John L Whitener
Professor

Brief Biography

Dr. John L. Whitener began his professional musical career as a percussionist and
singer while still in high school in Anchorage, Alaska. He studied percussion and voice
performance, as well as Music Education, at the University of Washington in Seattle, receiving
both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education in
1981. Whitener performed and toured widely in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska singing with a
professional men’s vocal quartet and playing drums and percussion with the Jazz Sextet “Second
Nature.” His music teaching career spans over 35 years in both instrumental and vocal music,
with experience at the elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as a professor in
community college and university settings.
Whitener came to Southern California in 1985, studying composition with Dr. Morten
Lauridsen and pursuing a Masters degree in Music Education at the University of Southern
California. In 1987 he began working as an orchestrator and film composer in Hollywood, going
on to score several short movies and two full-length feature films. Whitener received his Masters
degree from USC in 1995, and in 2007 he completed his Doctoral studies focusing on music
education, composition, music history and conducting. Whitener worked as a professor of music education at USC until 2015 when he was hired by CSUN. He now serves as Professor and Director of the Music Education area.

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