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MUSIC | Teachers & Instructors

Mr. J.P. Combs - Director of Music

Combs conducts on stage at OV.

 
In 2008, Mr. Combs accepted the position as Ocean View's head band, choir, and music teacher.  With his consistent and strategic focus on technical excellence, artistic sensitivity, and personal development, Mr. Combs has cultivated our ensembles with precision and purpose, winning numerous awards throughout Southern California, including 5 State Championship titles in the 1A (Small Bands) division with our "Small but Mighty" marching band - The Seahawk Squadron.
Biola University, La Mirada CA, May 2005

Bachelor of Music Performance, Cum Laude

University of Southern California, Los Angeles,  May 2008

Master of Arts in Music Education

 

University of California, Irvine, January 2020

Certificate of Strategic Leadership Development

 

 

Posted on the outside of the German Opera House is a plaque that reads, “... God gave us music that we might pray without words.” This short sentence illustrates two truths about music that I find most enlightening.

The first is that music is a seemingly supernatural gift; one for which we humans have a very natural and innate affinity.  Music is unique, it's significant, and it's beautiful.  And like all favorable gifts, it holds great value. 

The second truth, which I will expound more fully, is that music is a powerful form of communication.  When we share music with others, we communicate on an entirely transcendent level. Music has the power to speak to the soul quicker than any other form of communication. The greatest orators and poets have spoken for hours and filled page upon page to achieve what the music composer does with a single motif, at times only a measure long. No one can deny the immediate change in state that happens when listening to one's favorite melody. Music's primary purpose is to communicate: to connect. 

Music, therefore, is meant to be shared. It is a way for us to express that which we cannot put into words. As a tool for articulating our deepest emotions, the cries of our spirit, music allows us to share these deep, indescribable feelings with our fellow humans. With music we are able to connect in ways that supersede social, racial, political, and even lingual barriers. Music is powerful, and we therefore have a responsibility to handle it well. 

For me as a music educator and conductor, this means not only developing my talent to the fullest, it also means passing on my craft. Music is a fundamental part of the human experience. Consequently, every single student should have the opportunity to learn more about it and explore it more fully - like any other subject touted as essential to our development. 

Because of the collaborative nature of the music ensemble, music teachers have a unique opportunity to educate students not only on the subject matter, but also to help guide students in navigating social settings, structures, and hierarchies, teaching them what it means to be good team players, and helping them to understand - by experiencing first hand - that human beings can be and create so much more together than they can apart.

A professor at USC once described music education as a sacred quest, one that develops the whole person and benefits the whole of society. I believe it is precisely that, and I enthusiastically dedicate my life to that quest, knowing that it is more about the trek than it is about the journey's end. A profound truth I hope convey to each student I get the honor of teaching.

~ J.P. Combs

 
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. Combs began taking piano lessons and singing in the church choir at only five years old.  In fourth grade, he was accepted into the Phoenix Boys Choir, joined his school's show choir, and toured California performing in competitions and attending his first live musical theater performance at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood - an experience that ignited his passion for public performance.
 
In sixth grade he picked up the saxophone, playing at school and in church, where he really started to experience the pay off that comes from hard work and dedicated practice.  Winning a seat in the All-Region Honor Band in ninth grade, the All-State Honor Band in tenth and eleventh grade, and finally earning the principal chair his senior year - making him arguably the best high school saxophonist in the state - his ego began to grow and he decided to major in Saxophone Performance at BIOLA's Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles - with aspirations of becoming "the next Kenny G!"
 
In college, Mr. Combs performed in the conservatory's Symphonic Winds, Jazz Ensemble, Chorale, as a guest saxophonist with the Orchestra, and also founded the conservatory's first ever saxophone quartet.  He toured the Pacific coast, Italy, Budapest, and Prague, performing on countless stages - including the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a member of the choir the evening they featured John Debney's Academy Awards Nominated score for The Passion of the Christ.
 
In his last semester at BIOLA, having nearly completed his performance degree, primed and ready to "take the world by storm" as a solo saxophonist, Mr. Combs felt a strange pull to answer the call of a guest speaker who visited the university to invite students to Africa on a short-term charitable mission trip he was organizing to plant food gardens to feed the hungry and teach three week-long curriculum cycles on AIDS prevention in Swaziland - the nation with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world at that time. 
 
What Mr. Combs thought would simply be another adventurous opportunity to travel someplace new ended up turning into one of the most transformative experiences of his life - completely shifting his perspective, his worldview, and ultimately his vocational trajectory.  For the first time ever, Combs witnessed abject poverty and the devastating effects of widespread disease.  He was surprised, however, to find the people in the communities to be more genuinely hospitable, centered, and joy-filled than any community he'd experienced back home.  Though the Swazi people had almost nothing of material value, they shared their stories, their games, their homes, and their hearts with overwhelming generosity.  They taught Mr. Combs far more about what's truly important than he ever taught them about gardening or AIDS prevention.
 
He did, however, get addicted to that "lightbulb moment," when something he was teaching in the Swazi classroom would connect for one of the students, and their eyes would light up with the hope that they could be a part of the change that could combat the disease which plagued their community, and pave the way to a healthier, brighter future for their families and their nation.  He was humbled by their selfless passion and fervor for helping one another, and the complete absence of selfish greed or self serving appetite.  His experiences with the Swazi people prompted earnest self reflection and soul searching for Mr. Combs.  It was there that he realized - if he could let go of his ego and pride - he could have far more meaningful impact serving students as a teacher than he could ever have seeking affirmation and applause as a soloist.
 
Later, when he learned USC was offering a program designed specifically for students who had earned their bachelor's in music performance but later decided they wanted to teach, it seemed the obvious choice.  He earned his master's degree in music education, and more importantly, his teaching credential - qualifying him to apply for teaching positions. 
 
At one point in his interview for the part-time band director position at Ocean View HS, it came to light that due to his love of both Band and Choir, his "dream gig" would be a teaching assignment which included both instrumental and vocal classes.  Fortuitously, our current Choir/English teacher had recently requested to add another English class to her schedule and retire from teaching choir.  Combining those choir classes and the band classes into one position, the district was able to offer Mr. Combs a full-time, instrumental and vocal music teaching position...and the rest, as they say, is history!
 
 
When not at school investing in the lives of his students, Mr. Combs also enjoys:
  • Playing in HB's Adult Softball League
  • Volunteering on the worship tech team at church mixing audio and running media
  • Camping
  • Travel
  • Playing cornhole and spikeball with neighbors
  • Home improvement and building projects with his ever increasing collection of power tools.  
 
Mr. Combs' deepest joy, however, comes from spending precious time with his beautiful wife, his daughters Brooklynn (11) and Becca (7), and his furry Boxer princess - Leia.
  • Mr. Combs
  • Mr. Briggs
  • Mr. Val