Amy N. Melton

Amy Melton is a Ph.D. student in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches courses on elementary general music and assists with courses in children’s musical development. As the assistant director of Illumine Choirs, she is an active choral conductor of children aged 7-18.

Melton received her B.M. in music education from Columbus State University, graduating summa cum laude and with honors. After graduating, she taught elementary general music at Benefield Elementary from 2017-2021. There she co-conducted the Benefield Singers, a 120-student extracurricular choir. She also piloted the school’s first international night. At Benefield Elementary, Melton taught students from more than 50 countries. As a scholar, she draws from this experience, studying the acculturation processes of student immigrants during music instruction and music teachers’ pedagogical approaches when working with student immigrants. She specializes in qualitative methodologies, including grounded theory, case study, phenomenology, narrative, and ethnography.

Melton was chosen by the University System of Georgia as Columbus State’s Scholar of the Year representative in 2016. In 2016, she was also fully funded as a Spencer Scholar to study musicology for two terms at Regents Park College, Oxford University. Additionally, she was chosen by the Schwob School of Music as a Presser Scholar, in acknowledgement of her excellence in education, music performance, research, and leadership in the school of music. Melton is a certified First Steps in Music instructor and has completed Kodály levels 1 and 2 under Drs. Tacka and Houlahan.

Before coming to UT, Melton gigged actively as a horn player in Georgia and Alabama and was a member of the Blue River Brass Quintet. In Austin, she enjoys performing informal music by singing and playing keys in highly improvisatory pop settings. She is currently producing a solo album of original songs.