Teaching Experience

Kenney Polson

1982-88 Kenney's first job in an educational setting was at Tioga Middle School with Howard Yamamoto as an instructional aide in math for 1 year. Next he worked at Sierra Freshman school with Bob Russell (thanks to Chuck Schroeder) as an instructional aide in music. The following year he did his student teaching with Chris Belden (at Kings Canyon), Joe Farkas (Kastner Intermediate) and Bob Russell (McLane High School). Finally, he was hired to teach as a full time music teacher in the Fresno Unified School District. He has taught at Ewing, Turner and Hidalgo elementary schools, as well as Tehipite Middle School and Kings Canyon Middle School. While in the Fresno Unified School District he has taught band, orchestra, music appreciation, marching band, and music with computers.

1988-1990 Being adventurous, Kenney was hired (by Mr. Peter Cooper) to teach at Colegio Nueva Granada in Bogota, Colombia (South America). There he really enjoyed working, for the first time, with 2nd graders. His Orff-Schulwerk training became useful as the school was well equipped with the instruments. Parents enjoyed the programs and the enthusiasm towards the music department immediately began to grow. Also while working at Colegio Nueva Granada (CNG) the instrumental music program began to flourish. Kenney working with high school students, (another first) expanded the band program to include beginning, intermediate, and advanced band. Enrollment almost trippled. Even though the nation was in turmoil and foreigners were especially at risk, he managed to take the students on tour to Quito,Equador. While at CNG Kenney also taught music with computers, general music, guitar, and music appreciation. He also learned how to speak Spanish!

1990-94 Kenney was hired by Dr. C. Dan Brisbin at Escola Americana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. What a wonderful experience! Once again, building a band program was top priority. The program was expanded (thanks to Mr. Dennis Klummp) to include scheduling for beginning, intermediate and advanced band. Within one year the program grew 300 percent. Needless to say, the Escola Americana (EA) advanced band became very popular in Rio as well as among other South Amercian overseas schools. While in Rio the group performed at The Japanese School,The British School, The Swiss School, The German School, and The American Consulate. The band went on several tours and performed at several schools in Sao Paulo, Salvador Bahia, Belo Horizonte, and Recife. The band was on national television when they performed at the National Theater in Brazilia (the nations capitol). The band also had an international tour and perfromed in Santiago, Chile. Yes, Kenney also invited local Brazilian artists. Paulinho Trompete performed as special guest soloist at one of the band's most attended performances.

1995-1997 Kenney was very fortunate to be hired by Dr. Arthur Dawkins as a graduate assistant at Howard University in Washington D.C.. Kenney taught improvisation and applied saxophone. The duties didn't only include teaching, Kenney sometimes found himself proctoring a class exam or as a substitute. At any rate it certainly was a great experience as well as a privilege. Kenney also found himself as a member of the award winning Howard Universtiy Jazz Ensemble. Although he is primarily an alto sax player, he played tenor sax with the Howard University Jazz Ensemble. One of the performance highlights was a performance on national television at the Kennedy Center. President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Vice-President Al Gore and Tipper Gore were in attendance as well as many famous actors and artists.

1998 - 2000 Merced College hired Kenney as Director of Instrumental Music. Building a program or course was top priority. Kenney started his assignment going to high school to recruit and then proceeded to schedule several performances for the concert band. The concert band had a great year and they also made Merced College history when they went into the studio to record their very first compact disc. Kenney also directed the jazz ensemble. This was the first time jazz ensemble had been offered at Merced College for a number of years. Within a few months the jazz ensemble was making public appearances. During the second semester the jazz ensemble made over 15 performances that included appearances at high schools, several jazz festivals, and most significantly, a couple of performances with the legendary jazz hall of fame saxophonist James Moody. The following year the band hosted recording artist and nationally known trombonist Bill Watrous. The jazz ensemble also went into the studio and recorded a compact disc.

2002 - 2005 Hired by Dr. John Paul to teach at Marylhurst University (Portland, Oregon). The assignment was to teach Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Improvisation, and Jazz Arranging. When Kenney got the position most students majored in Music Therapy and had very little experience improvising and playing in a jazz ensemble. Kenney began the students on the simplest jazz selections while always focusing on jazz standards. In a very short time, the students made great strides and by the end of the second year their improvisation skills improved. They performed tunes like "Nica's Dream" and "Strollin'"by Horace Silver, "Along Came Betty" by Benny Golson, "Moments Notice" by John Coltrane, "Good Bait" and "Lady Bird" by Tadd Dameron, "Tune Up" and, "Four"by Miles Davis to name just a few...