Band Directors Association
2019 Honor Band Guest Conductors
Senior Honor Band
Jennifer Martin
JENNIFER MARTIN joined the music faculty at Cuesta College in the summer of 2004 as the conductor of the Cuesta Wind Ensemble. She also coordinates the department’s Applied Music program, and teaches Class Guitar. She served as Division Chair for Performing Arts from 2008-2016. She became a staff conductor for the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra in 2010, and became the conductor of that ensemble in the summer of 2015. Ms. Martin is also the conductor of the opera company Central Coast Gilbert and Sullivan.
Previous to her appointment at Cuesta, she was the Music Department Chair and conductor of the Reno Winds and the Truckee Meadows Community Orchestra at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV, where she was the founding faculty of the Music Department. While at TMCC, Ms. Martin was the recipient of the “President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching” for the state of Nevada.
Ms. Martin holds a B.A. degree in Music Education/Trombone from California State University, Fullerton, and a M.M. degree in Conducting from the University of Redlands.
A conductor whose repertoire is unusual in its breadth and depth, Ms. Martin has conducted or guest conducted many ensembles, high school bands, orchestras, and honor groups in California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. She has also conducted numerous musical theater productions on the professional, college, and high school levels.
As a trombonist and guitarist, Ms. Martin has played with many musical and theatrical groups in the West. A protégé of legendary conductor Frederick Fennell, Ms. Martin has taught at conducting symposia in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. She is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League and the College Band Directors National Association, among others. Ms. Martin also concertizes as a solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist.
Junior Honor Band
Michael Stone
Michael D. Stone earned the B.A. in Music Education/Performance and the M.Ed. in Education from University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Stone serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Bakersfield City School District. As the arts administrator for the district, he oversees arts programs at 31 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, and 2 junior high schools. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Stone served for over 14 years as instrumental music teacher at Chipman Junior High School, also in the Bakersfield City School District.
Chipman bands and orchestras consistently earned Unanimous Superior Ratings at California Music Educators Association (CMEA) ratings festivals during his tenure. Chipman ensembles performed at the state conferences of CMEA and California Band Directors Association (CBDA). Mr. Stone was featured in the January 1999 issue of The Instrumentalist Magazine, and has written several articles for the magazine since that time. During the summer of 1998, he was awarded the prestigious "Fellowship in Music Education" at Northwestern University. In March of 2009, Mr. Stone served as an Online Mentor for the Music Educators National Conference National Council of Supervisors of Music Education. In 2016, Mr. Stone authored a blog post entitled “Mentoring New Music Educators for Lifelong Success in the Profession” for the National Association for Music Education, or NAfME.
Under his leadership, Bakersfield City School District was named a 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Best Community for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants. The District’s Music In Our Schools Weekinstrumental music recruitment program received a 2014 Golden Bell Award of the California School Boards Association, the only from Kern County. In October of 2015, Mr. Stone was recognized by the Arts Council of Kern as its Outstanding Arts Educator at its Accomplishments Awards Gala.
Mr. Stone is a Past President of CMEA, California Band Directors Association (CBDA), CMEA Central Section, and the Kern County Music Educators Association (KCMEA), and currently serves as the Western Division Representative on the NAfME Council of Music Program Leaders, appointed by NAfME President Denese Odegaard in 2016, and as the Music Supervisors Representative on the CMEA State Council. Mr. Stone has also served in an adjunct capacity at California State University, Bakersfield, teaching instrumental music methods to undergraduates. He holds active memberships in many professional organizations, including The National Association for Music Education, CBDA, CMEA, KCMEA, and Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. He was inducted into the American School Band Directors Association in 2001. Mr. Stone is a euphoniumist and trombonist, and is a founding member of the Bakersfield Winds, a symphonic wind ensemble.
Active as an adjudicator and guest conductor, Mr. Stone has conducted honor bands and orchestras throughout California, as well as in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas. and Utah. Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include the 2018 Hart School District Junior High School Honor Band and the San Luis Obispo County Middle School Honor Band in 2019. This past June, he served as guest conductor with the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West. Mr. Stone has served for many years as a guest conductor at the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in California’s Sonoma County.
