John Keener is a music teacher and a drummer/multi-instrumentalist. At NYU, he recently completed his M.A. in “Teaching Music, All Grades,” leading to initial certification as a music teacher in the state of New York.
During his time at NYU, John served as a student teacher at two different schools, instructing general music classes for grades K-8, 3rd grade keyboard, and 4th and 5th grade chorus. In general music, he has taught a variety of lessons and units, including ones on recorder, ukulele, bucket drumming, and music composition/production using digital audio workstation (DAW) software – in particular Apple’s GarageBand and Ableton’s Live, the latter along with Ableton’s Push MIDI controllers. He wrote his Master’s thesis, “Contagious body percussion: An investigation of flow behaviors in fourth and fifth grade elementary music classes,” based on research done in his student teaching context. In addition, through his coursework, he has expanded his knowledge and skills to include a wide breadth of musical areas and pedagogical strategies, including those relevant to various ensemble contexts such as modern band, jazz band, concert band, and chorus.
Independently and through School of Rock Mamaroneck or New Windsor Music Academy, John has taught private lessons on drums, piano, guitar, and voice, and coached modern band groups playing a variety of recent repertoire.
John has performed extensively as a drummer throughout New York City as well as up and down the East Coast of the United States. These experiences include many performances in the state of Florida, where, in 2013, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in “Studio Music and Jazz,” with a drumset performance emphasis, from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Notable experiences from his time at UM include studying drumset with Steve Rucker, John Yarling, Daniel Susnjar, and Jason Furman, as well as jazz arranging with Gary Lindsay, jazz composition with Martin Bejerano and Stephen Guerra, and music production with Jeremy Fox. He also participated in a wide variety of ensembles. While at UM, he also earned minors in Music Business and Business Administration.
John lives in Beacon, New York with his wife, Marisa, and their cat, Chip.