This bio and photo are from the Oak Instrumental Music website: www.oakmusic.org

 

Robert Harrell was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and was heavily                                        involved in the local music scene.  Besides receiving several acknowledgments                                                  of outstanding musicianship at Santa Barbara High School,  he was the solo  trumpet chair in the Monday Madness Big Band, and he played bass  professionally in local jazz groups and in the pit orchestra for several theater companies. He moved to Southern California for his undergraduate studies at Biola University. During his time at Biola he was a integral part of the music department, playing trumpet in the jazz ensemble, symphonic winds, brass ensemble, and brass quintet. He played both upright and electric bass for the jazz combo and vocal jazz group. He was the president and student conductor of the symphonic winds at Biola University, and he graduated in the Spring of 2015 with a bachelor's degree in Music Education, and then went on to complete his teaching credential that fall.

 

The first stop in his educational career was at Los Alamitos High School, as the director of the jazz and orchestra groups. He will never forget the rewarding time that he shared with the students and the achievements they accomplished that year. Robert has a passion for music and a passion for students, and he knows that music has the power to change lives. One of his biggest goals as an educator is to ignite the love for music inside each of his students, and to help them achieve whatever they set their hearts and minds to. Robert is grateful and honored to be at Oak Middle School. And most of all, he is excited to see the students at Oak bring music to life, because he is a firm believer that “when we create music, we create meaning.”