Kendra Kay Friar is an Associate Conductor of Pacific Youth Choir of Portland, Oregon, where she directs two K-5 choirs and related educational programming.  Previously, Kendra taught elementary-general music for a total of 12 years at schools in the Portland, OR, and Austin, TX, metro regions.  She also worked as an adjunct professor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR.  Kendra has presented multiple sessions for national, regional, and state conferences sponsored by NAfME, ACDA, and their affiliates.  In 2021, Kendra received the Excellence in Elementary Music Education Award from Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA).

Kendra serves as the Academic Editor of Journal of General Music Education (JGME) and as a member of NAfME’s Equity Committee. She previously served as Oregon MEA’s Elementary Chair and as an editorial board member of JGME.  Her practitioner-focused work has been published by Music Educators Journal, Journal of General Music Education, Teaching Music Magazine, and Lorenz Publications’ Activate! Magazine.  She has also presented sessions at national, regional, and state music education conferences and is an accepted presenter for the upcoming 2025 National ACDA Conference.  In 2023, Kendra delivered two webinars for NAfME's Online Learning Community: "Scott Joplin: A Guide for K-12 Music Educators" (presenter) and "Margaret Bonds' Credo and the Expanding Choral Canon" (co-presenter).

Kendra is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Illinois majoring in Educational Policy, Organization, and Leadership – Diversity and Equity Concentration.  She holds music education degrees from The University of Texas (M. M.) and The University of Illinois (B. S., Elementary-General Specialization).  Her research interests include critical historical discourse analysis; music education history; cultural representation in music education curricula; and the ragtime era and Scott Joplin.