Ryan Kerwin is a music educator and trumpeter based in the Northern Virginia/DMV region. As a teacher, Ryan is passionate about improving the accessibility of music teaching and learning. While completing his graduate work, he worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Music Education, helping to facilitate undergraduate Music Education courses and teaching Brass Pedagogy. Ryan formerly served as an instructor at the WVU Community Music Program and a Band Staff member at Laurel Highlands High School where he developed term-length weekly classes in jazz improvisation and brass performance for HS students and community members. As a studio teacher, he has helped students to earn superior ratings at Solo and Ensemble contests in WV and NY, acceptance in competitive honor ensembles including the Chautauqua All-County Honor Band (NY), WVU Honor Jazz Band, NYSSMA All-State Middle School Orchestra (NY), and WVMEA All-State Band, and be awarded merit-based scholarships to study music at the college level. He previously served as an adjunct professor of music at West Virginia Wesleyan College, managing a studio of undergraduates studying trumpet and horn.
Outside of the classroom, Ryan has served as an adjudicator for the West Virginia Music Educator’s Association, and has been invited by peer-review to present on brass pedagogy, jazz improvisation pedagogy, and K-12 job search preparation for the annual WVMEA In-Service Conference. During the summers, Ryan regularly helps to facilitate arts education programing, having served as a Resident Assistant/Instructor at the WVU Summer Brass Academy, Intern/Resident Advisor for the West Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, and the Jazz Port Townsend Festival Intern for the Centrum Foundation. He is currently the instrumental music faculty for the West Virginia Governor's School for the Arts.
Ryan maintains an active performance calendar as a classical and jazz trumpet player. He has performed with professional ensembles including the Stephen Phillip Harvey Big Band, the WV Brass Quintet, and the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. As a student, he performed alongside noted jazz artists Michael Davis (HipBone Music), Nadje Noordhuis (Maria Schneider Orchestra), and Sean Jones (International Jazz Soloist). His playing is featured on the NewStream Brass album, “A Step Forward,” Monongahela Brass' EP Mon Brass Plays Michael Kahle, and his own recording projects, “Gratitude” and "Color" which feature his original compositions.
Ryan received a B.A. in Music from the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College, an M.M. in Jazz Performance from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and a Master's of Music Education from West Virginia University. At Frost, he studied jazz composition and arranging with keyboardist Martin Bejerano and Dr. Stephen Guerra respectively. Ryan’s primary mentors on trumpet include John Schlabach, Dr. Robert Sears, and multi-Grammy winner Brian Lynch. He has completed additional training in World Music Pedagogy through the Smithsonian Folkways Institute.
Ryan grew up in Morgantown, WV.
Outside of the classroom, Ryan has served as an adjudicator for the West Virginia Music Educator’s Association, and has been invited by peer-review to present on brass pedagogy, jazz improvisation pedagogy, and K-12 job search preparation for the annual WVMEA In-Service Conference. During the summers, Ryan regularly helps to facilitate arts education programing, having served as a Resident Assistant/Instructor at the WVU Summer Brass Academy, Intern/Resident Advisor for the West Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, and the Jazz Port Townsend Festival Intern for the Centrum Foundation. He is currently the instrumental music faculty for the West Virginia Governor's School for the Arts.
Ryan maintains an active performance calendar as a classical and jazz trumpet player. He has performed with professional ensembles including the Stephen Phillip Harvey Big Band, the WV Brass Quintet, and the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. As a student, he performed alongside noted jazz artists Michael Davis (HipBone Music), Nadje Noordhuis (Maria Schneider Orchestra), and Sean Jones (International Jazz Soloist). His playing is featured on the NewStream Brass album, “A Step Forward,” Monongahela Brass' EP Mon Brass Plays Michael Kahle, and his own recording projects, “Gratitude” and "Color" which feature his original compositions.
Ryan received a B.A. in Music from the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College, an M.M. in Jazz Performance from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and a Master's of Music Education from West Virginia University. At Frost, he studied jazz composition and arranging with keyboardist Martin Bejerano and Dr. Stephen Guerra respectively. Ryan’s primary mentors on trumpet include John Schlabach, Dr. Robert Sears, and multi-Grammy winner Brian Lynch. He has completed additional training in World Music Pedagogy through the Smithsonian Folkways Institute.
Ryan grew up in Morgantown, WV.