The Harvest Park Music Department offers outstanding classes in band, orchestra, and jazz for middle school students at Harvest Park Middle School.
There are 4 bands (Intermediate Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble), 3 orchestras (Strings 1, Strings 2, and String Orchestra) and the jazz ensemble. Students of all experience levels are welcome to join!
Read below for more information on our teachers:
- Intermediate Band
- Wind Ensemble
- Jazz Band
- Strings I
- Strings II
- String Orchestra
Greg Conway has been a music educator in the San Francisco Bay Area for 23 years. Mr. Conway attended California State University, Hayward where he completed a B.A. in Music with an emphasis in Music Education and saxophone performance, as well as a teaching credential in Music. Mr. Conway also holds a Master of Music Degree in Instrumental Conducting from San Jose State University. Mr. Conway completed his student teaching with Paul Perazzo at Harvest Park Middle School in 2003. After teaching elementary band in South San Francisco Unified School District (2003-2005), he was the Director of Instrumental Music at William Hopkins Jr. High School in Fremont (2005-2021) where he directed 3 concert bands, 2 string orchestras, 2 jazz bands, a full orchestra, and several elementary bands and orchestras. Following 2 years at San Jose State, Mr. Conway was appointed Director of Orchestras and Jazz Studies at Windemere Ranch Middle School in San Ramon, a position he held from 2023-2026. Mr. Conway has been a music director with the Jenny Lin Foundation in Castro Valley since 2007, directing the band through 2019 and now directing the orchestra.
Both wind bands and orchestras under the direction of Mr. Conway have been featured performers at California State Music Education Conferences – the Hopkins Wind Ensemble (2010) and the Hopkins Advanced Orchestra (2012 and 2017). His bands and orchestras have performed at regional, state, and national music festivals, consistently receiving “Superior” ratings. Mr. Conway has commissioned and premiered several new works for both wind band and string orchestra.
Mr. Conway currently serves on the board of directors for several non-profit music organizations including CMEA Bay Section, the California Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), and the Jenny Lin Foundation. He is also active as an adjudicator and clinician in the Bay Area. Mr. Conway is the 2016 recipient of the CMEA Bay Section Gilbert T. Freitas Award for Excellence in Instrumental Music Education, the 2017 recipient of the CMEA Richard L. Levin Outstanding Orchestra Educator Award (recognizing one orchestra educator each year in California), and the 2018 recipient of the CMEA Bay Section Outstanding Educator Award (honored at the CMEA statewide awards banquet that year). In 2019, Mr. Conway was named “Community Hero” by the California State Assembly (District #25) for his outstanding dedication and service to the community, and in 2021 he was selected for the Alameda County Arts Commission/Board of Supervisors Arts Leadership Award for his contribution to youth music education.
- Intermediate Band
- Concert Band
- Symphonic Band
Jason Borris began teaching music in Pleasanton 2000. In addition to teaching beginning instrumental music at every elementary school in town, he also teaches three band classes at Harvest Park.
Outside of school, Mr. Borris can be heard playing in many of the professional orchestras in the greater Bay Area. Performing groups include the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Opera San Jose, Modesto Symphony, California Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and the West Edge Opera.
Mr. Borris is a Harvest Park graduate. In his very first class at Harvest Park, the girl who was to become Mrs. Borris sat behind him. Mr. Borris encourages all middle schoolers to be careful how they treat each other. You never know what the future holds, and who you might be sitting with.