Amber Sudduth Bone

Senior Instructor

Voice

PAC 41; (360) 650-3787

Degrees:

Doctor of Musical Arts: University of Washington
Master of Music: University of Washington
Bachelor of Music: University of Hawaii

Dr. Amber Sudduth Bone, a member of the vocal faculty at Western Washington University since 2006, is the instructor for Introduction to Voice Studies, Diction, and Pedagogy. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington, where she completed her dissertation study on collegiate vocal practice. She is also a certificated K-12 teacher with primary endorsements in Social Studies and General, Choral, and Instrumental Music. Her research interests are in the area of educational psychology, primarily investigating the implications of social cognitive theory for vocal pedagogy and higher education curriculum design, particularly in the areas of skill acquisition, metacognition, and identity. At WWU, she also teaches Music 104 (The Art of Listening to Music) and Music 205 (Survey of Non-Western Cultures) through the Department of Extended Education.

Prior to coming to WWU, Dr. Bone was appointed to a voice teaching assistantship at the University of Washington, where she was a scholarship recipient in both performance and music education (including the Brechemin and Mortar Board awards) and was invited to lead mentoring programs for new teaching assistants in the music department and campus-wide through the Center for Instructional Development and Research. In addition to her work at the collegiate level, Dr. Bone has taught high school choir and elementary general music. She has particularly enjoyed her experiences on the production staff for various musicals, and she has received recognition from Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre Awards for outstanding music direction and performance by a chorus. Dr. Bone is a Level III certified teacher of Somatic VoiceworkTM – The LoVetri Method and attended the 2012 Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

Lauded for “stratospheric coloratura” and “considerable soubrette charm” by the Seattle Times, Amber Sudduth Bone has played numerous operatic engagements in such roles as Despina (Così fan tutte), Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), the Fairy Godmother (Cendrillon), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Baby Doe (The Ballad of Baby Doe). Regarding her performance of the Mozart Mass in C Minor, the Honolulu Advertiser wrote, “Her singing had a natural, unforced quality, combined with a sense of vulnerability that added to the appeal of her performance; she was particularly effective in the Et incarnatus est.” Recent concert highlights have included performances with the Tacoma Symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (broadcast live on KING-FM), with the Bellingham Chamber Chorale as the Angel in Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity and in the Faure Requiem and the Mozart Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, and with the Whatcom Symphony in “Bellissima! (selections from Lakme and La Rondine).

A member of the National Association for Music Education, The Voice Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the College Music Society, Dr. Bone has been invited to serve as an adjudicator and clinician at state, regional, and international conferences and festivals. This year's schedule will include a session at the NAfME Northwest Division Conference in February 2013, “The Art and Science of Vocalise Design.”