Born in 1955 in The Hague, Ben van Dijk received his first trombone lessons from his father, Piet van Dijk, who at the time was solo trombonist of The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ben earned his Solo Diploma cum laude in 1980 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 1976, he was appointed to the bass trombone position in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued to study with Jeff Reynolds and Roger Bobo in Los Angeles.

After 23 years with the N.R.P.O., Ben joined the Rotterdam Philharmonic as solo bass trombonist. He played for more then 15 years with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and is still active as bass trombonist in the Dutch Jazz Orchestra. He has also played with the Dutch Brass Sextet for fourteen years. Ben is Professor at the Rotterdam Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in Manchester.

He was invited as teacher and soloist to the International Trombone Festival in Detmold in 1992, the ITF in Cleveland in 1994, the Budapest International Brass Festival in 1996 and the Rencontres Internationales de Cuivre in Lille (France) in 1997. In Feb. 1998 Ben spent two weeks giving master classes and recitals in the USA. At the invitation of leading trombonists from the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, he visited such notable institutions as the Julliard School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Rice University and University of North Texas. In 1999 and 2000 Ben gave master classes in Korea. In July 2000 Ben was on the faculty/staff of the ITF 2000 in Utrecht and during this event he released his first solo CD, “Nana”. In 2002 he has been soloist during the ITF in Denton, Texas, given master classes in Spain, Germany, Sweden and England; made his Japanese debut as soloist and gave master classes during a 12 day tour. In recognition of his contributions to the ITA and to the trombone community at large Ben van Dijk is the recipient of the 2003 ITA Award. This award is the ITA's most prestigious citation and it recognizes Ben's artistic achievements and his tireless efforts in promoting and improving global trombone performance standards, brass pedagogy, and instrument design.

The year 2003 also brought the release of Ben’s second solo CD “First Song”. It is Ben’s hope that this CD will be of some benefit for any upcoming auditions and that it will also be another nice CD of bass trombone repertoire. 2005 will bring the release of Ben’s third solo CD. This will be a compilation of 20 popular classical tunes form Bach to Rachmaninov with accompaniment of organ. The title of the CD will be “Vocalise”.

Ben’s method for bass- and tenor trombone with F attachment “Ben’s Basics, released July 2004, received great response and with proud he can tell that since July, 2004 more then 1000 copies are sold around the world On this website you can read quotes of the most prominent players of today, like Alessi, Fadle, Reichenbach, van Lier, Engelkes, Yeo and Whigham. There is also a compilation of reactions from many, of the methods buyers and of course the possibility to order this book.