Title: Orchestra Director
Company: West Ashley High School
Education: BM, Western Carolina University (2022); BS in Music Education, Western Carolina University (2022)
Career History: Orchestra Director, West Ashley High School, Charleston, SC (2023-Present); Owner, Music Company (-Present); Campground Staff, KOA, Mount Pleasant, SC (-Present); Director of Bands, Murphy High School and Middle School, Cherokee County Schools, NC (2022-2023); Assistant Band Director (11 Years)
Cody-Lee Keener, Orchestra Director at West Ashley High School, has been recognized as a Marquis Emerging Leader for their contributions and achievements in the field of music education.
Growing up in Florida, Mr. Keener comes from a family with a rich music history; his mother has had her own band since he was a child. He taught himself to play the piano at seven years old, and in sixth grade, he joined the school band as a saxophonist. By high school, he was in the marching band, even serving as its drum major. Upon graduating in 2012, he worked as an assistant band director at his high school; after 11 years, he attained two bachelor’s degrees in music from Western Carolina University in 2022.
Mr. Keener subsequently served as the director of bands across Murphy High School and Middle School within the Cherokee County Schools in North Carolina before starting in his current role as orchestra director in 2023. Among his myriad responsibilities, he teaches students how instruments work and how they’re played, teaches a guitar class for both beginners and advanced students, teaches piano classes, and develops his students’ skills to excel in an ensemble.
He considers his most notable career highlight to be his first year at the school when he took the orchestra to an adjudicated performance. They selected and prepared music pieces, traveled to another school in their county, and performed in front of a panel of three judges. The orchestra received an excellent rating, and this experience motivated his students to work even harder to achieve the highest superior rating. In addition to his endeavors with the school, he’s active as a member of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, the owner of his own music company, through which he composes movies and video games, and as a staff member of KOA Campgrounds.
In the next five to 10 years, Mr. Keener strives to expand his career beyond just writing music for movies to directing them as well. He envisions establishing a multimedia conglomerate that will produce music, films, and TV shows and publish books.