Jeff Willner

The 07-08 school year marks Jeff Willner's 23rd year as a high school music teacher. He began his teaching career at the tender age of 23 at Gunn High School in 1985 after student teaching with local band legend Robert Gomez at Cupertino High School. From there were teaching stints at LosAltos, Santa Clara, and Saint Francis High Schools until his most recent and most probably final stop here at Paly. Says Mr. Willner, "After almost six years, I feel like we have just begun to realize the potential of this program. We are able to do amazing things here and, with the great support we have built over the past few years, we will be able to continue the pattern of growth in musical excellence." Mr. Willner holds a BA in Music from San Jose State University, an MA in Music Ed from The Ohio State University and an MA in School Administration from Santa Clara University. A trumpet player, he was a long standing member of the San Jose Wind Symphony (formerly San Jose City College Band) and played local shows and other small jobs until the birth of his first children. This past year he has, once again, begun a private trumpet studio at his home and hopes to do a little more playing (not too much . . . see next paragraph). Mr. Willner lives in Santa Clara with his wife of 18 years Inger, and his four children, Celia, 6, David, 6, Isabel, 3 and Anne, 3. That's right, two sets of twins. A self described "homebody," Mr. Willner loves nothing more than to hang around at home with the family and work on their ca. 1875 Santa Clara home. When allowed, he also likes to go to his basement and play with his collections, which include 2-3000 record albums, old radios, victrolas and a Seeburg AY160 Jukebox. He even practices his horn now and then.

Darin Ishimatsu

Darin Ishimatsu was born and raised in San Jose, California and started playing the flute the sixth grade. "Thinking back on it, I stopped growing in the seventh grade. As far as I know, I am the only person ever to be six-feet tall, play the flute, be in the seventh grade, and have a mustache, all at the same time," recalls Mr. Ishimatsu. Although sports and studying were the focus of his middle and high school years, he became increasingly interested in music due in no small part to the encouragement from his band director, Stan Neff of Branham High School. Mr. Ishimatsu went on to get his B.A. in music education and flute performance from UCLA and a master's degree in flute from Northwestern University. After college he got a job playing flute in the Eugene Symphony where he got a chance to partake in two of his biggest passions, music and fly-fishing. "I was totally out of control," he explains. "I would be fishing this giant green caddis hatch they get on the Mackenzie River up until about thirty minutes before rehearsal and then speed over to the Hult Center to play Mahler or something, and I'd be dripping wet and probably smelling a little funny." Eventually, Mr. Ishimatsu moved back to the Bay Area and to teach private flute lessons and play symphony concerts. In addition, he began teaching the flute ensemble and directing sectionals for Redwood Middle School where he realized that he enjoyed working in the school setting. This brings us to this year and his first year teaching at Paly. So how's it going? "The kids have been great and Mr. Willner is a really great band director. I'm learning a ton every day. It's kind of weird. The first day of school it seemed so chaotic with all these teenagers and I didn't know any of their names. Now, six months later, I feel like I just adopted 140 kids! It's hard not to get attached to them." When not teaching at Paly or teaching private flute lessons, Mr. Ishimatsu likes to hang out with friends and family, watch sports on TV, play a little golf, and spend time with his girlfriend. "Paly has cut into a little bit of my ESPN time, but I don't mind because I'll catch up in the summer. I've got a good feeling about the A's this year!"