About Me

I'm Amanda - Mrs. D or Mrs. DuPriest to you kiddos - and I am THRILLED to be SCS's music teacher!  I am incredibly excited to bring my nerdy, quirky twist to music classes at Sherwood Charter.  One of my biggest passions with teaching is connecting the music that my students are currently listening to back to the big classical greats, showing them where it all came from, and making the huge gap between "popular" and "classical" music smaller with every connection.  I also believe that synthesizing the subject matter from students' classes into the music classroom is integral to understanding that music is a part of everything, no matter if they're studying the history of the Civil War (how spirituals were a coded language for slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad) or studying farms and pastures (Beethoven's 6th, "Pastorale").

I was born and raised in Texas, and have barely spent any time in my life outside of any form of music ensemble: choir since I was 5, chimes and handbells since 2nd grade, drums since 7th grade, band since 9th grade, and all of this continued into college.  I received my Bachelor of Music in Education and teaching certificate from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth in 2011, then moved up to Portland to pursue my Master's degree in choral conducting, which I received in 2014.

During my time in Portland, I have directed choral ensembles of all ages and types - everything from after school external resource to choral masterworks with large ensembles to small ensembles performing Pentatonix arrangements.  I also taught private and group voice and piano lessons for several years.

Currently, I'm percussion section leader of my symphonic band and the director of a local parade marching and pep band.  In my spare time, I'm arranging music for my students, hanging with my friends (board games, video games, Dungeons and Dragons!), watching TV or movies with my sister, or spending time with my wife, Jen, and our two cats, Ebony "Joan Jett" and Cat Benatar!