Rate My Professor Kenneth Narducci

Kenneth Narducci is a Professor of Music and Director of Theory and Musicianship Studies in the Department of Music within Arts and Culture at La Sierra University. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Theory from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from Pacific Union College. Narducci joined La Sierra University in 2006 as Director of Wind and Percussion Studies, transitioning to full-time theory classroom instruction in 2014. Previously, he taught at Pacific Union College from 1982 to 2006. During his graduate studies at the University of Oregon, he performed with the faculty brass quintet, wind ensemble, and orchestra as part of a graduate teaching fellowship and taught undergraduate brass and theory courses.

Narducci's academic interests focus on the pedagogy of musicianship and the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner. He specializes in arranging and writing for directed ensembles. His excellence in teaching has been recognized with the local and national Zapara Excellence in Teaching Awards in the humanities in 1990, the Pacific Union College Educator of the Year award in 1995, and the G.T. Anderson Award from the College of Arts and Sciences in spring 2022. Under his direction, the Pacific Union College Wind Ensemble served as a featured ensemble at the West/Northwest Division College Band Directors National Association Conference in 1996 and appeared at the annual California State University Fresno Collegiate Wind Festival. The La Sierra University Wind Ensemble, which he directed from 2006 to 2014, garnered high praise in adjudication at the CSU Fresno Collegiate Wind Festivals, shared a gala evening concert with California State University Fresno at the 34th Annual Dr. Lawrence R. Sutherland Wind Festival in March 2013, and was selected as one of ten featured performing ensembles at the College Band Directors National Association West/Northwest Division Conference at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2010.