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James Rumenapp
Director of Bands, Thousand Oaks High School (CA)
805-379-0437
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Please welcome Mr. James Rumenapp to the Thousand Oaks Lancer Band Family. He is overjoyed to continue the legacy of the Thousand Oaks High School Lancer Band and considers it a dream come true. Mr. Rumenapp is a graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Mathematics with an emphasis on High School Education and a Minor in Music in Viola Performance. He also holds a Masters Degree in Teacher Leadership from California Lutheran University.
Mr. Rumenapp is a professional Violist with the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra and is a decorated trombonist that has performed in numerous CA state honor ensembles and was a graduate of the Bill Green Mentorship Program based in Los Angeles, CA. As a multi-faceted performer, he has performed many places around the globe including, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, England, and France with various orchestras sponsored by the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra as well as the Los Robles Camerata Choir. In the United States, he has performed in multiple venues including Carnegie Hall (NY), Walt Disney Concert Hall (CA), he has also recorded several sessions at Fox Studios in Hollywood, CA. Mr. Rumenapp began his teaching career in 2012 at Buena High School in Ventura, California and led them through multiple gold medals in Drumline, Colorguard, and Marching Band. He became the Director of Bands at Thousand Oaks High School (CA) in 2023.
Bands under Mr. Rumenapp’s baton have received Unanimous Superior ratings and awards at Concert Band festivals, 1st Place Awards in Competitive Jazz Band Festivals, and his Marching Bands have earned numerous Sweepstakes Awards throughout the years. He is excited to continue the proud tradition of excellence that the Thousand Oaks Lancer Band has established for these past decades.
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Matthew Ray
Band Office Administrator
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
805-495-7491 ext. 6002
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Mike Freed
Marching Band Assistant Director
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Mike Freed has been on staff for the Thousand Oaks High School Lancer Band since 1997 where he is currently Assistant Director and serves as the visual and brass caption head. During his time at TOHS he has conducted the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band as well as several small ensembles and assisted with the P.M. Jazz Band. In addition to working with the band, Mr. Freed spent three years as the Visual Instructor for the Spring Indoor Drumline. He has instructed and designed for many award winning Southern California Bands. Mr. Freed has been on the staff of several Drum and Bugle Corps including the 1998 World Class Semifinalist Kiwanis Kavaliers from Ontario, Canada and the 1999 World Class Finalist Colts from Dubuque, Iowa.
Mike Freed has been working with bands in the Conejo Valley for over 20 years. He is currently the Assistant Director at Redwood Middle School for both the Band program under Mr. Adam Payne and the String Orchestra program under Mr. Ben Roberts. He has taught elementary band at Sycamore Canyon, Conejo and Manzanita (now EARTHS) Elementary Schools. He has been a section coach for the Ventura County Middle School Honor Band and his private low brass students have been members or principal players in the All State Honor Band, SCSBOA All Southern Honor Band, Ventura County High School and Middle School Honor Bands and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Great American Marching Band. Two of Mr. Freed's Drum Major students from Thousand Oaks HS were selected as Drum Majors for the U.S. Army All-American High School Marching Band. His professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, California Music Educators Association, California Band Director’s Association and the Southern California Band and Orchestra Association as well as the International Tuba Euphonium Association. Mr. Freed has been a three-time presenter at the SCSBOA conference, giving presentations on the use of mobile applications for music education.
Mr. Freed earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education from California State University Northridge. He played both Euphonium and Tuba in the Wind Ensemble, Studio Ensemble Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Brass Ensemble and Tuba Quartet. Recently he has played euphonium with the Los Angeles Pierce Symphonic Winds and performed with them at the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and CBDA Conference in Fresno as well as international tours to Italy, France, England and Scotland.
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Joe Paul
Color Guard Director
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Joe Paul has acquired a wealth of experience in the pageantry arts over the past 30-plus years. He was a performing member and staff member of both Avatar Winter Guard from Southern California and The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps from Rosemont, Illinois. Since then he has taught a wide range of high school and independent bands, color guards, and drum corps.
Joe was the director of Allusion Winter Guard for 6 years and currently designs for several high school marching band and winter guard programs. From 2010 through 2015 he served The Cavaliers on the Tour Management team, and he is currently the Director of Operations for The Academy Drum & Bugle Corps.
Joe has been an active judge for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association, Utah Winter Guard Association and the Northwest Pageantry Association and is frequently called upon as a guest judge in various circuits across the country. He has also been a clinician for the Winter Guard Association of Southern California and the SCSBOA, and has served on the Executive Committee of the WGASC.
He holds a Bachelors Degree in Art from the California State University, Northridge. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA where he works professionally as a Graphic Designer and Drill Writer.
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Joe Martone
Percussion Staff
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Joe Martone is a professional percussionist and educator based in Los Angeles. He has been featured on various recordings, playing on projects such as Disney’s “Hair-jitsu”, Netflix’s “Padre No Hay Mas Que Uno”, and several Sundance Films like “Ms. Purple”, to name a few. He has also played on many albums including Ariana Savalas’s “The Menage a Tour! Live from Las Vegas” and the 2016 Grammy Nominated album, John Daversa’s “Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music of The Beatles”.
Aside from his recording work, Joe works for many live theater and on camera productions. He has experience playing over 30 different musicals, ballets and operas, and has been seen on camera for such shows as “The Voice”, “American Idol”, “Why Women Kill” and HBO’s “Perry Mason”. Though his diverse career, he has been able to work in myriad parts of the entertainment industry, and works to share these experiences with his students.
Joe holds his Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance from California State University, Northridge. His training of Classical, Jazz, Brazilian, African, and Latin percussion has allowed him to have a prolific performing career, working with a wide range of orchestras, bands, and other musical groups.
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Bill Garcia
Drum Line Director
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Bill Garcia has been a music educator and arranger/composer for over 20 years. While still a student at Newbury Park High School in 1987, Bill’s first arranging and percussion instructor positions were at Los Cerritos Intermediate School and Sequoia Intermediate School, it was also at this time that Bill was a member of the Pasadena City College Honor Band, California State University Northridge winter drumline, and the Freelancers Drum and Bugle Corps. After graduating from Newbury Park High School in 1990, Bill continued working as an arranger and percussion instructor with several high schools in Southern California (Newbury Park HS, Westlake HS, Buena HS, and continuing with Sequoia Intermediate School).
Upon aging out of drum corps with the Freelancers in 1993, Bill then attended California Lutheran University and California State University Northridge where he received his BA in Music Education in 2000. Bill was a member of many ensembles at that time, Wind Ensemble, University Choir, and Marching Band. As a performer Bill has studied with Karen Ervin Pershing, Gary Pratt, David Whitwell, Paul Smith, Tad Carpenter, Carol Carpenter, and Don Silva, and studied arranging/composing from Matt Harris and Mark Spraggins.
After graduating from California State University Northridge Bill became the music director at Reseda High School from 2000 -2002. At Reseda he taught concert band, marching band, beginning guitar, and choir. In fall of 2002 Bill returned to Newbury Park High School as the Instrumental Music Director, a position he held until 2007. Bill continues to work as a percussion instructor at Thousand Oaks High School, Moorpark High School, Camarillo High School, and Redwood Intermediate School. Bill has also taught general music at Newbury Oaks Preschool and Bay Laurel Elementary School.
In addition to his degree and California Teaching Credential, Bill also has an International Baccalaureate Organization Teaching Certification and is a Member of the Vic Firth Education Team and a REMO Artist.
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Adam Payne
Marching Band Staff
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Carl Engstrom
Visual Instructor
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Carl Engstrom is a Trombonist, Multi-Instrumentalist, Vocalist and arranger born and raised in Moorpark, California. He graduated California State University, Northridge in 2019 with a degree in Jazz Studies/Performance on Trombone. He currently is a Cast Member at Disneyland working in Guest Talent Programs as a Stage Manager/Event Coordinator for all the guest performing arts groups who perform or participate in workshops at the Resort.
As a performer, Carl has toured and performed both domestically and internationally, including the Hollywood Bowl, Monterey and Reno Jazz Festivals, England and New Zealand. He has performed with notable artists such as Bob Mintzer, Pete Christlieb, Chuck Findley, Elliot Mason, Tiereny Sutton, John Daversa and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Carl was a member of the Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps in 2013 and 2015 on Baritone, and currently is part of their Administrative Staff. Additionally, he was awarded the “Outstanding College Trombonist Award” at the Reno Jazz Festival in 2016.
Since the Fall of 2015, Carl has worked as a Visual Instructor at Thousand Oaks High School as well as both a Visual and Music instructor for High School Marching Band programs across Southern California-including, Moorpark, Walnut, and Upland high school. He feels truly fortunate to work with such an incredibly talented staff, wonderful students and the outstanding music program the Thousand Oaks High School Lancer Band is known for.
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Brenden Yee
Visual Instructor
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Brenden joined the Visual staff at TOHS in the fall of 2018. He is a four year member of the Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps (2016, 2018-2020) where he was honored to be named as the corps Horn Sergeant for the 2020 season. Brenden graduated from Monrovia High School where he spent four years in the marching band, including two years as a clarinetist and two years as Drum Major. He is currently pursuing a B.A. degree in Music Performance and Education from California Lutheran University. In addition to Thousand Oaks High School, he has also been teaching at La Canada High School for four years.
Brenden is extremely passionate for the marching arts and visual expression and continues to look forward to each season he has to teach generations of new marching students!
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Brenden Ristau
Visual Instructor
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Brendan has been on the Visual Staff at Thousand Oaks HIgh School since 2012. He has worked with many different band programs across Ventura and Los Angeles counties and continues to be a sought after visual and music instructor. Brendan performed with the Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps in 2010 and 2011, and the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Additionally, Brendan is a 2017 graduate from California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance with a focus on trombone. Currently he is back at CSUN studying for a Master’s Degree in Music Industry Administration.
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Aaron Talabucon
Visual Instructor
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Aaron works as a marching band visual instructor for Westlake High School, Thousand Oaks High School, Moorpark High School, and Adolfo Camarillo High School. Along with teaching during the fall marching band season, Aaron teaches cymbals and visual performance at Adolfo Camarillo High School Indoor Drumline and Westlake High School Indoor Drumline during the winter season. Aaron has been teaching since the end of 2017 and works alongside many dedicated and passionate staff members who value marching arts and pageantry.
Aaron works as a marching band visual instructor for Westlake High School, Thousand Oaks High School, Moorpark High School, and Adolfo Camarillo High School. Along with teaching during the fall marching band season, Aaron teaches cymbals and visual performance at Adolfo Camarillo High School Indoor Drumline and Westlake High School Indoor Drumline during the winter season. Aaron has been teaching since the end of 2017 and works alongside many dedicated and passionate staff members who value marching arts and pageantry.
From 2017-2019, Aaron spent his summers marching as a lead trumpet in the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps. In Aaron’s three summers, The Blue Devils won an undefeated DCI World Championship in 2017, a silver medal finish in 2018, and then another championship in 2019. For both 2017 and 2019, The Blue Devils were awarded the “Don Brazale Best Visual Performance” award.
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Evan Turner
Color Guard Staff
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Tina Shirmeister
Color Guard Staff
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Tina Schirmeister’s marching arts experiences include two years performing with the Arizona based Drum Corps - The Academy ’16 ’17. From 2017-2019 Tina was a member of World Class Independent Winterguard – Imbue based in Modesto, CA. With Imbue Winterguard, Tina has had the opportunity to perform throughout California; Dayton, Ohio for World Championships; and Tokyo, Japan. For 2020 Tina took on a new role and now serves as Imbue’s Team Manager and Central Valley Performing Arts Association Administrative Assistant. Tina also taught at Redwood Middle School for two school years starting in 2015. In 2017 she transferred to Fresno State University to pursue her degree in Sport Administration. In 2018 Tina connected with Living Sport and has traveled to London, England and Cancun, Mexico to assist in operating the 28th Annual Royal Windsor Triathlon and Oceanman Championships, a 10k open water swimming event. Upon completing her degree Tina has returned to the Ventura Area, resumed teaching at Redwood MS and joined the Thousand Oaks Color Guard Staff.
Tina is excited to join TOHS color guard staff again this year!
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Alex Fortunato
Percussion Staff
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Alexander Fortunato is an alumnus of the TOHS Instrumental Music Department, and has been involved in local scholastic band programs since elementary school, including the Redwood Middle School Viking Band.
He is currently a student at Moorpark College earning an AA-T in Music and will be transferring in the Fall of 2021 to pursue a B.A. in Music Education.
Alex is heavily involved in the marching arts, having performed as a snare drummer with prestigious ensembles including Gold Indoor Percussion, Dark Sky Percussion, and the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets. While at SCVC, he earned a DCI Open Class World Championship Gold Medal along with the High-Percussion award in 2018. In 2019, Alex served as SCVC's Drum Captain.
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Adam Payne
Jazz Staff
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