Ian Kenney
Music Educator / Performer
Conducting
Penn State Blue Bandorama (November 2012)
I was fortunate to conduct the Penn State Blue Band in a concert setting at my final Bandorama performance as a member of the Blue Band in Eisenhower Auditorium. In this video, the band is performing "Sweet Land of Liberty" from a patriotic show earlier in the season.
MUSIC 495A - Student Teaching Experience (Fall 2013)
Video includes introduction from Mr. Skip Cassady - my cooperating teacher at Stroudsburg High School. Music starts at 2:15.
In this video, I am conducting the entirety of Samuel Hazo's Into The Raging River with the Stroudsburg High School 10th Grade Band at their annual Musicfest concert on December 8, 2013. A major challenge in conducting this piece was navigating the many tempo and stylistic changes that occur throughout the piece, and creating an enourmous amount of contrast in dynamics and articulation to fully embody the story of the piece - a rafting trip on a treacherous, yet beautiful river. Since I switched student teaching placements in late October, it had been a month and a half since I conducted this ensemble before their performance.
MUSIC 366 - Intermediate Conducting (Spring 2012)
In this video I am conducting the entirety of the first movement of Gustav Holst's First Suite in E-Flat. My focus for improvement while conducting this piece was to show contast in my conducting patterns through the use of different joints (e.g. fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder), and trusting myself that there is no such thing as "too small" of a pattern. Additionally, in my preparation, I tried to fully embody the character of the music through body movements and expression.