Amanda Soto

Amanda C. Soto, Ph.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MUSIC EDUCATION
School of Music
College of Fine Arts and Communication
512.245.3947
asoto@txstate.edu

Areas of Interest: World Music Pedagogy, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice in Music Education, Bimusical Sensibilities of Children, Technology in Music Education, Mexican & Mexican American Music, Children's Musical Culture

Dr. Amanda C. Soto joined the Texas State University School of Music Faculty in Fall 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Music Education. Dr. Soto’s ongoing research on world music pedagogy, children’s musical culture and identity, the use of technology in music education, social justice in music education, and Mexican and Mexican American’s music and culture has produced publications in journals in both music education and ethnomusicology. She holds publications in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal, College Music Symposium, Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education (3rd edition), Music in American Life, Readings in Ethnomusicology, and MUSIKE: International Journal of Ethnomusicology Studies of World Music and Dance Education. Soto has forthcoming publications with Oxford University Press in the upcoming Handbook of Social Justice in Music Education and with her book, !Viva la Musica Mexicana!, which will feature a mix of pedagogical resources and research surrounding the different regional styles of Mexican and Mexican American music and how they can be incorporated into the music education classroom.

Soto has presented clinical workshops and research presentations at conferences for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the NAfME Northwest Division, the Washington and Idaho Music Educators Association, College of Music Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research, the international conference on Cultural Diversity in Music Education, and the International Society for Music Education. Her undergraduate classroom responsibilities will include teaching the elementary methods classes and supervising student teachers. Dr. Soto will also teach a variety of graduate level courses and independent study topics that will serve the interests of individual students.

Dr. Soto was a middle school band director in South Texas and taught general music to children in kindergarten through sixth grade within the Seattle Public Schools. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas, a Masters of Arts in Ethnomusicology, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education from the University of Washington. She has undertaken certification studies in Orff and Kodály pedagogical approaches and holds a certification in world music pedagogy from the Smithsonian Institution. She recently served on the faculty of the University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music and is currently co-instructor for the annual Smithsonian Folkways Certification Course in World Music Pedagogy that is held at the University of Washington in Seattle. Soto serves as a member of the College Music Society Music Education Board, is co-chair of the Education Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology, and is co-chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education Cultural Diversity and Social Justice for Music Teacher Education ASPA.