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Dan DuBay

Dan DuBay, Director of Magnet Concert Bands and AP Music Theory, is currently the conductor of the Howard W Blake School for the Arts Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Concert Winds. Mr. DuBay received his bachelors degrees in Music Education from the University of South Florida. His teachers included Dr. William Wiedrich, Dr. Mallory Thompson, Dr. Art Woodbury, Dr. Chuck Owen, and Prof. Jack Wilkins.

Mr. DuBay is a graduate of Cooper City HS in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He became the Director of Bands at Durant HS in 1996-2010. During his tenure at Durant HS, the band was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, the BOA National Concert Band Festival, Gatlinburg, Tennessee and represented Florida in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona three times. The marching band at Durant HS was a State FMBC Finalist for 10 out of the 11 years the band entered. The Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Concert Bands consistently received Supeior ratings at all FBA/FOA functions attended. The band was awarded the Otto Kraushaar award many times for receiving straight superiors at all District and State FBA events entered in a calendar year.

Mr. DuBay was awarded the Teacher Of The Year honors twice by his peers. He is a member of FBA, FOA, FMEA, and FMBC. Mr. DuBay is a certified FBA adjudicator in the areas of marching, concert, jazz, and solo/ensemble. He has conducted clinics for many bands all over the State of Florida. He has a daughter named Brooke, who is 8 years old, and is his pride and joy.

Carmen Griffin

Carmen Griffin is the director of Jazz Studies at Howard W. Blake School of the Arts, where she also teaches Music Theory, Keyboarding, Concert Band, and is the director of the Marching Yellow Jacket band. Carmen cultivated her music career at Blake under the direction of her father, former Blake High School band director, Robert Griffin. A trumpeter in both the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo, she was a part of the group that gained notoriety at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition, taking the stage with Wynton Marsalis, and later toured Japan as part of a foreign exchange program. Carmen's musical study continued at the University of Central Florida under the tutelage of John Almeida (trumpet) and tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert (jazz studies), as lead trumpet for the UCF Jazz Ensemble, also playing lead as part of a Disney Collegiate band. She began her teaching career at Blake last year as a Reading teacher but is beyond excited for her "homecoming" to the Magnet program, to which she credits her most grande successes to date.