Sarah Watts
- Assistant Professor, Music Education (general)
-
Music Education
249 Music Building I
- Email shs133@psu.edu
- Phone 814-863-0419
Biography
Sarah Watts joined the School of Music faculty in 2015 as an assistant professor. She is a specialist in early childhood and elementary music education, with a particular interest in Orff Schulwerk pedagogy. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Penn State, and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where she studied with Patricia Shehan Campbell.
Watts taught for several years in early childhood and elementary general music settings, and she has held collegiate appointments at Bucknell University, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University. Her scholarly interests include musical oral history, children’s musical play, and the transgenerational transmission of children’s musical play repertoires. Teaching interests include elementary music methods and materials for pre-service music educators, foundations of music education, and music for classroom teachers. She is additionally interested in world music and is particularly involved with musics of the Pacific Islands region, specifically the music and movement traditions of Hawai’i.
An active clinician and presenter, her publications can be found in the Journal of Research in Music Education, The Orff Echo, General Music Today, Music Education Research, International Journal of Play, and Philosophy of Music Education Review.