Dr. Kevin Truong, PCM’s new Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion department chair is an accomplished trombonist and teacher. Truong joined PCM in 2024, and is excited to help grow his department and host new events for students. In this interview he reflects on his journey, his favorite parts about teaching, and his plans as the new Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion department chair.

This interview was conducted on May 22, 2026

What has been your journey as a trombonist?

I started music in fifth grade as many students do. I grew up in New Jersey and then I moved out to California because I have family in both places. My parents let me apply to schools in both states. I started as an engineering major at Cal Poly Pomona. I did two years of computer engineering coursework and then I was like, I don’t want to do this anymore. The whole time I was thinking it’d be cool if I did music for a living, so I switched over. While in undergrad, I started teaching in public schools part time. After I graduated  I went to USC for a master’s and then for a DMA, which I finished in spring 2025. I’ve been teaching at public schools around Southern California and that ultimately led me to getting the position at PCM.

What do you love most about teaching music?

The most fulfilling part is seeing those ‘aha’ moments that students have. You know, where they’re trying to figure out, let’s say a musical phrase, and giving  them ideas, witnessing in a positive way students trying to figure it out their own way. And so seeing this moment is like, yeah, I finally got it. It’s very rewarding as a teacher, to witness when students are taking ownership of what they’re learning. I feel like witnessing the growth of students as a whole has been really rewarding as well, both as people and as musicians.

How are you feeling, being the new Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion department chair?

I certainly have big shoes to fill because Danielle, the chair before me, has put a lot of growth in the department. I’m excited to see opportunities like outreach towards the greater Pasadena community, and hopefully greater Los Angeles County, to see how we can best serve those communities as well. That’s the most exciting part, to see how much reach we can achieve as a department.

What can the PCM community look forward to with the department? What are your goals?

We had pretty extensive outreach as a department this past year, thanks to Danielle. We had the army band woodwind quintet come in to do master classes, we did outreach towards schools, so going into this year, I’m looking to do more. I want to expand more into faculty involvement in Pasadena Unified, South Pasadena Unified, San Fernando Valley, California School of the Arts and all that. Also, like we did with the army woodwind quintet, bringing in exciting ways to expand the department to also benefit our students becoming better musicians.

Any upcoming events we should look out for?

We have camps coming up for different instruments. We have flute camp, clarinet camp, and brass camp in the middle of summer. These are just some of the exciting ways we teach students during the summer and teach students who are new to PCM as well!