Michael Stone

Michael D. Stone earned the B.A. in Music Education/Performance and the M. Ed. from University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Stone serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Bakersfield City School District. As the arts administrator for the district, he oversees arts programs at 33 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, and 4 junior high schools. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Stone served for over 14 years as instrumental music teacher at Chipman Junior High School, also in the Bakersfield City School District.

Chipman bands and orchestras consistently earned Unanimous Superior Ratings at California Music Educators Association (CMEA) ratings festivals during his tenure. Chipman ensembles performed at the state conferences of CMEA and California Band Directors Association. Mr. Stone was featured in the January 1999 issue of The Instrumentalist Magazine, and has written several articles for the magazine since that time. During the summer of 1998, he was awarded the prestigious “Fellowship in Music Education” at Northwestern University. In March of 2009, Mr. Stone served as an Online Mentor for the Music Educators National Conference National Council of Supervisors of Music Education. In 2016, Mr. Stone authored a blog post entitled “Mentoring New Music Educators for Lifelong Success in the Profession” for the National Association for Music Education, or NAfME.

Under his leadership, Bakersfield City School District was named a Best Communities for Music Education Award Winner 2013-2023 by the National Association of Music Merchants. The District’s Music In Our Schools Week instrumental music recruitment program received a 2014 Golden Bell Award of the California School Boards Association, as did the District’s Choir Standards Festival in 2019. In October of 2015, Mr. Stone was recognized by the Arts Council of Kern as its Outstanding Arts Educator at its Accomplishments Awards Gala.

Mr. Stone is a Past President of CMEA, CBDA, CMEA Central Section, Kern County Music Educators Association, and President-Elect of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Western Division. He recently concluded his term as the Chair of the NAfME Council of Music Program Leaders, and is currently a Liaison to the National Executive Board. He served as the Music Supervisors Representative on the CMEA State Council from 2018-2020, and was Western Division Representative on the NAfME Council of Music Program leaders from 2016-2019. Mr. Stone has also served in an adjunct capacity at California State University, Bakersfield, teaching instrumental music methods to undergraduates. He holds active memberships in many professional organizations, including NAfME, CBDA, CMEA, KCMEA, and Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association and was inducted into the American School Band Directors Association in 2001. Mr. Stone is a euphoniumist and trombonist, and is a founding member of the Bakersfield Winds, a symphonic wind ensemble.

Active as an adjudicator, guest conductor, and strategic planning facilitator and writer. Mr. Stone has conducted honor bands and orchestras and clinics throughout California, as well as in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. Recent guest conducting engagements include the 2021 Sonoma County Junior High School Honor Band. In December of 2021, he presented at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Mr. Stone has served for many years as a guest conductor at the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in California’s Sonoma County, and will returned this summer conducting the Middle School Session B Orchestra.

“The are no problems, only solutions!”