Paul Harshman is the Director of Bands at Lakeside Middle School in Seattle and instructs Band I at the Upper School. He also serves as the conductor of the Music Works Jazz Orchestra, a professional jazz ensemble in the Seattle area and is in demand as a guest conductor and clinician for both jazz and concert band festivals throughout the country.

As Director of Bands at Kentridge HS in the 1990's and Shorewood HS from 2000-2009, Paul’s jazz ensembles have been considered among the finest in the nation, winning many of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the country including the Reno Jazz Festival, the Fullerton Jazz Festival, the Lionel Hampton/ University of Idaho Jazz Festival, the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, the Berklee College (Boston) Jazz Festival and the University of North Texas Jazz Festival. His groups have qualified for the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City five times and in 2005 and 2008 received the Honorable Mention Award at that festival. In 2009 the Shorewood Jazz Band won their division at the Reno Jazz Festival for the fourth consecutive year and also won a Downbeat Magazine Award for High School Jazz Band Performance.  His ensembles have performed through invitation at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands, the 2001 MENC National Conference in Washington D.C. and the 2007 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in New York. They have also performed with guest artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Phil Woods, Steve Houghton, George Cables, Allen Vizzutti, Marvin Stamm, Arturo O’Farrill and the University of North Texas One O’clock Jazz Lab Band.

Paul received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Central Washington University and received his Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University, where he studied conducting with John P. Paynter, trumpet with Vincent Chicowicz and conducted the Northwestern University Jazz Lab Band. While at CWU, Paul was an All-American in Track and Field and still holds the school records for both the 10,000 and 3,000-meter runs.