Instruments: Bassoon, Saxophone, Clarinet, Piano, Ukulele

Bio:

Born in New Jersey and raised in Allentown, NJ,, Amanda has experience both as a musician and an educator. She attended Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, earning a Bachelor of Music Summa Cum Laude with a minor in Psychology. At Rutgers, Amanda studied bassoon with Dr. Christopher Wickham and Roger Nye (2nd bassoonist NY Philharmonic), along with taking secondary lessons on clarinet and playing saxophone in the marching band. Amanda has had the opportunity to teach in a variety of areas, including through Bocal Majority Double Reed camps, as a woodwind tech with Allentown and J.P. Stevens high school marching bands, and leading an undergraduate class as a Rutgers First-Year Interest Group Seminar instructor. She also taught for a couple years as an elementary band and general music teacher in Alexandria, VA. 


On the instrumental side of things, Amanda is primarily a woodwind specialist - her first ever instrument was piano, her first band instrument was saxophone, and her primary instrument is bassoon. She has performed with the Eastern Wind Symphony and the Fairfax Wind Symphony in various concerts, festivals, and conferences. These include a Summer Music in Tuscany Festival, the Midwest Band & Orchestra clinic in Chicago, Norfolk, VA for the Virginia Music Educators’ Association Conference, Disney World, at Keris tree farm holiday quintet, during an NFL Halftime Show, and in a double reed flash mob in NYC! When not performing, listening, or working in some way with music, Amanda can be found hiking, reading, watching sci-fi/fantasy shows, and kickboxing.