← Back to Artists
Kevin Kenney, Claire Kenney, and the Atlanta Quest Front Ensemble
Kevin Kenney is the Assistant Band Director and Percussion Director with PSW-finalists Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia. Kevin is in his 11th year as the front ensemble arranger with Atlanta Quest and also works with the Cavaliers Front Ensemble. In addition, he is involved in the GMEA Percussion Committee as the lead for the All-State Percussion Ensemble and serves as a member of the PAS Percussion Ensemble Committee. Sponsored by Mapex/Majestic Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads. Claire Kenney is a percussion educator, clinician, and performer in the Greater-Atlanta area. She is pursuing her DMA at the University of Georgia while teaching at Kennesaw State University as an adjunct percussion instructor. She is the Front Ensemble Coordinator at Atlanta Quest, works with the Bluecoats Front Ensemble during the DCI season, and serves as a member of the PAS Marching/Rudimental Committee. Sponsored by Innovative Percussion and Sabian Cymbals. Atlanta Quest (AQ), was founded in 2002 and competed in both Percussion Independent Open and World Class making finals four times, including a bronze medal in 2013. Fresh off our third place finish, AQ transitioned fully to World Class and earned our highest placement ever, in 8th place. We are ten-time PIW finalists (finished 12th in 2025) and are known for our challenging music and technical proficiency. Our members at AQ generally range between 17 – 22 years of age, and come from all across the Southeast to be surrounded and taught by (and become themselves) some of the best musicians in the marching percussion world. Sponsored by Mapex/Majestic Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, Pageantry Innovations.

How to Develop a Well-Rounded Technique Program That Will Push Your Front Ensemble to the Next Level

Marching
Clinic / PerformanceLive

In this clinic, myself (AQ Front Ensemble Arranger) and Claire Kenney (AQ Front Coordinator) will share our methods of how we created the technique program that Atlanta Quest has used for the past 11 seasons. This clinic will be aimed at giving young teachers the resources to develop a program for their own students as well as give veteran teachers ideas of how to enhance or refresh their already developed technique program. We will incorporate our students in the clinic by having them play examples of the exercises that we use intertwined with the show music that the exercises are meant to make more successful. This clinic will be mainly focused on keyboard technique but will also involve the technique we use for drumset, timpani, auxiliary percussion, bass guitar, and synthesizer players so that most combinations of front ensemble instrumentation will be covered.