Ben Scharf is the Director of Instrumental Music at Homestead High School where he has been teaching for 6 years. At Homestead he teaches the Wind Ensemble 1, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Orchestras, and Guitar.

Ben grew up in Cupertino and was active in the music classes at Cupertino High School, which inspired him to pursue music education as a career. He received his BM with emphasis in Music Education from San Diego State University in 2019. While primarily a saxophone player, Ben participated in a variety of ensembles on various instruments including bassoon, french horn, and trombone. During his time at SDSU, Ben was active in the collegiate CMEA chapter, serving as its Vice President in 2019. The chapter helped enrich the development of SDSUs music education students by hosting reading bands, mock interviews, training sessions, and more. During his senior year he had the privilege of student teaching at Marshall Middle School in San Diego as part of the SDSU Music Education Fellowship. He then received his teaching credential from SDSU in 2020 while student teaching at Scripps Ranch High School. 

Ben continues to be an active member of numerous music education associations, serving on the boards for the Santa Clara County Band Directors Association (Vice President) and the California Music Education Association Bay Section (Assistant Area Representative). Ben has presented at the state music education conference about diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, in the high school instrumental classroom. 

Ben regularly plays tenor saxophone in the San Jose Wind Symphony. He marched with the “Saluting America’s Band Directors” marching band in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena in 2022, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City in 2023.

Ben is grateful for all of his music teachers that guided him to where he is today, as well as his music education colleagues who continue to inspire him in the classroom.

Daniel Piazza has been working with the band progam since 2015.  A Homsetead Alumni, Daniel now the manages operations and logistics of the music programs at Homestead. Currently he holds the roles of Front Ensemble Caption, Electronics instructor, Sound Engineer, and Administrator for the Band program. 

Raven Bautista began his color guard journey as a sophomore at Homestead HS. He continued to march at Homestead through his senior year.

After graduating high school, Raven joined the Blue Devils B Open Class Drum Corps where he performed for two years. Following his time at BDB, he marched the Blue Devils World Class Corps, receiving a silver and gold medal.

Raven began teaching at Homestead immediately following his graduation in 2017 and has been a member of the staff ever since.

Noah Bishop-Peters started his marching career in 7th grade at Ingrid B. Lacy Middle School in Pacifica, CA. He joined playing the trombone, but eventually was drawn into the color guard. He went on to march with the Terra Nova High School Marching Band as a 4-year color guard member, becoming head captain his senior year.

After graduating high school, Noah joined the Blue Devils B Open Class Drum Corp for the 2017 season and was a color guard captain for the 2018 season. He also marched in the first and only year of the Blue Devils B Winter Guard. 

Noah began his teaching career in 2017 with the Archbishop Riordan High School Marching Band, where he stayed until 2019. He joined the Terra Nova High School Marching Band as Visual Caption Head in 2018, and transitioned to Color Guard Caption Head in 2019 and 2020. Noah began teaching at Homestead as a Flag Technician in the Winter of 2018 and has been on staff since.