Teachers & Staff

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Mr. Jow
Music Director

Jonathan Jow's journey into the professional music realm has its starting points rooted in Saratoga’s music programs. He has been teaching in Saratoga for eleven years, first as the music program assistant for three years, thoroughly enjoyed a year as one of two elementary music teachers, and currently serves as the lead music director at Redwood Middle School, 5th grade band co-teacher, and Saratoga USD instrumental coordinator. A regular face to Saratoga music students since the Fall of 2006, Mr. Jow has actually been involved coaching and teaching music in the community since graduating from Saratoga High School more than a decade ago. Embedded in his teaching comes a genuine love of the very same programs for which he now works. He is alumnus of the current "era" of SUSD and Saratoga High music programs including its very first strings class during his fourth grade school year, the Redwood choir, concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands, and even guard for a winter season.

A native Saratogan, Mr. Jow was actively involved in his larger school community, serving positions from representatives to presidents of various school student councils and other student organizations throughout elementary to high school and receiving various recognitions including Redwood's Molly Woodruff Leadership Award. He served as a drum major of the Saratoga High Marching Band for two years and participated in numerous Santa Clara County Honor Bands and the California All-State Honor Band. Mr. Jow is also a recipient of many Saratoga Music awards, the most notable being the Roland Schwab 8th Grade Music Scholarship, Saratoga High School Outstanding Bandsman, the John Philip Sousa Band Award, and the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award – all voted upon him by his peers. He was honored as a 2011-2012 Redwood teacher of the year and received the CMEA Gilbert T. Freitas Award for Achievement in Music Education in 2015. Most recently, Mr. Jow was honored as the 2016 Saratoga USD Teacher of the Year.

Mr. Jow attended U.C. Berkeley for his undergraduate education and received a B.A. in Mass Communications/Media Studies as well as a minor in Music. He graduated with high distinction in general scholarship (magna cum laude) and highest honors in his major. His academic excellence yielded him invitations and membership into the Golden Key International Honour Society and Phi Beta Kappa. Soon after graduating from Cal, Mr. Jow continued his studies in music at San Jose State University, from which he received his music credential to pursue a career in education. In addition to his academics, he studied saxophone with Professor Dale Wolford, played in the SJSU Saxophone Ensemble, the SJSU Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Diana Hollinger, and the SJSU Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Edward Harris. In addition to teaching, Mr. Jow has also served as an Area Representative for CMEA Bay Section from 2012-2015.

Mr. Jow’s ultimate goal is to pursue both of his passions of music and media literacy, both of which he feels are often overlooked and underrepresented but vital in our modern school system to provide students with a comprehensive and meaningful education to face the challenges of the 21st century.

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Ms. McPherson
String Orchestra Director & Assistant Band Teacher

Isabel McPherson, a native Saratogan, is very excited to join the music team at Redwood. Her musical journey when she picked up the violin in third grade and later added baritone/euphonium in fifth grade. She decided to switch to bass her freshman year of high school, playing it in both orchestra and jazz band while continuing to play baritone in the marching band. In her senior year, Ms. McPherson was accepted into Santa Clara County Honor Band and All-State Orchestra on bass, and served as drum major for the Saratoga High School Marching Band. She was then accepted into the bass studio at Northwestern University, and went on to receive a B.M. in Music Education and a minor in Japanese. At Northwestern, Ms. McPherson studied bass under Andy Raciti, while continuing to practice euphonium as well. She had the opportunity to perform with all six of Northwestern’s major and non-major bands and orchestras, as well as the “Wildcat" Marching Band. She also played bass and bass guitar in the pit for numerous musical theater and opera productions.

In her summers off from college, Ms. McPherson was an assistant teacher at SUSD Summer Music for one year, and marched two seasons of World Class Drum & Bugle Corps on euphonium. She is a proud alum of both the Sacramento Mandarins and the Phantom Regiment. After drum corps championships, she returned to Saratoga to assist with orchestra and marching band.

After graduating from Northwestern and completing student teaching placements in high school band and middle school orchestra, Ms. McPherson moved to Japan. For one year, she lived in the rural town of Toki and taught English at three elementary schools and two middle schools there. This opportunity allowed her to observe the differences between the Japanese and American education system, use Japanese in daily life, and eat lots of delicious food.

Ms. McPherson considers her continued passionate involvement in both orchestra and band to be her greatest achievement. She loves both equally and hopes to use techniques she learned in band to challenge her orchestras in new and interesting ways. 

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Mr. Ramirez
Associate Band Director, Marching & Jazz Bands

Jemal Ramirez has worked professionally in multiple facets of the music industry, including composition, instruction and performance. His musicianship has given him opportunities to work with accomplished musicians such as Eric Reed (Wynton Marsalis), Marcus Shelby, Joshua Redman, Mark Levine and many of the bay area’s best community bands and jazz musicians.

Jemal has valuable real-world music performance experience and is a talented music educator. He has taught for Music in Schools Today (MUST), Stanford Jazz Workshop and Starting Arts, and currently teaches music at University Preparatory Academy in San Jose and private drum and percussion lessons at SJG Music School at the Campbell Community Center. Jemal earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Education and his Music Credential at San Francisco State University.

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Ms. Rodriguez
5th Grade Band Woodwind Clinician ​& Redwood Saxes

Lidia Rodriguez is an active educator and performer in the Bay Area with 15 years of playing experience. She received a B.M. in Music from San Jose State University in 2017 with a double emphasis in Music Education and Saxophone performance. Her education includes working with esteemed Saxophonists such as Cathy Ettle, Dale Wolford, Michael Hernandez, and Grammy award-winner Dr. Aaron Lington.

Ms. Rodriguez is the current Director of Music at Santee Elementary school and a teaching assistant at Bridges Academy through their after-school music program, San Jose Jazz Progressions, with a focus on woodwind instruction. She is also a regular woodwind clinician for Lynbrook High School and Castilleja School.

In addition to her active role as an educator, Lidia is a versatile musician that uses her woodwind specialty to perform with numerous jazz bands, salsa bands, and plays as a pit musician for musicals throughout the Bay Area.

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Dr. Kim
5th Grade Band Brass Clinician
​& Redwood Upper Brass

Dr. Joe Young Min Kim attended Arizona State University and studied trumpet performance with a renowned soloist David Hickman. He furthered his education at the University of Southern California, and earned his Masters of Music (2012) and Doctoral of Musical Arts (2016) under the guidance of professor Boyde Hood of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has performed in diverse settings such as orchestras, jazz bands, chamber, and solos, and has worked with notable artists such as Carl St. Clair, Myung-Whun Chung and Sumi Jo. He is currently coaching brass students at Saratoga High School, Redwood Middle School, and the Harker School.

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Mr. Powell
Redwood Flutes

Drew Powell is a young professional flutist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has participated in numerous music competitions, festivals, and performance opportunities, and actively continues to do so. He is an advocate of the arts and passionate about spreading the gift of music.
 
Most recently, he was a quarterfinalist in the National Flute Association 2019 Young Artist Competition, and was an alternate finalist for the National Flute Association 2018 Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition. He won the 2017 Myrna W. Brown Artist Competition hosted by the Texas Flute Society, which included a reappearance as a featured guest artist at their convention in May 2018. He has appeared as a featured soloist with the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra, Utah Wind Symphony, and the Brigham Young University Philharmonic, and has additionally performed with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Iowa. He has performed in numerous masterclasses given by renowned artists such as William Bennett, Jeanne Baxtresser, Carol Wincenc, and others.
 
Drew graduated with his MM in Flute Performance from Northwestern University and his BM in Flute Performance from Brigham Young University.
 
Drew enjoys living an active lifestyle outside of music. When he isn’t performing or teaching, he is probably rock climbing, practicing yoga, or reading.

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Coming Soon
Redwood Clarinets

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Coming Soon
Redwood Low Brass

​Mr. Clark
​Redwood Percussion

American percussionist and educator Sean Clark is known for his versatile skills in concert and marching percussion. A high-energy soloist and chamber musician, Sean has given clinics and performed across the United States and internationally. Whether it be teaching or playing, Mr. Clark aims to bridge the gap between classical and commercial music; making classical music more accessible to today’s contemporary audiences.
 
A Marimba One Ensemble artist, Mr. Clark co-founded a Central Valley percussion quartet “Orphiq”, and won multiple performance categories (duos, timpani, snare) of the 2017 and 2018 Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Northern California competition. He has performed professionally with numerous groups including the Fresno Community Chorus, Sequoia Symphony, and Orpheus New Music Ensemble. Last winter, Sean was involved in a clinic at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) with the prestigious Blue Devil Drum & Bugle Corps. As a soloist, he has been featured with the Orphiq Percussion Quartet, the Fresno State Percussion Ensemble and the Fresno State Wind Orchestra performing works such as Gene Koshinski’s Circuit Breaker, Michael Laurello’s Spine, Aurel Hollo’s José / beFore John 5, and Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto.
 
Outside of his concertizing, Mr. Clark is an up-and-coming marching percussion educator, arranger, designer, adjudicator and clinician. In his six years with the Blue Devil Performing Arts organization, Sean won three DCI world championships (2014, 2015, 2017), one open class drum title (2012), and the Fred Sanford High Percussion Award (2015). More recently, he received the Blue Devil of the Year award and was hired as the percussion caption head for the Blue Devils “B” Drum & Bugle Corps (2018). Mr. Clark began arranging and designing marching band shows in 2015. Since then, he has had the privilege to arrange and collaborate with Saratoga High School, California High School, Buchanan High School, and Clovis West High School. Additionally, Mr. Clark has given multiple clinics throughout California and adjudicated at local marching art events.
 
Sean graduated summa cum laude from CSU Fresno in 2018, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts with a focus in Instrumental Music Education. This upcoming year, he will begin his graduate degree at National University. Mr. Clark looks forward to his first year as the Director of Percussion at Saratoga High School.

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Ms. Tzeng
Beginning & Allegro Strings

Jennifer Tzeng is owner of Tzeng Violin Studio in located in Palo Alto. She began her private violin studies at age five and was the youngest member of the Strolling Strings, a performance group by age six. Her previous violin instructors include Anne Crowden, Dan Kobialka, Zak Grafilo, James Greening-Valenzuela, and Leon Igudesman.

Jennifer has had extensive performing experiences in orchestras, beginning her orchestral training at age of seven, being the youngest member of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. By age eleven, she served as the lead principal second violinist of the Oakland Youth Orchestra. Jennifer has served as concertmaster of the Mill Valley Philharmonic, San Francisco State Symphony Orchestra, and Palo Alto Philharmonic. She was also a first violinist with the San Francisco Youth Orchestra from 1998 – 2003. With the SFYO, she performed in various music halls in Austria, Germany, France, Amsterdam, Ireland, Lithuania, and Russia.  During the years of 2008-2009 Jennifer traveled to Shanghai and Taiwan to train with lead violinists learning different teaching methods. Upon returning to the US late 2009, Jennifer began her teaching career at the NMSM School of Music in Palo Alto. Her private Tzeng Violin Studio was founded in April 2012. On February 15th 2014, she was featured as a special soloist with the PAPHIL, performing Vitali’s Chaconne. Jennifer has trained exclusively with members from the Alexander String Quartet, the Daedalus String Quartet, the Afiara String Quartet, and Turtle Island String Quartet. She has received coaching from Alistair Neale, Edwin Outwater, Diane Nicholeris, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

A scholarship participant to prestigious music programs such as the yearly Yehudi Menuhin and Mendocino Music Festivals, she was recently invited this year to be a guest faculty member for the annual InterHarmony Music Festival held in Tuscany, Italy. In addition to her classical training, Jennifer is a highly sought after performing artist that regularly performs her original music with both her electric and acoustic violin. She has given electric violin performances in the Bay Area, New York, Taiwan, and Japan.

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Ms. Yang
​Beginning & Allegro Strings

Joyce Yang started playing violin at age 8 and joined the Seoul Youth orchestra at age 12 with whom she has performed internationally in places such as Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei. Ms. Yang graduated Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea as a violin performance major. After graduation, she attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio in their Artist Diploma program with Mr. Taras Gabora. Ms. Yang has given private lessons both in Korea and in the United States for students from ages 4 to 17.

Ms. Yang also attended Yong Pyung Summer Music Festival and participated both a soloist and a chamber musician at Salzburg Music Festival in Austria and Victoria Island in Canada. She has also worked as a professional musician, as the principal of the second violin in New Seoul Symphony Orchestra in Seoul.

“People do not decide their future.
They decide their habits.
And it’s their habits that decide their future.”
-F.M. Alexander 

Ms. Yang believes that there are no shortcuts in learning anything: "Habit is the only thing that is under your own control.
As a teacher, my job is to let them enjoy music, direct them to learn how to present themselves through instrument, encourage them to find their own color, and believe in their musical potential. My expectation on my students is to have a solid and consistent work ethic. That is the way to build their musical dreams as great as they want to."

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Mr. Ford
Redwood Choir

Andrew Ford is a California native, and active performer, conductor, and musician.  He has participated in festival choirs throughout Europe, performed at Carnegie Hall, toured as part of the chorus for Star Wars in Concert, and sang backup to artists such as Dionne Warwick and the Rolling Stones. While studying music at San Jose State University, Andrew had the privilege of touring and performing locally and globally with the illustrious Choraliers. He also spent time serving as the President of the SJSU collegiate chapter of ACDA.

Mr. Ford has also worked as a vocal director for numerous companies throughout the Silicon Valley including, Children’s Musical Theater San Jose (CMTSJ), Fisher Middle School, the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, and Cupertino High School. Over the years, Andrew has had the honor of working on many firsts for CMTSJ, including the west-coast premier of Disney’s Tarzan. Other vocal directing favorites include; Disney’s Mary Poppins, White Christmas, Avenue Q, Legally Blonde, The Wiz, Sound of Music, Secret Garden, Barnum, Xanadu, and The Drowsy Chaperone.

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Ms. Miller
​Redwood Color Guard Director

Erin Miller is an alumnus of both the Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School music programs. She had her first formal experience with music in the Saratoga 5th Grade Band. Through her first experience with the Saratoga Music Programs she discovered her love for music and so led her to participate in concert band, choir, and color guard at Redwood. In high school, Ms. Miller continued her performance career with the choir, where she was section leader for 3 years, and color guard/winter guard, were she was captain for one and a half years. 

Ms. Miller's passion for color guard and the marching arts lead her beyond the high school level, auditioning for Drum Corps International and independent winter guard, marching during the summers of 2018 and 2019 with the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets, where they won the Open Class gold medal in 2018. She also marched with the Independent Open Class Winter Guard Tri-City in 2019. Ms. Miller continues to participate in choir and various music classes at West Valley Community College. She hopes to become a teacher and plans to transfer to a 4-year university and major in education with a minor in music. 

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Coming Soon
Color Guard Assistant

Mr. "Jazz" (Legaspi)
Color Guard Clinician

Jazz Legaspi is a Bay Area native who began his color guard career in 2009 at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California. An alumnus performer of the California Color Guard Circuit, he has been awarded the “2013 Outstanding Performer” and “2014 Performer of the Year” awards. Mr. Legaspi has trained and performed with Dynasty (2014), the Santa Clara Vanguard Winter Guard (2015), and the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps (2013, 2015-2017). His performance career with the Blue Devils led him to become a 2-time silver medalist (2013, 2016) and 2-time gold medalist (2015, 2017); he was also humbly awarded the “2016 Rifle of the Year” and “2017 Performer of the Year” accolades from the Blue Devils Color Guard. Under the 2015 Santa Clara Vanguard Winter Guard, he was a recipient of the Winter Guard International Independent World Class gold medal.

Residing in San Francisco, Mr. Legaspi’s professional affiliations are diverse. He is a freelance costume designer, choreographer, music editor, clinician, and mentor. He has collaborated with numerous color guard programs including Westmont HS, Fremont HS, Amador Valley HS, Foothill HS, Oak Grove HS, Monta Vista HS, Timber Creek HS, Lynbrook HS, the Santa Clara Vanguard, and the Blue Devils. He is currently the Color Guard Director at Saratoga HS and Redwood MS.

Outside of color guard, Mr. Legaspi is an undergraduate student pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a focus on Exercise and Movement Sciences at San Francisco State University. He implements sports psychology, motor learning/development, and peak performance theories into his technique training regimens and physical activity programs. Additionally, he is the President of the Kinesiology Student Association on campus and oversees 1000+ students within the Kinesiology department. An advocate for higher education, Mr. Legaspi plans to attain his doctorate degree and become a professor at the collegiate level.
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Ms. Gelman
5th Grade Band Co-Teacher

Thanks to the generosity of SEF and their support of music education in the elementary schools, Ms. Gelman co-teaches the in-school 5th grade band sessions with Mr. Jow.

Stephanie Gelman has enjoyed a long and successful career as both a professional symphony musician and music educator. Earning her masters degree in flute performance from SJSU, she was then invited to be on the faculty at that university as well as Cabrillo College where she taught Music For Children, training other teachers in music education. Stephanie loves teaching the children in the Saratoga District. “These wonderful children and their families value music education and their generous support is a testament to that commitment.'' ​

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Ms. White
After-School Music Supervisor

Adrianna White is an alumnus of both Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School and served as 2016 drum major of Saratoga High School Marching. While her primary instrument is the euphonium, she also plays trombone, guitar, and flute.

During high school, Ms. White participated in many music activities including winter percussion, marching band, concert band and jazz bands. She also performed with Valley Christian High School’s indoor winter ensemble on trombone in 2017, helping them win the WGI championship for Winter Winds.

Adrianna’s current big musical passion is for the marching arts, growing from her involvement in marching band at Redwood and Saratoga high, then marching with the Concord Blue Devils B Corp during the summers of 2017 and 2018. She has worked with Valley Christian High School, Live Oak Emerald Regime, and currently works with Homestead High School. Additionally, she hopes to continue working and serving music education for years to come.

Currently attending West Valley College, Adrianna hopes to major in Neuroscience or Human Biology and Society, while minoring in music at the University of California, Los Angeles.