Heather Couture

Heather couture plays a Kamencheh, a middle eastern stringed instrument, during a staged concert

Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology

Heather Couture is a Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology from Austin, Texas.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Arts and International Studies in Asian Studies from Texas State University in 2018.  For one year she studied at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa under Dr. Byonwong Lee, participating in many ensembles including the Chinese silk and bamboo ensemble, the Javanese gamelan, and the Japanese gagaku.  There she acted as the secretary for the University of Hawai’i Student Ethnomusicology Organization. Her topics of interest include music of the Chinese literati, music of minority peoples in China, minority representation, tourism and authenticity, and commodification and the cultural industries.