Jonan Keeny is currently the Professor of Percussion at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia and Lecturer in Percussion at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.  He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music degree from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music in Performance degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and he will complete the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion at UNCG in May of 2007.  His primary teachers have been Cort McClaren, Jack Schmidt, and Shawn Hart.  In addition to his studies at UNCG, Keeny was a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Music for five years.  His duties included teaching private percussion lessons to undergraduates, conducting the UNCG Percussion Ensemble, and teaching the Percussion Methods course to future music educators.    

Mr. Keeny’s performing and/or recording experience as a UNCG student include the Wind Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra, the University Band, the Percussion Ensemble, and the Steel Band.  As an in-demand drum set player and percussionist, he has performed professionally with the Nittany Valley Symphony (State College, PA), the Greensboro Concert Band, the Junaluska Singers, the Haywood Arts Regional Theater’s production of The Full Monty, Elon University’s productions of Into the Woods, Songs for a New World, john & jen, Jekyll & Hyde, and West Side Story, and the Community Theater of Greensboro’s productions of Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Sophisticated Ladies, and The Wizard of Oz, as well as with numerous churches in the Piedmont Triad.  Keeny has also served as a session percussionist on recordings for C. Alan Publications and Hinshaw Music.  He also appears as a guest artist on Jeff Calissi’s 2003 release Short Stories.

As an advocate of the “6 Common Elements” approach to percussion pedagogy, Jonan maintains an active teaching schedule with a private studio of percussionists ranging in age from twelve to 45.  A number of his students have competed successfully at various district, regional, and state music festivals on both the middle school and high school levels in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  He has also appeared as a guest clinician and/or performer at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, the inaugural UNCG Percussion Festival, numerous Days of Percussion sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, the 2006 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 8 Orchestra Festival, the Carolina Band Festival, and at schools and churches in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.  Mr. Keeny is also the founder and director of the Berwick High School Percussion Camp, a week-long summer percussion seminar for elementary through high school students that focuses on percussion ensemble and private lessons.  Mr. Keeny’s first composition for percussion ensemble, Primal Groove, is published by C. Alan Publications.  Jonan became a member of the Vic Firth Education Team in May of 2006.