BRET NELSON

Bret Nelson played in several Minneapolis bands as a singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist during the 1980s. He taught choir and general music at Vanguard Middle School in Compton, CA from 1990-1992 after graduating from the University of Minnesota and the Teach For America Institute at the University of Southern California. He wrote original music for the film "The Soccer War" in 1991, played keyboards for singer-songwriter Laura Adams from 1991-1993, and played bass domra in the Los Angeles-St. Petersburg Russian Folk Orchestra from 1994-2000, as well as the Balanova ensemble.

He has been a music teacher at Dana Middle School in San Pedro, CA since 1992. Under his direction, the Dana Middle School Guitar Ensemble was the only Los Angeles Unified School District music group to perform at the California Music Educator’s Association State Conference at the Sacramento Convention Center on March 18, 2004.

He has a California Professional Clear Credential for Secondary Music Instruction, and completed his Master of Arts degree in Music Education from California State University, Long Beach with a 270-page master's thesis titled, "A Study of Class Piano Instruction in the Los Angeles Unified School District."

Currently, in addition to being the owner/operator of Eastview Music Studio, Bret is a full-time piano and guitar instructor at Dana Middle School, where he was chapter chair for United Teachers Los Angeles from 2006 to 2009. Bret is also an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, Music Teachers' Association of California, California Association for Music Education, National Educator Association, and California Teachers Association.