Amanda (she/her) holds B.A. degrees in music and English literature from Franklin & Marshall College. As an undergraduate Amanda was awarded the Adams & Gustafson Music Achievement Award which is given to two Franklin & Marshall music scholars each year for excellence in music performance. As a flautist, she has been selected to perform in masterclasses held by Mimi Stillman and Patricia George. In addition, Amanda completed a compositional honors project funded by Franklin & Marshall’s research fellowship program. Entitled “Cycles, Processes & Anomalies,” it explored the intersection of natural and synthetic sounds and their effects on time and space. Following the completion of her degrees, Amanda taught a unique “English through music” language curriculum at Tokyo Ondai (Tokyo College of Music) for three years.

As a first-year musicology graduate student Amanda is interested in exploring various areas of specialty. Her most recent research interests include women in blues and how blues music expresses the multiplicities of lived American experience.