The rich sounds of brass instruments filled the Doudna Fine Arts Center’s Recital Hall Friday by the hands of Eastern music faculty members Andrew Cheetham and Jemmie Robertson.

The professors combined their musical talents to perform “An Evening of Germanic Themes for Trumpet and Trombone,” paying homage to German composers like Jan Koetsier, Boris Blacher and Gustav Mahler.

Cheetham and Robertson were also accompanied by Eastern faculty member Katherine McBain, a horn musician, and Pamela Machala, a piano musician.

Robertson and Cheetham played together for the majority of the German-themed program. They also each played a solo piece accompanied by Machala on piano.

Robertson said the theme for the night came together organically.

“I chose a piece and then (Cheetham) chose a piece and soon enough we realized that all the music we had chosen was written by German composers or based on German composers,” he said. “It was a happy coincidence and we decided just to go with it.”

Prior to teaching at Eastern, Robertson served as a visiting professor of music at Augustana College in Rock Island in 2005.

Robertson joined Eastern in the fall of 2009 and said he has enjoyed his experience here.

Robertson cites his father as his main inspiration for taking up the trombone, although it almost did not happen that way. In 1956, when Robertson’s father was finishing fifth grade, the students got to experience an “instrument petting zoo” to try out different instruments.

“My dad froze up when he was asked what instrument he wanted to play,” Robertson said. “He forgot the name of the trumpet, the instrument he wanted, so he said trombone instead. So he was handed a trombone and was extremely disappointed.”

However, after playing the instrument, Robertson said his father came to love the trombone and made a career from playing the instrument.

Still, Robertson jokes he chose to play the trombone for a “pragmatic” reason.

“We already had 15 trombones at home, so I figured it’d be a lot easier for me to play it than to make my parents buy a different instrument,” he said.

When Robertson first decided to play the brass instrument in fourth grade, a colleague of his father cautioned him that his arms were not up to the task yet to handle the long slide of the trombone.

Robertson took his advice, waited a year to play the instrument and has done so ever since.

Cheetham, an assistant professor of trumpet, is only in his second year at Eastern, but has already been a featured faculty performer in the past. He holds music degrees from both the University of Texas at Austin and the Eastman School of Music.

For his individual performance, Cheetham performed Karl Pliss’ “Sonate.”

Although the concert was on a Friday night, several students and community members were present to support the brass instrumentalists.

Jennette Grau, a sophomore music education major and trombonist, was there because she wanted to show support for both Cheetham and Robertson, her mentors.

“I thought the performance was very artistic and beautiful,” Grau said. “I felt it was important to show support for the music department and brass instrumentalists.”

Shelley Holmgren can be reached

at 581-7942

or meholmgren@eiu.edu.