Band Instructional Staff
Band classes can be large, and it's important to us that students receive individual attention. Students learn differently and at different rates. We employ a talented group of musicians to provide small group and individualized attention on a weekly basis to help all students succeed. All of our instructors are working professional musicians and private lesson teachers. In addition to working with the students, they can be great resources for information such as instrument and equipment purchase recommendations, supplemental instructional materials and sheet music suggestions.
Band classes can be large, and it's important to us that students receive individual attention. Students learn differently and at different rates. We employ a talented group of musicians to provide small group and individualized attention on a weekly basis to help all students succeed. All of our instructors are working professional musicians and private lesson teachers. In addition to working with the students, they can be great resources for information such as instrument and equipment purchase recommendations, supplemental instructional materials and sheet music suggestions.
Ross Craton - Flute, Clarinet and Saxophone
Ross discovered he had a passion for music at the age of 5 when he began taking piano lessons from his mother. He started studying the flute at age 9 and later learned the saxophone, clarinet, recorders, oboe, and ethnic flutes. He graduated from California State University, Northridge as a performance music major and continued performance for many convocations, Masses, Weddings, Christmas Shows, parties, commercials, independent films, video games,ecordings, etc. He plays in the event band “The Moon Units” and the blues band “Ray Jaurique Big Band”. He has also played in over 90 musicals, including; Les Misérables, Secret Garden, Narnia, Legally Blonde, Evita, Curtains, Charlie Brown, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Singin’ in the Rain, Mame, Will Roger’s Follies, Pal Joey, The World Goes Round, Bye Bye Birdie, Saturday Night, Guys and Dolls, 42nd St., How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Annie, Crazy for You, Hair, Beauty and the Beast, Anything Goes, Babes in Arms, Showboat, Kiss Me Kate, Seven Wives for Seven Brothers, 9 to 5, Working, South Pacific, Spamalot, Kismet, Pippin, Parade, Cabaret, Pirates of Penzance, Thouroughly Modern Millie, Sweet Charity, Grease, The Music Man, A Funny Thing Happened to Me on The Way to The Forum, Aida, City of Angels, Babes in Arms, The Pajama Game, Footloose, Seussical, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, The Brain from Planet X, and others. As a teacher, he’s worked with hundreds of private students over the years. He ran a 3rd grade recorder program called “Tempo” through the Pasadena Symphony for 4 years. Currently, he teaches at Newbury Park High School as a woodwind specialist.
Cavit Monezis - Bassoon
Cavit Monezis graduated from UCLA with a degree in Bassoon Performance, and has studied with Charles Coker, Jack Marsh, Norman Herzberg, and Andy Radford. After graduating, he worked with the woodwind chamber ensembles at UCLA, has been coaching woodwinds, brass and chamber ensembles for the Conejo Valley Unified School District since 2006. Cavit also plays woodwinds for musical theater productions throughout the Los Angeles and Ventura areas. Cavit is also a composer and has had compositions performed at UCLA, the Shrine Auditorium, Santa Monica College, Moorpark College, and the California Junior Philharmonic. He has served as the assistant conductor for the Palisades Symphony and the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic, and has appeared as a soloist with the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra, Ventura Baroque Players, Santa Monica College, Moorpark College, the Goethe Institut, and the California Junior Philharmonic. Being equally familiar with many different instruments, in addition to working with our bassoon players, Mr. Monezis will also work with french horn, clarinet or oboe students when needed.
Dr. Michael Gutierrez - Trumpet
Dr. Michael Gutierrez is enjoying his career as an educator and freelance trumpeter in the greater Los Angeles area.
Born in Clovis, California in 1996, Gutierrez found a passion for music and trumpet performance in his hometown. He credits his middle school and high school teachers, Paul Lucckesi and Scott Dean, for cultivating an intriguing learning environment that enhanced his talent into practical skills.
Gutierrez has been featured as a sideman on various recordings such as Gloria Estefan’s Family Christmas album, Wayne Bergeron’s latest big band recording (to be released), and Kari Kirkland’s new single “I Can’t Help It,” to name a few.
Along with his local work, Gutierrez has traveled the world performing in various ensembles. A recent selection of national performances includes Java Jazz Festival (Jakarta, Indonesia), Wellington Jazz Festival (Wellington, New Zealand), Pizza Express (London, England), and Tokyo TUC (Tokyo, Japan).
Gutierrez holds his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Studying under the tutelage of Brian Lynch, Wayne Bergeron, Etienne Charles, and John Daversa, Gutierrez has honed his skills as a lead trumpeter, jazz improviser, educator, composer, and arranger.
Dr. Gutierrez works with our beginning, intermediate and advanced trumpets as well as teaching improvisation to all of the Jazz Band students.
Born in Clovis, California in 1996, Gutierrez found a passion for music and trumpet performance in his hometown. He credits his middle school and high school teachers, Paul Lucckesi and Scott Dean, for cultivating an intriguing learning environment that enhanced his talent into practical skills.
Gutierrez has been featured as a sideman on various recordings such as Gloria Estefan’s Family Christmas album, Wayne Bergeron’s latest big band recording (to be released), and Kari Kirkland’s new single “I Can’t Help It,” to name a few.
Along with his local work, Gutierrez has traveled the world performing in various ensembles. A recent selection of national performances includes Java Jazz Festival (Jakarta, Indonesia), Wellington Jazz Festival (Wellington, New Zealand), Pizza Express (London, England), and Tokyo TUC (Tokyo, Japan).
Gutierrez holds his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Studying under the tutelage of Brian Lynch, Wayne Bergeron, Etienne Charles, and John Daversa, Gutierrez has honed his skills as a lead trumpeter, jazz improviser, educator, composer, and arranger.
Dr. Gutierrez works with our beginning, intermediate and advanced trumpets as well as teaching improvisation to all of the Jazz Band students.
Phyllis Rautenberg - French Horn
Phyllis Rautenberg is a retired Las Virgenes Unified School District music teacher where she taught at AC Stelle, AE Wright and Lindero Canyon Middle Schools. She was born in New Jersey and received her Bachelor of Music degree from William Paterson University and Masters in Music Performance at Montclair University where she studied with David Jolley, Herbert Pierson and Richard Reissig. As a member of the American Federation of Musicians, she has worked as a freelance musician. Mrs. Rautenberg currently performs with the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, Westlake Village Symphony and Moorpark Symphony Orchestra, coaches music students at schools in the Conejo, Las Virgenes and Simi Valley School Districts and teaches French Horn privately. She will be working with the Los Cerritos Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Bands.
Kenton Luck - Low Brass
Kenton Luck is a freelance trombonist and graduate of Thousand Oaks High School where he played trombone, euphonium and tuba. Kenton earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Miami and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Kenton works with the low brass students in all band classes and teaches improvisation with the Jazz Band.
Grant Bubar - Percussion
Grant Bubar is a freelance percussionist and educator based out of Southern California and has
taught and performed in a variety of settings throughout the region. Besides maintaining a
diverse private teaching studio, Grant has worked as a front ensemble instructor for Dark Sky
Percussion for the 2020 and 2022 seasons, as well as several High Schools and Middle Schools in the Ventura and LA counties. During the Fall 2020 semester, he also worked as an extended guest lecturer at California State University, Northridge –as well as a guest clinician on percussion pedagogy for the CSUN NAfME chapter in 2021.
As a performer, Grant enjoys playing in a wide variety of musical settings. He can regularly be found playing in orchestras, musicals, chamber ensembles, punk bands, and as a marimba soloist around the SoCal area. As an avid fan of contemporary music, Grant was thrilled to be a guest artist for the TEMPO New Music Ensemble during their 2018-2019 Season; as well as at Chamber Fest in 2019.
Grant received his bachelor’s degree in music education from California State University, Northridge and in Spring of 2020 was accepted into the Master’s Program for Percussion Performance at Boston University. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Grant decided to put his degree on hold in order to tour the country with the alternative-punk band, Sad Park.
At Los Cerritos, Grant works not only with the beginning, intermediate and advanced percussionists but also with the Jazz Band rhythm section. Grant also works with the percussion students at Thousand Oaks High School and Colina Middle School. He teaches private lessons on concert percussion and drum set.
taught and performed in a variety of settings throughout the region. Besides maintaining a
diverse private teaching studio, Grant has worked as a front ensemble instructor for Dark Sky
Percussion for the 2020 and 2022 seasons, as well as several High Schools and Middle Schools in the Ventura and LA counties. During the Fall 2020 semester, he also worked as an extended guest lecturer at California State University, Northridge –as well as a guest clinician on percussion pedagogy for the CSUN NAfME chapter in 2021.
As a performer, Grant enjoys playing in a wide variety of musical settings. He can regularly be found playing in orchestras, musicals, chamber ensembles, punk bands, and as a marimba soloist around the SoCal area. As an avid fan of contemporary music, Grant was thrilled to be a guest artist for the TEMPO New Music Ensemble during their 2018-2019 Season; as well as at Chamber Fest in 2019.
Grant received his bachelor’s degree in music education from California State University, Northridge and in Spring of 2020 was accepted into the Master’s Program for Percussion Performance at Boston University. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Grant decided to put his degree on hold in order to tour the country with the alternative-punk band, Sad Park.
At Los Cerritos, Grant works not only with the beginning, intermediate and advanced percussionists but also with the Jazz Band rhythm section. Grant also works with the percussion students at Thousand Oaks High School and Colina Middle School. He teaches private lessons on concert percussion and drum set.
Joe Martone - Percussion
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 Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou”, to name a few. He has also played on many albums including Danny Elfman’s “Big Mess” and John Daversa’s 2016 Grammy Nominated jazz album, “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”, HBO’s “Perry Mason” and “The Mandalorian” on Disney+. Through his diverse career, he has been able to work in many 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.
At Los Cerritos, Joe works not only with the beginning, intermediate and advanced percussionists but also with the Jazz Band rhythm section. Joe also works with the percussion students at Thousand Oaks and Westlake High Schools as well as Redwood and Colina Middle Schools. He teaches private lessons on concert percussion and drum set.
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”, HBO’s “Perry Mason” and “The Mandalorian” on Disney+. Through his diverse career, he has been able to work in many 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.
At Los Cerritos, Joe works not only with the beginning, intermediate and advanced percussionists but also with the Jazz Band rhythm section. Joe also works with the percussion students at Thousand Oaks and Westlake High Schools as well as Redwood and Colina Middle Schools. He teaches private lessons on concert percussion and drum set.