This clinic is targeted to band directors whose major instrument is not percussion. It is intended to provide valuable material that was probably covered in their undergraduate percussion methods class, but the information they crave on a daily basis is no longer in their memory. I address common "low hanging fruit" to improve a percussion section including stance, instrument heights, proper stroke, playing techniques, and mallet/instrument choice with a handout to take away and reference.
Marja Kerney
- Biographical Information
Marja Kerney is Artist-in-Residence and Part-Time Assistant Professor of Percussion Performance at Kennesaw State University. Prior to her appointment at KSU, she was the percussion professor at Stetson University. In addition to percussion-related education, she has created courses on protest music and the concert experience and has taught courses in music history and aural training. She has also presented well-received clinics at recent Florida and Georgia Music Educators Association conferences.
A native of Michigan, Kerney earned her BM from the Michigan State University College of Music and MM and DMA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. As an avid chamber music performer, she cofounded the piano/percussion quartet P4 with Florida colleagues and 421 Duo with Jessica Hall Speak, clarinet. Both groups commissioned a number of works including Two Trees, by Baljinder Singh Sekhon, II, which the duo premiered
at ClarinetFest 2017 in Orlando, FL.
As a new music collaborator, Kerney has worked with composers including Chen Yi, James Mobberley, Sydney Hodkinson, Baljinder Sekhon, and Chad Rehmann. In addition to her extensive contemporary chamber experience, Kerney has performed with professional groups including the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet, Florida Orchestra, and Jacksonville Symphony, and has served as a pit percussionist for musicals including A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles, 9 to 5, and Spamalot. She was also a member of Marimba Sol de Chiapas, an authentic Mexican marimba quartet based in Kansas City. Aside from her appointments at Kennesaw State and Stetson, she has served on the faculties at Bethune-Cookman University and Seminole State College. Kerney is a longtime member of the Percussive Arts Society, currently serving on the University Pedagogy Committee and formerly as Secretary/Treasurer of the Florida chapter of PAS, and remains active as a free-lance percussionist and timpanist.