Chatting With … Hillary Simms

Hillary Simms fell in love with brass instruments while listening to her grandparents’ Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole albums after school. That exposure to big band music eventually ignited her passion for the trombone.  

In 2023 Simms, a doctor of musical arts (DMA) student at the Bienen School of Music, became the first woman member of the acclaimed American Brass Quintet and the first woman trombonist on faculty at the Juilliard School, where the quintet is in residence. (Simms finished her Northwestern coursework and is preparing for qualifying exams, the final written and oral tests of a DMA student’s knowledge and musicianship.)  

Ironically, she landed back at Juilliard after being waitlisted for the master’s degree program there. “Most people don’t like to talk about their failures, especially in music,” says Simms. “But to me it wasn’t a failure. It was a learning step that I needed to take. Just because someone tells you ‘no’ right now doesn’t mean it’s a ‘no’ forever. You can grow and become inspired in different ways.” 

Now Simms, a “proud Newfoundlander,” is in New York City training the next generation of trombonists, with a focus on encouraging women and other underrepresented musicians to be heard.   

What inspires you as a musician?   

Anything that can give me an emotional connection. For example, this was my first summer teaching at the Aspen Music Festival and School. During the first week, Chris Thile — a phenomenal mandolin player, singer and composer — performed an original work, singing and narrating with a full student orchestra. I legitimately have not stopped listening to his music since that moment, because I felt so inspired by what he was able to create onstage. I laughed, I cried. And immediately, I was like, “Wow, I want to do something like this.”  

What do you love about playing the trombone in particular?   

I have a love-hate relationship with the trombone. Some days are great. I mean, it’s kind of hilarious — I blow into a tube for a living. How can I not love what I do? 

Photo Credit: Darren Hatt

Though fleeting and few, there are moments when I don’t love the trombone. As an artist there is a fine line between the artist and the art, and we [often] associate what we do as our identity — “I am a trombonist” vs. “I play the trombone.” So when I’m having trouble executing a specific technique or sound, it can lead to a lot of negative self-talk. I try to remind myself and my students: We play the trombone; it’s not our whole life.  

I love how versatile the instrument is. We can blow away a Mahler symphony from the back of the orchestra, but we can also sound delicate and sorrowful when we play a ballad. We can steal music from cellists and violists and bassoonists and make them our own. We can rock out in a jazz band. We can rock out in a rock band. It’s very flexible.  

For me, trombone is my inner voice. When I sing or hear music in my head, I hear the trombone. So apparently, I’m in the love part of the love-hate relationship right now.  

You are part of the American Brass Quintet. How is it different from playing in a larger orchestra?  

When you’re studying in a conservatory or a high-level university, such as Northwestern, a lot of the skills you learn prepare you for a music career in a broad sense, and often that’s in an orchestra. With orchestras, there’s a hierarchy. There is a conductor. There is a concertmaster. There is a principal of each section. And the music has been around for hundreds of years, so there are set traditions of how to play the repertoire.    

But with chamber music, there’s this freedom of expression that you don’t always get with the orchestra. With the brass quintet, there’s no conductor. There are no big laws. We are all equal partners in the creative process. It’s five people coming together, sharing their own experiences through the music, collaborating to create a piece of art together. It can be truly magical.   

What was it like to be a trombonist at Northwestern? 

I started the DMA program during the pandemic, so I did my entire first year of heavy coursework in Newfoundland. I was afraid that when I did come to campus I would have trouble connecting with my colleagues and my teachers. But the warmth of the community made it so seamless. 

There were 21 trombonists the year that I was on campus full time, and I was the oldest and the only woman. There was a possibility of being isolated. But my time at Northwestern was amazing thanks to the trombonists on the faculty. 

I want to give a special shoutout to the main trombone instructor, [senior lecturer] Michael Mulcahy. He’s second trombone with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and one of the things that made my Northwestern time truly incredible was his faith in my playing. When you’re in a professional orchestra, you have opportunities to bring in substitutes. He never, ever questioned bringing me in to sit next to him in a concert. In fact, he brought me in two or three times to play in Symphony Hall in Chicago, and then in January 2024 I went on a three-week European tour with the Chicago Symphony. He always allowed me into his professional workspace, which is not something every teacher does. That was very special.