Board of Directors and Conductor Candidates - To be voted on at the 2014 Conference

Kirk Clague - President

Kirk Clague was born in San Diego, California and lived there until his move to the Central Valley in 1988. He has served as Director of Bands at Exeter Union High School since 1996, and has been employed as a music teacher in the Exeter Public Schools since 1989. He obtained his Bachelors in Music Performance from U.C. San Diego where he studied bass with Bertram Turetzky. He is an active performer with the C.O.S. Thursday Night Band, and plays as much jazz as his schedule as a band director allows. He is a board member of CBDA, and is an active member of CAJ and ACDA as well.

Exeter Union High School Bands under Mr. Clague’s direction have been awarded many “Superior” ratings at CMEA Festivals, and the Monarch Marching Band is a regular contender at band tournaments. EUHS Winter Percussion and Winter Guard are also regular visitors to the “top five” in their competitive circuit. Mr. Clague lives in Three Rivers with his wife Laura, and is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, camping and fly-fishing throughout the West.

Norman Dea - President

Norman Dea is in his 31st year of teaching and in his 6th year as the Director of Instrumental Music at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. He previously taught at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek for 25 years. Norm is a 31-year member of CBDA, and has served as it’s Treasurer and currently serves as the CMEA Representative on the CBDA Board. He is the Immediate Past President of the CMEA. He has also served as Vice President of CMEA, and is a Past President of Bay Section.

He has been a guest conductor of regional and state honor bands including the CBDA California All-State Junior High Honor Band, and the NCBA All-Northern California Junior High Honor Band. He has guest conducted summer camp bands at Cazadero Music Camp, and most recently at the Alpine School District Summer Advanced Band Camp in American Fork, Utah. He is scheduled to conduct the Nevada All-State Middle School Honor Band in April 2014.

He has been honored for his contributions to the music education community including: CBDA Distinguished Service Award; Bandworld Legion of Honor Award at the Midwest Clinic; CMEA Bay Section Outstanding Music Educator Award; CMEA State Don Schmeer-Byron Hoyt Outstanding Band Educator Award; Acalanes Union High School District Teacher of the Year; Gilbert T. Freitas Memorial Award at Bay Section. He was honored by SBO Magazine in their 13^th Annual “50 Directors Who Make A Difference” in the United States.

Norm is a proud 1981 graduate of San Francisco State University.

Dan Bryan - Secretary

Educator/composer/adjudicator Dan Bryan is Chair of Secondary Music for Modesto City Schools and Director of Instrumental Music at Joseph Gregori High School in Modesto, California. He serves on the Boards for the Central Valley Guard and Percussion Circuit, Stanislaus County Music Educators Association, and California Band Director’s Association. He acts as an adjudicator and clinician for several schools and organizations around the country, including Western Band Association and Drum Corps International.

He is an eight time Winter Guard International World Championship Medal winner (and four-time WGI Finalist) as an instructor/composer, and his music and instructional book are published internationally through Key Poulan Music, Shawn Glyde Music, GPG Publications, and Extreme Brass and Percussion.

His band programs at both Los Banos High School (WGI World Championship Finalist) and Grace M. Davis High School (3-time WBA State Finalist) have been regionally and nationally recognized for their excellence. They have been honored to participate in performances with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Dan’s other instructional highlights include: Fred C. Beyer High School (1990 –1993), Clovis West High School (1994), CSU Fresno Marching Band (1994 – 1998), Sacramento Freelancers Winter Drumline (1997 – 2000; WGI World Champion,1998), Modesto High School Percussion Ensemble (1998 – 2003, WGI Open Class Medalist 2001 – 2003), Modesto Junior College (2006 – 2009), and eNVision Percussion Theater (WGI “A” Class finalist, 2009 – 2012, WGI Fan Favorite winner, 2011 and 2012).

He is a graduate of Modesto Junior College and CSU Fresno, where he performed as principal and co-principal percussionist in the wind and percussion ensembles. He is a former member of DCI Finalist (1989, 1992) Sacramento Freelancers, where he performed in both the horn line and front ensemble. His teachers include Don Silva, Tad Carpenter, Carol Carpenter, Ralph Hardimon, Dr. Matt Darling, Scott Ney, and Dr. Gary P. Gilroy.

He has served as an advisor/instructor for Gottschalk's Music, and the Italian National Champion and Drum Corps Europe Finalist “Millennium Drum and Bugle Corps” of Milan, Italy. Dan was honored to be a composer for the 2008 Olympic Mass Band. He continues to perform as a freelance percussionist throughout Northern California.

Dan is co-owner (with his wife, Lindsay) of Pitopia Percussion, and is a teacher/endorser for Innovative Percussion.

Jessica Vaughan-Marra - Secretary

Jessica Vaughan-Marra has been teaching instrumental music for eight years in the Cupertino Union School District. Currently, she teaches all of the beginning instrumental ensembles at Lawson Middle School. Along with her full time teaching schedule, she maintains an active private oboe studio. She is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she completed her undergraduate degree in Music Education at Duquense University. She received her Master’s in Music Education in 2010 from Northwestern University. Jessica has served as a board member of CMEA Bay Section and is currently is in her sixth year as a member of the CBDA Special Projects Committee. This year, she is also the Special Projects Coordinator Assistant. In 2012, She received the CMEA Bay Section “Gilbert T.  Freitas Award” for outstanding emerging teaching in the field of music education. She is an active member of CMEA, NAfME, TCAP and CBDA.