Joy Innis and Adrienne Shannon earned Doctor of Arts degrees from Ball State University in Indiana under the mentorship of Mitchell Andrews. They have taught at music schools in Canada and the U.S. including the University of Toronto, Ball State University, Queen’s University, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Mount Royal College Conservatory, Alberta College Conservatory of Music, and Vancouver Island University. From 1998 to 2000, the duo acted as Co-Directors of Fine Arts at Saint Leo University in Florida. They are responsible for the development of the Music and Digital Media program at St. Lawrence College in Kingston Ontario. Currently, they have a private studio in Kingston, Ontario and teach at the Queen’s University Dan School of Drama & Music.

PALENAI has given workshops and master classes throughout B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario as well as in Israel and Ukraine. They are frequently invited as guest speakers at music educator’s conventions and conferences.

Thank you for sharing your teamwork, skills, and good humour.

—Saskatchewan Registered Music Teachers’ Association Convention

Seldom do we witness such high caliber of teaching, all done with joy, humour, and sincere positive encouragement to the performers.

— Salt Spring Music Guild

Thank you for your very special contribution to our convention. There were many rave reviews of your concert and workshop sessions.

—Saskatchewan Music Educators’ Association Annual Convention

As well as adjudicating and examining across Canada, the duo developed the Artists in Transit Program sponsored by the Saskatchewan Music Festivals Association and the Saskatchewan Lotteries. Some of their fondest memories are the “residencies” they conducted in small towns throughout Saskatchewan involving concerts, teachers’ workshops and master classes.

Thank you for the work you did in preparation, the research, the hand-outs, and mostly, the enthusiasm and dedication you have for music.

—Artists in Transit Workshop, Watrous, SK

As International Coordinators for the SESOL Music Research Society in Korea, PALENAI organized exchanges for students and teachers from across Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S.. In 2008, the duo presented a week of concerts and masterclasses at Dongduk University in Seoul. Joy’s paper on the Interpretation of Mozart’s Markings was published in the Journal of the Sesol Music Research Society.

The scholarly lecture on the Interpretation of the Mozart’s Markings that she gave through a translator was so interesting, the students were reluctant to let her stop. 

— Chair, Sesol Research Society, Korea

Joy and Adrienne teach privately and at the Dan School of Drama & Music at Queen’s University, Kingston.