Dan Sedgwick's Bio

Daniel Sedgwick was born in Santa Barbara, California. He was very active in soccer, and baseball, and he loved to swim and hang out at the beach with his friends. Daniel grew up surrounded by musicians. His grandfather taught music for 35 years and his mom is a working musician and teacher. His dad plays the radio. Daniel started as an instrumentalist at the age of ten, when he was talked into playing clarinet for his grandfather’s band. Although he originally wanted to start on the saxophone he agreed to the clarinet because he heard a high school student play so beautifully that he was convinced clarinet was the place to start. Daniel played clarinet throughout elementary school, in junior high, and in high school where he also played alto sax and clarinet with the jazz band and tuba in the marching band. He sang in the high school Madrigals and in the Royal Knights, a men’s choir. In high school he also joined the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony where he was exposed to professional music literature and decided that he wanted to spend his life working in music. Daniel has a brother who plays the trumpet and piano and a sister who plays the clarinet and saxophone.

Daniel started his college career at beautiful Santa Barbara City College. While there he played clarinet in the concert band, and symphony, and alto sax in the jazz band. He was the featured soloist with the symphony playing the Mozart clarinet concerto.

With his general education completed Daniel began applying to colleges to

complete his degree in clarinet performance. He was accepted to several Southern California music departments but when it came down to making his choice he followed his heart and went to Humboldt State University so he

could be with his high school sweetheart, Lisa. While there he studied with Ken Ayoob, played lead clarinet and saxophone, graduated, married Lisa, worked for his secondary teaching credential, adopted Sam, the Labrador,

and applied to graduate school.

For the next two years Daniel studied in Eugene at the University of Oregon. He studied clarinet with Dr. Wayne Bennett and earned his master’s degree in clarinet performance in 2008. Daniel and Lisa had their first child, Nicole, in July of 2007. Daniel and Lisa’s parents hoped that Daniel would find a job in Southern California but Daniel fell in love with Northern California and wanted to make his home in the North. Daniel interviewed for the position in Crescent City and called home to tell his parents that he had found his job. In the Fall of 2008 he started his new life as the full time band and choir director of Del Norte High School. In January of 2010 Daniel and Lisa had their second child Layla.

In addition to teaching at Del Norte High School, Daniel plays lead alto saxophone and clarinet for the Tsunami Swing and for the local theater group Lighthouse Repertory Theatre. Currently the family lives within blocks of Del Norte High School and they feel very much at home in Crescent City.