Meet the High School Director,
Basil Kerr

A native of Charleston, Basil Kerr attended the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and the University of Miami, earning his B.M. degree there in 1976. Mr. Kerr received the M.M. from the University of South Carolina in 1987 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at U.S.C. His teachers included Donald Haddad, Randall Faust, Alfred Reed, John Kinyon, and Fredrick Fennell. At the graduate level, he has studied orchestral conducting with Manuel Alvarez and music education with William Moody. Mr. Kerr has performed as a horn player with many professional ensembles, including the Miami Philharmonic, the Ives Festival Chamber Orchestra, The Charleston Symphony and the S.C. Philharmonic. He was a guest artist with the Army Brass of the Southeast at the Atlanta International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

From 1977-1995 he served as director of bands at Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant, SC. During that period the Wando Band attained a reputation for excellence in both concert and marching performance, earning numerous superior ratings at state and regional festivals and competitions. He also is credited with creating one of the first Advanced Placement Music Theory classes in South Carolina. He has also taught at the College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina, and Lakewood HS in Sumter, SC.

After a brief hiatus for graduate work on the Ph.D. in Music, Kerr accepted the high school instrumental music position at the Charleston County School of the Arts in 1998. That first year, the high school had only 9th and 10th grades. Beginning that year and continuing to the present, the Wind Ensemble has received superior ratings in concert performance at the state and regional level. In five short years, the School of the Arts Wind Ensemble became one of the top concert programs in South Carolina. The band program was recognized as one of the finest in the nation and was selected to perform at the BOA National Concert Band Festival in 2003. The Jazz Ensemble, SOA JAZZ, has also achieved great success in the same short period, becoming one of the best-known ensembles representing the school. In 2004 and again in 2005, the School of the Arts had more students selected for the All-State Jazz Ensembles than any other school in the state.

Mr. Kerr has been listed in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers,” and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national honor fraternity for scholars in music. He has received the National Band Association’s “Citation of Excellence” and was recognized as one of “50 Band Directors Who make a Difference” by School Band and Orchestra Magazine. Mr. Kerr was awarded the US Army’s “Commander’s Award”, the highest honor given to a civilian, for services rendered to the 282nd Army Band at Ft. Jackson. He also holds memberships in MENC, SCBDA and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia professional music fraternity. His wife, Cynthia, is also a band director, and they have a 4 year-old son, Jonathan, who already enjoys conducting his parents’ ensembles.