Course Faculty
LEAD TEACHING FACULTY
Amanda Christina Soto is the Associate Professor of Music Education at the Texas State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate music education courses and in charge of the music education student teachers. Prior to moving to the Central Texas area, Soto taught at the University of Idaho, as a middle school band director in South Texas, and taught general music to children in Kindergarten through sixth grade within the Seattle Public Schools.
Her research interests include cultural diversity in music education, bimusical sensibilities of children, world music pedagogy, children’s musical culture, and the study of regional musics of South Texas and Mexican music. Soto holds publications in Music Educators Journal, Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Ethnomusicology Studies of World Music and Dance Education, and the newest edition of Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education. Soto has created lesson plans on traditional Mexican music and Conjunto music that appear on the Smithsonian Folkways website.
Dr. Soto has conducted clinical workshops in various musical genres of Mexico, regional Latin musical styles in the U.S., and promoted the use of Smithsonian Folkways archive in the public school classroom. She has presented her research at MENC, the College of Music Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research, the International Society for Music Education, the International Conference on Cultural Diversity in Music Education and the College Music Society. She has created student and teacher workshops for the American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music exhibit at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA and for the PBS documentary, Latino Music USA.
Her research interests include cultural diversity in music education, bimusical sensibilities of children, world music pedagogy, children’s musical culture, and the study of regional musics of South Texas and Mexican music. Soto holds publications in Music Educators Journal, Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Ethnomusicology Studies of World Music and Dance Education, and the newest edition of Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education. Soto has created lesson plans on traditional Mexican music and Conjunto music that appear on the Smithsonian Folkways website.
Dr. Soto has conducted clinical workshops in various musical genres of Mexico, regional Latin musical styles in the U.S., and promoted the use of Smithsonian Folkways archive in the public school classroom. She has presented her research at MENC, the College of Music Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research, the International Society for Music Education, the International Conference on Cultural Diversity in Music Education and the College Music Society. She has created student and teacher workshops for the American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music exhibit at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA and for the PBS documentary, Latino Music USA.
Patricia Shehan Campbell is Donald E. Peterson Professor of Music at the University of Washington, where she teaches courses at the interface of education and ethnomusicology. A singer and pianist, with studies of the Japanese koto, Celtic harp, Karnatic Indian mridangam, and Bulgarian and Wagogo song, she has lectured internationally on the pedagogy of world music and children’s musical cultures. She is the author of Lessons from the World (1991), Music in Cultural Context (1996), Songs in Their Heads (1998, 2010), Teaching Music Globally (2004), Musician and Teacher (2008), Music, Education, and Diversity: Bridging Cultures and Communities (2018), co-author of Music in Childhood (2017, 4th edition) and Redefining Music Studies in an Age of Change (2017), co-editor of the Global Music Series and the Oxford Handbook on Children’s Musical Cultures (2013). Campbell is recipient of the 2017 Koizumi Prize and the 2012 Taiji Award for work on the preservation of traditional music through educational practice, and was designated the Senior Researcher in Music Education of the National Association for Music Education in 2002. Chair of the Advisory Board of Smithsonian Folkways and educational consultant in the repatriation of Alan Lomax recordings to the American South, she is editor of a forthcoming series of six volumes on World Music Pedagogy (2018) for practicing and prospective teachers.
Guest Teaching Faculty (in alphabetical order)
Genaro Gonzalez is currently Professor of Music and Coordinator of Percussion at Texas State University. Under his direction, Texas State University percussion groups have appeared at various music conventions and international festivals including the Texas Music Educators Association Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, the Montreux Jazz and World Music Festival, the Berklee World Percussion Festival, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
In addition to his teaching duties at Texas State University, Mr. Gonzalez currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra and Austin Opera. He has years of performance experience with the San Antonio Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Richardson Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, and Victoria Bach Orchestra. He has also performed with Lena Horne, Robert Goulet, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Liberace, Tommy Tune, Mickey Rooney, Carol Channing, Carol Lawrence, Debbie Boone, Barbara Eden, Juliet Prowse, Rich Little, Joan Rivers, and Jerry Lewis.
Mr. Gonzalez is very active in the Percussive Arts Society. He has served PAS at the state and national levels including hosting the Texas Day of Percussion and serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Texas Chapter from 1985 to the present. He served as Host for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in San Antonio in 1988, and has served on the PAS Board of Directors since1989. He was elected to serve as the Society’s Secretary from 1991-92, Vice-President from 1993-96, and President from 1997-98. Mr. Gonzalez currently serves on the PAS Council of Past Presidents.
In addition to his teaching duties at Texas State University, Mr. Gonzalez currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra and Austin Opera. He has years of performance experience with the San Antonio Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Richardson Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, and Victoria Bach Orchestra. He has also performed with Lena Horne, Robert Goulet, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Liberace, Tommy Tune, Mickey Rooney, Carol Channing, Carol Lawrence, Debbie Boone, Barbara Eden, Juliet Prowse, Rich Little, Joan Rivers, and Jerry Lewis.
Mr. Gonzalez is very active in the Percussive Arts Society. He has served PAS at the state and national levels including hosting the Texas Day of Percussion and serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Texas Chapter from 1985 to the present. He served as Host for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in San Antonio in 1988, and has served on the PAS Board of Directors since1989. He was elected to serve as the Society’s Secretary from 1991-92, Vice-President from 1993-96, and President from 1997-98. Mr. Gonzalez currently serves on the PAS Council of Past Presidents.
Gordon Jones is a music educationalist, composer, and World Music practitioner. A native of the UK, he taught for fifteen years at Dartington College of Arts, Devon, and then Northern College, Aberdeen, Scotland for ten years, before moving to Texas in 2001. He was on the faculty of both the School of Music and the Theatre Department at Texas State University from 2004 until his retirement two years ago.
He has composed and directed a number of large music-theatre events, including Angelus Requiem for choir, string orchestra, slides and narration; Via Crucis for choir, two shakuhachi, string orchestra and 12 drummers; Land of the Oogley-Oogs and Flamenco Cinderella, two musicals for young audiences.
Gordon’s interest in theatre and dance has led to many collaborations with artists from other disciplines, over a fifty-year period.
His passion for World Music was ignited by being introduced to Balinese Gamelan music in his twenties and has expanded considerably since then. Over 25,000 people, many of them school students, have enjoyed hands-on experience of Balinese gamelan under his tutelage.
In addition to his work at Texas State, Gordon taught, and directed creative projects for summer workshops at Austin Chamber Music Center and Austin Lyric Opera, and presented workshops throughout Europe and the U.S.
He has composed and directed a number of large music-theatre events, including Angelus Requiem for choir, string orchestra, slides and narration; Via Crucis for choir, two shakuhachi, string orchestra and 12 drummers; Land of the Oogley-Oogs and Flamenco Cinderella, two musicals for young audiences.
Gordon’s interest in theatre and dance has led to many collaborations with artists from other disciplines, over a fifty-year period.
His passion for World Music was ignited by being introduced to Balinese Gamelan music in his twenties and has expanded considerably since then. Over 25,000 people, many of them school students, have enjoyed hands-on experience of Balinese gamelan under his tutelage.
In addition to his work at Texas State, Gordon taught, and directed creative projects for summer workshops at Austin Chamber Music Center and Austin Lyric Opera, and presented workshops throughout Europe and the U.S.
John A. Lopez is Professor and the Founder and past Director of the Latin Music Studies area at Texas State University. Starting at a young age, John A. Lopez was exposed to some of the best in Latin music, his father Aruto Lopez was the founder and director of one of the best mariachis to ever come out of San Antonio, Mariachi Chapultepec. His mother, Beatriz Llamas, La Paloma del Norte was a famous mariachi and conjunto singer; she has been inducted into the tejano and conjunto halls of fame. Lopez began his musical career as a percussionist at Thomas Edison High School in San Antonio, TX and upon graduating attended Texas State University as a Music Major. He eventually received a MM in Percussion Performance and Composition from Texas State in 1992. Shortly after graduating he began working as a part-time faculty member at Texas State in charge of marching percussion; however, he quickly started to create classes in the music department that highlighted his passion for Latin music. This inevitably evolved into the expansion of Latin music at Texas State. In 2003 Mr. Lopez became a tenured Associate-Professor as well as the founder and coordinator of the Latin Music Studies area. Starting with the creation of Salsa del Rio in 1995, the Latin Music Studies area has grown to include Mariachi Nueva Generación, Mariachi Lince De Oro, Orquesta del Rio and Mariachi Infantil, the youth mariachi program. The total number of students involved in these programs has grown to over 100.
As a performer, Mr. Lopez is very active in the Salsa music community playing Latin percussion with some of the best groups in the Central Texas area. Some of the bands he has played with include La Predilecta, Naningo, Tony Guerrero, Orquesta Tradicion, El Tumbao, Mochate, Son Playado, and Colao. He also served as Music Director for The Mambo Kings of San Antonio during its existence. Under his direction, the Salsa and Mariachi ensembles have gained much recognition throughout the state, as well as nationally and internationally through several performance opportunities. Salsa del Rio has performed internationally at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Brienz Jazz Festival, Carnaval de Nice, Cancun and Mexico City, Mexico. Nationally, they have performed at the prestigious Notre Dame Jazz Festival where they have won several awards. Mariachi Nueva Generación has quickly risen as one of the best university Mariachi ensembles in the state of Texas. They compete regularly at the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza held annually in December in San Antonio, TX, where they have won first place seven out of the last nine years that they have competed. Internationally, Mariachi Nueva Generación has toured Europe alongside the Texas State University Symphony Orchestra. Most recently Mariachi Nueva Generación and Salsa del Rio toured and performed in Chile (2012). In the summer of 2016 both ensembles showcased their talents on a performance and recruitment tour of the West Coast with stops in Las Vegas, NV, Los Angeles, Seaside, Salinas, and El Cerrito, CA.
As a performer, Mr. Lopez is very active in the Salsa music community playing Latin percussion with some of the best groups in the Central Texas area. Some of the bands he has played with include La Predilecta, Naningo, Tony Guerrero, Orquesta Tradicion, El Tumbao, Mochate, Son Playado, and Colao. He also served as Music Director for The Mambo Kings of San Antonio during its existence. Under his direction, the Salsa and Mariachi ensembles have gained much recognition throughout the state, as well as nationally and internationally through several performance opportunities. Salsa del Rio has performed internationally at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Brienz Jazz Festival, Carnaval de Nice, Cancun and Mexico City, Mexico. Nationally, they have performed at the prestigious Notre Dame Jazz Festival where they have won several awards. Mariachi Nueva Generación has quickly risen as one of the best university Mariachi ensembles in the state of Texas. They compete regularly at the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza held annually in December in San Antonio, TX, where they have won first place seven out of the last nine years that they have competed. Internationally, Mariachi Nueva Generación has toured Europe alongside the Texas State University Symphony Orchestra. Most recently Mariachi Nueva Generación and Salsa del Rio toured and performed in Chile (2012). In the summer of 2016 both ensembles showcased their talents on a performance and recruitment tour of the West Coast with stops in Las Vegas, NV, Los Angeles, Seaside, Salinas, and El Cerrito, CA.
Jordan Stern is a lecturer on the music education faculty of the Texas State University school of music. His responsibilities include teaching methods courses, teaching a course on arranging for concert band, instructing the Bobcat Marching Band drumline, and supervising student teachers.
In addition to his duties at Texas State, Jordan is an active arranger for both marching and concert bands. His design clients have included the bands of Claudia Taylor Johnson HS, Ronald Reagan HS, Cedar Park HS, Winston Churchill HS, Azle HS, Plano HS, Mustang HS (OK), Tottenville HS (NY), Brennan HS, Bryant HS (AR), Clear Lake HS, Foster HS, CC Winn HS, and the two-time WGI Independent Open Finalist 5 Points Percussion.
Since 2005, Jordan has enjoyed working with many private students at the middle school and high school levels. In this time, 13 of his students have successfully auditioned for placement in the TMEA All-State bands, with his students earning first-chair honors in the state in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His students have also won the Percussive Arts Society High School Individual Marimba Competition four times, with another student placing as first runner-up.
Jordan previously worked as an Associate Band Director at Claudia Taylor Johnson and William Brennan High Schools. During his tenure at Johnson, the marching band distinguished itself with such honors as 1st place at the Bands of America San Antonio Super Regional, 3rd place at the U.I.L. 6A State Marching Contest, and was a recipient of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield. As a concert band director, his ensembles at Brennan and Johnson consistently received first division ratings at UIL Concert and Sight-Reading contest. Jordan also previously served as the front ensemble coordinator for the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps and Winston Churchill High School.
Jordan received bachelor’s degrees from Texas State University in percussion performance and music studies with teacher certification, as well as a master’s degree in music education, and is currently completing course work toward a doctoral degree in music education at Boston University. His percussion teachers have included Genaro Gonzalez, Tony Edwards, Matt Strauss, and Thomas Burritt. Jordan has also studied Clarinet with Stephen Girko and conducting with Caroline Beatty. Jordan has performed as a member of the Concord Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, and spent several summers at orchestral festivals, including the Round Top Festival Institute and the Texas Music Festival. He has also performed with the Texas Mozart Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, and Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra. Jordan currently performs regularly with Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame Member band Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition.
In addition to his duties at Texas State, Jordan is an active arranger for both marching and concert bands. His design clients have included the bands of Claudia Taylor Johnson HS, Ronald Reagan HS, Cedar Park HS, Winston Churchill HS, Azle HS, Plano HS, Mustang HS (OK), Tottenville HS (NY), Brennan HS, Bryant HS (AR), Clear Lake HS, Foster HS, CC Winn HS, and the two-time WGI Independent Open Finalist 5 Points Percussion.
Since 2005, Jordan has enjoyed working with many private students at the middle school and high school levels. In this time, 13 of his students have successfully auditioned for placement in the TMEA All-State bands, with his students earning first-chair honors in the state in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His students have also won the Percussive Arts Society High School Individual Marimba Competition four times, with another student placing as first runner-up.
Jordan previously worked as an Associate Band Director at Claudia Taylor Johnson and William Brennan High Schools. During his tenure at Johnson, the marching band distinguished itself with such honors as 1st place at the Bands of America San Antonio Super Regional, 3rd place at the U.I.L. 6A State Marching Contest, and was a recipient of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield. As a concert band director, his ensembles at Brennan and Johnson consistently received first division ratings at UIL Concert and Sight-Reading contest. Jordan also previously served as the front ensemble coordinator for the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps and Winston Churchill High School.
Jordan received bachelor’s degrees from Texas State University in percussion performance and music studies with teacher certification, as well as a master’s degree in music education, and is currently completing course work toward a doctoral degree in music education at Boston University. His percussion teachers have included Genaro Gonzalez, Tony Edwards, Matt Strauss, and Thomas Burritt. Jordan has also studied Clarinet with Stephen Girko and conducting with Caroline Beatty. Jordan has performed as a member of the Concord Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, and spent several summers at orchestral festivals, including the Round Top Festival Institute and the Texas Music Festival. He has also performed with the Texas Mozart Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, and Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra. Jordan currently performs regularly with Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame Member band Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition.