Band Directors Association
2018 Honor Band Guest Conductors
Senior Honor Band
Jonathon Grantham
Jonathan Grantham, director of bands at Amador Valley High School in
Pleasanton, California, directs a band program of 300 students involved in five
concert ensembles, two jazz bands, the marching band, chamber ensembles,
winter percussion, and winter guard.
In his eleven years at Amador Valley the band program has grown to more
than double in size and has earned consistent superior ratings and high honors
at each event entered. Amador's top wind ensemble performed at the CBDA
state conference in 2007 and 2010 and most recently performed at the 67th
Annual Midwest Clinic in Chicago.
Mr. Grantham is active as an adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor. He
was an executive board member for CMEA Bay Section, currently serves as
past-president of the Western Band Association and served for five years on the
Special Projects Committee for California Band Directors Association. He is also
involved with several development committees on the Amador campus.
Jonathan received his bachelor's degree in music education/trombone
performance from Central Michigan University, graduating magna cum laude, and
has affiliations with several professional organizations. He recently completed
his master’s degree in conducting at the American Band College of Sam Houston
State University.
He was accepted into Who's Who Among America's Teachers, earned a
citation of excellence from the National Band Association, received the Prudential
Realty of California's Outstanding Educator's Award, was recognized by
Pleasanton Rotary North as an Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and earned an
Excellence in Education Award from Pleasanton Unified School District in 2009.
Most recently, Mr. Grantham was a recipient of the Crystal Apple Award for
Excellence in Education and was chosen as Pleasanton Unified School District's
2012-2013 Teacher of the Year.
Junior Honor Band
Jim Mooy
James Mooy holds music and education degrees from UCLA (B.A. and M.A.). His trumpet performance studies have been with Jimmy Valves, Ron Thompson, Tony Plog, and Mario Guarneri. A Music Academy of the West alumnus, he has toured the U.S. and Japan as a professional trumpet player. James taught the band and orchestra program at R.A. Millikan High School in Long Beach for five years. During that time he freelanced regularly in the Los Angeles area and held a position as a Disneyland musician. Mr. Mooy currently conducts the award winning Lunch Break Jazz Ensemble, and the Symphony Orchestra at Santa Barbara City College. Additional teaching duties have included Music Appreciation and Music Technology. He also teaches trumpet at Westmont College. Mr. Mooy continues to serve as an adjudicator for numerous solo, chamber, wind ensemble, string ensemble, and jazz ensemble festivals. He has repeatedly served as conductor for honor bands, honor jazz ensembles, and honor orchestras throughout California. Under his leadership, the SBCC Lunch Break Jazz Ensemble was one of 6 finalist bands chosen for the Monterey Next Gen Jazz Festival for three consecutive years. As director of SBCC's Summer Jazz Seminars, Mr. Mooy leads a team of jazz educators in running beginning and advanced big bands, combos, jazz theory classes, and advanced topics classes. Each summer over 50 junior high, high school, and college students attend the seminar. More information on this low-cost program can be found at http://music.sbcc.edu/summerjazz/
Last January he conducted the 2017 SCSBOA Honor Jazz Ensemble at the NAMM show and SCSBOA convention in Anaheim. He also served as a clinician/adjudicator for the 2017 Reno Jazz Festival.
