Lance LaDuke

Associate Teaching Professor in Euphonium & Music Business
School of Music Freshman Advisor
Coordinator of Special and Creative Projects

Bio

Lance LaDuke was internationally known as an educator, writer, speaker, and performer (euphonium, trombone, singer, and enthusiastic ukulele-ist). Lance was the Associate Teaching Professor in Euphonium and Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University. His additional duties at CMU included serving as the Freshman Advisor, Coordinator of Special and Creative Projects, director of the Tartan Tuba Band, and co-creator of the Exploded Ensemble, an experimental electro-acoustic ensemble. Lance was a former member of the international touring quintet Boston Brass, the United States Air Force Band in Washington DC, and the River City Brass Band, the only full-time professional brass band in the country.

Lance performed with some of the finest ensembles in the country, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. He taught and/or gave masterclasses at some of the world’s finest universities and conservatories, including Juilliard, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Tatui Conservatory in Brazil. He appeared on over thirty recordings, produced ten others, and toured extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, performing in over 25 countries and all 50 states. His performances were seen and heard on countless television and radio programs and Lance appeared on stage with such legendary artists as Henry Mancini, Doc Severinsen, Morton Gould, Morgan Freeman, and Frederick Fennell.

A graduate of Michigan State University, Lance received a bachelor’s degree in Music Education, with a cognate in English. After graduate study at the University of Akron (euphonium performance) and George Mason University (instrumental conducting),

Lance joined the United States Air Force Band in Washington D.C. While there, he performed for two presidents, countless dignitaries, and heads of state, and in hundreds of protocol functions, ceremonies, and public relations tours. He maintained a Top Secret security clearance, played for well over a million people from the White House to Red Square, and can be seen (with a magnifying glass) in the movie A Clear and Present Danger.

Lance wrote for countless organizations, including sketches for radio, stage, and themed attractions. He was a member of several improv comedy troupes, co-wrote and produced (with Deanna Swoboda) Band Blast Off, a band recruiting DVD, and formerly served as co-director of the Savvy Arts Venture Challenge. He worked with VH1 Save the Music, performed at TEDxCMU, and has a song headed to the moon as part of the CMU MoonArk project launched aboard the Astrobotic Peregrine spacecraft. He was the creator of the Modern Musicking Center and former co-host (with Andrew Hitz) of the Brass Junkies Podcast. His comedy songs, including a touching elegy to a dead goldfish and a song about getting underwear for Christmas, are available for viewing through lanceladuke.com.

His newest project was The GAME of Innovation, available through McGraw Hill Publishing.

Lance passed away in December 2023 after a tragic accident, and is mourned by the entire CMU and School of Music community.