Meet Our Band Directors
Jason Clemens
Email: clemens_J@shaker.org
Mr. Clemens is a lifelong Cleveland area resident, having grown up in Painesville and graduated from Riverside High School. He has a Bachelor of Music Degree, Cum Laude with Honors from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH. He also has a Master's degree in Educational Administration from John Carroll University and is currently taking principal licensure classes. His major instrument is trumpet.
Mr. Clemens started his teaching career working in the Ledgemont Local Schools, where he taught band, choir and general music for five years. In July 2008, he was hired by the Shaker Heights City Schools. He directs the high school Concert Ensemble, both 7th Grade Concert Bands, the 8th Grade Concert Band, and one 7th Grade Choir, as well as co-directing the marching band with Mrs. Tyrrell.
Daniel Crain
Email: crain_d@shaker.org
Mr. Crain has been a public school music educator for 19 years. The 2023 – 2024 school year marks his eleventh year as a band director in the Shaker Heights City School District. His responsibilities include high school Symphonic Band, 7th grade Concert Winds, high school Jazz Band and Music Composition. Mr. Crain also assists with the Pride of Shaker Heights Raider Marching Band and the 7th and 8th grade Symphonic Bands. Prior to his tenure in Shaker Heights, Mr. Crain taught five years in the Mentor Public Schools where he was the head concert band and assistant marching director. Mr. Crain also taught middle/high school band in Youngstown City School District for one year and middle/high school band in the Perry Local Schools in Massillon, Ohio for two years.
A native of North Royalton, Ohio, Mr. Crain earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bowling Green State University in 2003 and his Master of Arts in Music degree from Case Western Reserve University in 2008. Mr. Crain has completed additional graduate coursework in conducting and music education at Capital University, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Northwestern University. In addition to his responsibilities at Shaker, Mr. Crain has been Co-Music Director of the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony for over 15 years. He served as the conductor of the CYWS II Concert Winds from its inception in 2009 until 2016, and he currently serves as the chief conductor of CYWS Group I. Mr. Crain was appointed as the Director of the Lakeland Civic Band at Lakeland Community College in May 2017, a group in which he has performed as a tubist. Mr. Crain has also been an active volunteer for the Ohio Music Education Association, serving as the District VII Secretary/Treasurer, the District IV & VII High School Honors Festival Chair, and the Properties Committee for the 2015 and 2017 Professional Development Conferences held in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bill Hughes
Email: hughes_b@shaker.org
Mr. Hughes is the Director of Jazz for the Shaker Heights School District and the director of the High School Wind Ensemble. He has 20 years of experience as a jazz artist, orchestra director, band director and private music teacher. His main performance instruments are the flute and saxophone. His secondary instruments are the piano, clarinet and trumpet.
Mr. Hughes has a Bachelors degree in Music Performance and a Masters degree in Instrumental Conducting, both from Cleveland State University. He is a recipient of the Who's Who Award among American Teachers. He has performed at The Boarding House, Club Isabella, The Cleveland Bop Stop, The Mardi Gras, Cain Park and the Cleveland Amphitheater.
Kristin Koterba
Email: koterba_k@shaker.org
Kristin Koterba started teaching in the Shaker Schools in the fall of 2014. She was a student teacher for the Shaker Bands in 2005 from Kent State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education and Flute Performance. Since then, Kristin has taught elementary music and assisted with high school band for two years in South Carolina and also taught middle school band for seven years in Georgia. She completed her Masters Degree at Vandercook College of Music in Chicago in 2013 and serves on the alumni board. She began work on her Ph.D. in Music at Kent State in 2017. Kristin’s main role is to work with the bands at Woodbury and help with the marching band.
Joseph Kulikowski
Email: kulikowski_j@shaker.org
Mr. Kulikowski grew up in Seven Hills and is a graduate of Padua Franciscan High School. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance, a Teaching Certification and a Master's Degree in Music Performance, all from Cleveland State University. He was the winner of the 1st Annual Cleveland State University Concerto Competition in 2002. He has subbed with the Akron Symphony and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and has played many shows at Porthouse Theatre and Playhouse Square. Currently, Mr. Kulikowski performs as the trombonist with local rock/horn band Funkology. The trombone is his primary instrument. He can play any of the brass instruments and woodwinds. Mr. Kulikowski has been with the Shaker Heights School District since 2008.
Ken LeeGrand
Director, Clinician, Performer, Session Player. These are just some of the many hats worn by Ken LeeGrand. Known for his inspirational Saxophone Solos and articulate horn section work it amazes listeners when he plays classical music on his clarinet. Ken has performed with, Freda Payne, Jean Carne, Petula Clark, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, The Miracles, Michael McDonald, The Funk Brothers, and Aretha Franklin to name a few. With his group “Horns and Things”, Ken has had the privilege of being the opening act for, the late Dexter Gordon, El DeBarge, Jimmy Heath, Freddie Hubbard, Ronnie Laws, Phillip Bailey and Joe Sample, Average White Band, Najee, Kevin Eubanks, Brain Culbertson and En Vogue to name a few. With “Horns and Things” Ken has released 4 CD’s. Ken has also done pit work for numerous plays at The Cleveland Playhouse, The famed Karamu Theater and in Playhouse Square. He has also had numerous performances at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field, Gund Arena and Blossom Music Center. As a traveling musician, LeeGrand has performed extensively throughout The United States and Europe.
Ken appeared in and assisted Music Director, Sam Andrews of Big Brother & the Holding Company with the selection of musicians in the first Cleveland performance of Love Janis. Of Ken, Sam wrote, “On Tenor Saxophone here in Cleveland we have Ken LeeGrand who knows how to go for the ecstasy notes at the end of a tune.”
As a session player, LeeGrand has played on numerous jingles and amusement park soundtracks. Ken has played on nationally released products by Kelly Chapman, Cliff Habian’s Manhattan Bridge and had major impact on “GENERATIONS” the critically acclaimed CD by Bill Ransom that Dr. Mike of Radio IO called “one of the ten most significant mainstream releases of the year!!”
As an educator Ken always has between thirty and forty private students, and annually holds his own Saxophone Retreat that averages twenty students. For the last twenty years, Ken has been the resident artist for the Grammy Signature School Shaker Heights School District Band Department that has 1000 plus students in bands from grade 5 through 12. As an educator Ken has former students at various universities such as The Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, Ohio State, Ithaca College, The Cincinnati Conservatory, Oberlin College, New School of the Contemporary Arts and Berklee School of Music to name a few.
For the last seven years LeeGrand has been the Director of J@MS. (Jazz at the Music Settlement) a nationally acclaimed program that is a partner of the Berklee City Music Network.
For the last twenty two years Ken has also been the saxophonist at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church.
Ken maintains a very busy schedule be it directing and assisting several bands in Shaker Schools, recording his fourth CD as co-founder of his own group, “Horns & Things”, performing in the Gospel Genre, or doing a Residency at a University, he simply says, “ Being busy in a lot of diverse situations definitely makes this interesting and fun!!”
Adrian Pocaro
Email: pocaro_a@shaker.org
Mr. Pocaro grew up in Twinsburg, Ohio. His main performance instrument is the trumpet. His secondary instruments are the French horn, and Euphonium. Mr. Pocaro graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education in 2000. In 2001 he was hired by the Shaker Schools as high school Concert Band director and brass instructor at Woodbury Elementary. He was the Marching Band Director from 2004-2009 and Co-Directed the Marching Band from 2010-2014. In 2015, he became lead band director at Shaker Middle School, and he currently assists the High School Band program as a sectional instructor.
Gianna Tyrrell
Mrs. Tyrrell is the co-director of the Shaker Marching Band with Mr. Clemens and she teaches Concert Band at the high school. Mrs. Tyrrell also teaches at Woodbury as a woodwind specialist for the fifth and sixth grade band students.
Mrs. Gianna Tyrrell grew up in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University and is currently completing her master's degree in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Mrs. Tyrrell started her teaching career at Geneva Area City schools teaching Middle School and High School band and general music for three years. The clarinet and piano are her primary instruments. Her secondary instruments are Saxophone and Flute.