Music Ensembles

The Terra Brass Choir offers brass musicians a chance to rehearse and perform challenging music from brass literature of various time periods. Its membership consists of students and community members from the Northwest Ohio area and is open to all brass instrumentalists (trumpet, trombone, horn, euphonium and tuba). The Brass Choir is known for its popular "Organ and Brass" concerts, the annual “Resounding Brass” concert and its collaborative performances with Terra State’s choral and orchestral music programs. Performing both classical and contemporary works, the Brass Choir meets every Monday from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. on the Terra State campus.

The Terra State Symphonic Band, now in its third year, is made up of woodwinds, brass and percussion. The group is open to any high school or college student, as well as community members, and the band performs one to two concerts per semester. There are about five practices per semester on Monday nights from 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. on the Terra State campus.

The Terra State Percussion Ensemble was started in 2014 and offers percussion students the opportunity to perform in several different settings. Members in this group play drums, mallet percussion, orchestral percussion and world percussion. This ensemble also provides percussion support for all the other ensembles at Terra State including the chamber strings, orchestra, brass choir, symphonic band and choral society. The ensemble is open to any high school student, college student or community member interested in learning or refining rhythmic skills. The Percussion Ensemble meets Monday nights at Terra State.

The Terra Choral Society originated as a small campus chorus in 2000 with 20 community members and students. Growing along with the college’s music programs, the chorus officially became the Terra Choral Society in 2006. Comprised of student and community singers from across five counties in Northwest Ohio, membership ranges from high school students to adults. The chorus has performed with the Toledo Choral Society, the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and many guest artists. Any students or community members are invited to join the choral society which meets on Tuesday nights at Terra State.

The Contemporary Ensemble is a performance-based group structured for students to develop the necessary skills to play in a pop/rock ensemble. Students learn to listen to each other and play as a group. They also learn to harmonize and improvise while playing cover music. There are two contemporary ensembles; an electric and an acoustic group. Each meet weekly for rehearsals at Terra State. While anyone may join these groups, instructor permission is required to maintain manageable group sizes.

The Terra State Jazz Band provides an opportunity for musicians to learn and play jazz in a fun and non-competitive environment. The focus is on improvisation and small group interaction while playing standard jazz repertoire. The jazz band rehearses on Wednesday Evenings on the Terra State Campus. While anyone may join this group, instructor permission is required to maintain manageable group sizes.

The Fusion ensemble is Terra State’s newest group consisting of students and faculty members. They play combinations of pop/rock and jazz music arranged by the group members. It is an audition-only group and requires a significant amount of practice time. The group commonly performs off campus for all kinds of public and private events.

The Symphony Orchestra is composed of wind, string, brass and percussion instruments and organized to perform classical music. The orchestra was formed in 2016 and is one of the few collegiate symphony orchestras in Northwest Ohio. Rehearsing once per week for about five weeks, the orchestra performs one to two concerts per semester. The Symphony Orchestra is open to any student or community member and they rehearse on Thursday evenings on the Terra State Campus.

The Chamber Strings consist of traditional orchestra strings, violin, viola, cello and bass, that play classical arrangements. The group gets its name from historically playing in small rooms or “chambers.” Rehearsals are once per week on Thursday evenings at Terra State, and the group performs once or twice each semester. This group is open to any students or community members with experience playing one of the instruments mentioned above.