Educator Biography

Tyler Bouttavong, MM
Brass (Trumpet) Specialist | Band and Orchestra Director

"He teaches them how to be great at something, and how to build a life that reflects that greatness."

Mr. Bouttavong is a Band and Orchestra Director and Brass Specialist based in Delaware, teaching 4th and 5th grade students at Newark Charter School. He also leads Delaware Brass Institute, his private teaching practice, where he has taught trumpet since 2016. Across both settings his work comes down to one idea: joy, dedication, and self-awareness, without the self-doubt that wears a musician down, are what make a musician last.

Mr. Bouttavong models excellence visibly and lets his students choose it for themselves. He meets a student chasing All-State honors and a student just building a relationship with their instrument the same way, because he knows what it costs to find your way without a map. That standard carries into his classroom, where he directs four ensembles and runs a room built on high expectations and real safety.

A first-generation musician who earned his degrees entirely on scholarship, Mr. Bouttavong built his career on the work ethic his parents modeled for him and on staying open to being shaped by people greater than himself. He was mentored by educators and performers who demanded excellence without cruelty, and that lineage shows up in how he shows up for his own students. His mentor, veteran music educator Dr. Jessica Horne-Greene, still influences his classroom systems, rehearsal design, and professional growth.

Mr. Bouttavong's students have gone on to honor and All-State ensembles, collegiate music scholarships, and careers as music educators themselves. He previously served as a Brass Teaching Artist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids program and continues presenting trumpet masterclasses for advancing high school musicians in the Middle Tennessee region. He is currently a solo cornetist with the Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band and a contracted high brass instructor at Sanford School.

Mr. Bouttavong holds a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Music from Middle Tennessee State University. He earned his teaching certification through the University of Delaware's Alternative Routes to Certification program.

““You’ve got to be great at something if you want real success and a life that brings you peace.””

— Me

“Everybody’s playing a part in this symphony of life. Mine’s on the trumpet.”

Performer Biography

Tyler is a freelance trumpet performer based in Delaware, active across the Northeast and in his home region of Middle Tennessee. The trumpet has been his voice since he was eleven. He plays with a clear, bright tone and a deep respect for the craft, and he performs because there is nowhere else he would rather be. Audiences feel that.

He currently serves as solo cornetist with the Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band, and continues performing and recording as a freelance trumpet artist. His past work includes the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Music City Brass Ensemble, and an international engagement with the Nanjing Hollywood Film Music Orchestra, spanning orchestral and chamber repertoire, commercial settings and musical theatre.

That commitment goes back to his Laotian family, immigrants who built a life in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. As the firstborn, Tyler was the first in his family to pick up an instrument, let alone pursue music professionally. Younger family members have since followed him into band. His late father's belief in him never wavered, and that foundation of having pride in your hard work still anchors him on stage.

His current focus is solo performance and self-produced multitrack ensemble recordings, work built on his own terms in spaces where the trumpet is the full story. Both demand a level of technical command he has spent his whole career chasing. A multitrack recording means every part is exposed. A solo performance leaves nowhere to hide. That is exactly the kind of challenge he seeks out.

Tyler knows the pressure and the self-doubt, and the moments when love for the craft gets mixed up with expectation. He meets them with mindfulness instead of force. Tension shows up in the sound, and a trumpet doesn't let you fake your way through it. The mind behind the music has to be as prepared as the embouchure. It is also how he processes the world.

A first-generation musician who funded his entire education through scholarships, Tyler was performing and teaching professionally before he finished his undergraduate degree. His principal teachers include Brianne Borden, with whom he currently studies, Dr. Michael Arndt, Mark Clodfelter, Mike George and Carol Strayer. He holds a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Music from Middle Tennessee State University.

The Person

I was born and raised in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. My Laotian parents came to this country with almost nothing and built a life here anyway. There was no wealth or comfort to pass down. There was the conviction that their children would have what they did not, and everything I have done grew out of that.

My family does not use many words. I have come to understand that silence as its own kind of devotion. Their support showed up as presence. It was a garage with the lights on late at night, because my parents never once told me to stop practicing. It was running scales in a parking lot while I waited to drive my younger brother home from football practice. Nobody made a moment out of it. After every school concert, my late father had dinner ready. I see now how much was given in those ordinary hours. His voice telling me to work hard has never gone quiet.

Beyond my parents and brother, I had relatives who showed up for me in ways I do not take for granted. Some of that support came easily. Some of those relationships took years for me to understand. I am grateful for both.

The teachers who shaped me gave more than instruction. They believed in me before I fully believed in myself, and I try to pass that on to every student I teach. As a brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, I learned that the gift of music is something truly shared, carried not alone but across a brotherhood. The friends I made in band rooms, on stages, in rehearsals and every moment in between are why I would choose this path again. I do not move through this work alone. I stopped pretending I ever did.

I come to performance and teaching through the Lao Theravada Buddhist tradition: mindfulness, deliberate growth and non-attachment. I try not to chase outcomes, and I try not to cling to what has already passed. I do the work and see what comes of it.

I live in Wilmington, Delaware, where my husband and I have built a life together. That stability gives me something real outside of music. It is what lets me walk into a room of students or an audience with my full attention.