Percussion Studies

 

The Bailey School of Music’s percussion studies program is unrivaled in the state of Georgia. Our faculty are gifted performers and educators with a deep commitment to teach and mentor all percussion majors. All majors, whether performance or education, have a wide range of performing opportunities while in school. Aside from the weekly private lessons, students can play in Percussion Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, and Symphony Orchestra.

 

ksu percussion students performing

Our facilities are state of the art, and our performance venue, Morgan Concert Hall, has some of the best acoustics in the region. We also have enough professional quality percussion equipment to stage a thirty-member percussion ensemble each semester. KSU percussion graduates have gone on to teach all over the United States and perform professionally across the globe. There have also been week-long residencies with SO Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, and Eighth Blackbird just to name a few. Kennesaw State University’s Bailey School of Music has a vital percussion community of majors, and we welcome anyone that is interested to please come take a tour.

For more information, please contact Prof. John Lawless.

Percussion Ensemble

Using traditional and non-traditional instruments and compositions, the Percussion Ensemble affords KSU percussionists the opportunity to explore repertoire written chiefly for percussion instruments. The KSU Percussion Ensemble is directed by John Lawless, Senior Lecturer and Director of Percussion Studies.

 

Faculty

Name
Position

  • John Lawless

    Senior Lecturer of Percussion Studies

    jlawless@kennesaw.edu
    (470) 578-6152
    WA 2200

    John Lawless joined the music faculty of Kennesaw State University in 1998 and became the director of percussion studies in 2004. Principal timpanist of The Atlanta Opera orchestra since 1979, Lawless held the same position with the Chattanooga Symphony for 21 years. Since 1978, Lawless has performed, toured, and recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra while maintaining a thriving freelance career as a studio and pit percussionist. A graduate of Georgia State University, Lawless’ teachers include Tom Float, Jack Bell, Cloyd Duff, Paul Yancich, Bill Wilder, and Mark Yancich. Previous faculty appointments include those at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and West Georgia State University.

    EMAIL

  • Claire Kenney

    Part-Time Instructor of Music

    ckenney5@kennesaw.edu
    (470) 578-6151
    WB 111

    Claire Smith Kenney is a percussion educator, clinician, and performer in the greater Atlanta area and is currently the Percussion Director at Pope High School and an adjunct percussion professor at Kennesaw State University. She is originally from Cumming, Georgia and attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama for her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education. Claire then continued her education at Texas Christian University where she earned her Master’s degree in percussion performance. Claire has been involved with various marching percussion ensembles, including performing with Court of Honor Drum and Bugle Corps (2004), Spirit Drum and Bugle Corps (2005, 2006), Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps (2007, 2009), and Music City Mystique (2007-2010). She has been involved with teaching The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps (2017) and is currently the Front Ensemble Coordinator at Atlanta Quest. After being a part of the Fred Sanford Award-winning Bluecoats staff in 2022, she will be returning to The Bluecoats this Summer to serve as a front ensemble technician for the 2023 season. 

    Claire has most recently performed with the Atlanta Percussion Ensemble as both a member and soloist, and she serves as an Assistant Director of the affiliate youth ensemble, the Atlanta Youth Percussion Ensemble, which has been invited to perform at the 2022 Georgia Music Education Association State Conference and various universities in the area. She is the director of The Atlanta Steel Collective, an Atlanta-based steel band created in 2020.

    She is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, and Georgia Music Educators Association, and an educational artist for Innovative Percussion. Other than percussion, she enjoys being outdoors and spending time with her husband Kevin, and their three dogs, Rufio, Peep, and Mallow. 

    EMAIL

 

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