Practice may make perfect, but in the eyes of WSU low brass professor Chris Dickey, it’s performing that teaches his students to be their very best.

“It gives them more opportunities to listen, play together, and learn how to be a better musician,” Dickey said.

The WSU Brass Chamber group will perform at 4:10 p.m. today in Bryan Hall Theatre, a tradition started by associate professor of music David Turnbull, which has grown to accommodate a wide variety of music students.

“I started a student chamber music concert about 20 years ago,” Turnbull said. “It has grown to the point now where we actually have two concerts. The one (today) is just for brass ensembles.”

This semester, Dickey said the brass chamber students have been focusing on three pieces. The first two pieces are transcriptions: a trumpet and horn quartet by Gottfried Reiche, a Baroque composer and trumpeter, arranged by Dickey a few years ago; and a Renaissance motet by Josquin des Prez, titled “Absalon, fili mi.”

“I think students gain a lot by playing some early music,” Dickey said. “It is a rich setting that features clever interplay among the various instrumental lines.”

The final piece will be an original composition, “Drive,” written by tuba player Zach Collins that features dynamic shifts in range and instrumentation. Dickey said even while exploring the different sides of brass music, consistency is the key.

“The most significant challenge has been matching style throughout the group,” Dickey said. “It is crucial that everyone in a performing ensemble approach the small details in the same manner.”

Dickey said he is most looking forward to the performances of pieces by Reiche and the Collins original.

“They make a good impression on an audience, and the students are performing it well,” he said.

For Turnbull, his love of brass music makes every piece as enjoyable as the next, but he said that Friday’s audience is in for something special.

“They’ll hear the premiere of a new arrangement,” he said. “It’s a piece that will be performed on the finale concert at the International Trumpet Guild Convention next May.”

Friday’s afternoon concert represents WSU School of Music’s brass section in its entirety, Dickey said. The performance will feature such wide variety in styles and sounds, that their audience is bound to lose themselves.

“We brass faculty highly value chamber music,” Dickey said. “It is a joy to share that kind of music with people.”

Reporting by Katherine Lipp