Jon Gardner

Principal Arranger

CoEd Varsity Marching Band

Jon C. Gardner, M.M; Adjunct Professor of Music, is in his second year at Wilkes University where he directs The Marching Colonels Marching Band. In addition to directing The Marching Colonels, Jon is the general music instructor at Saint Patrick School in Malvern; a staff member with Leading Tone Lessons; the music director and composer in-residence with The Salvation Army Kroc Center Jazz Band of Philadelphia. Prior to his position at Wilkes, Jon has directed professional, collegiate and high school ensembles in Pennsylvania; Massachusetts; Connecticut; Poland. While maintaining a very active teaching role, Jon is a very well sought after arranger and composer primarily in the marching band, jazz ensemble, and studio orchestra idioms.

While earning his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Music Education from the University of Valley Forge (’10), Jon served as an adjunct faculty member for The International Summer Jazz Academy of Krakow. During the course of his Master’s of Music degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (’12), Jon was: one of the primary composers/arrangers for the award winning Jazz Ensemble 1 and Studio Orchestra; the head instructor for Jazz Lab Ensemble; the graduate teacher for Jazz History and American Pop Music History.

Though most of Jon’s compositions currently include penning for various high school ensembles, Jon has written for the likes of: Beatlemania Now! and The Penny Lane Horns; Dan Gabel and The Abletones; The Hickory Brass Quintet. Jon still maintains an active relation with the University of Massachusetts in Amherst as one of the staff writers for Jazz Ensemble 1 and The Studio Orchestra.