Kristen Pellegrino, Ph.D.
Professor, String Music Education, Music
Contact
- ART 3.01.50
- kristen.pellegrino@utsa.edu
Bio
Dr. Kristen Pellegrino is Professor of Music Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio and serving as Immediate Past-President of American String Teachers Association (ASTA) (six-year Presidential terms 2018-2024). Kristen teaches undergraduate and graduate classes, chairs music education theses, advises String Education and Masters students, and is the Pedagogical Advisor for UTSA’s String Project.
Dr. Pellegrino’s degrees are from the University of Michigan (Ph.D. in music education and M.M. in violin performance/chamber music performance) and the Eastman School of Music (B.M. in music education and applied violin/performance).
Kristen was awarded ASTA’s String Researcher Award (2016), AERA’s Outstanding Early Career Paper Award in Music Education (2014), and three Internal Research Award Grants from UTSA. Kristen was co-editor/author of the Oxford Handbook of Preservice Music Teacher Education in the United States (2019), Oxford University Press' Teaching Instrumental Music: Contemporary Pedagogies and Perspectives (2023), and Conway Publication's Journeys of Becoming and Being Music Teachers (Forthcoming, 2025).
Dr. Pellegrino has 40 scholarly publications, including her dissertation, “The Meanings and Values of Music-Making in the Lives of String Teachers: Exploring the Intersections of Music-making and Teaching” and articles published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education (JMTE), Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME), International Journal of Music Education (IJME), Research Studies in Music Education (RSME), Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (CRME), Arts Education Policy Review (AEPR), String Research Journal (SRJ), Contributions to Music Education (CME), New Directions in Music Education (NDME), and Music Educators Journal (MEJ). She has written chapters for The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research in American Music Education, Advances in Music Education Research, GIA’s Musicianship-focused Curriculum and Assessment, and Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education (volume 2), three chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Preservice Music Teacher Education in the United States, and eight chapters in Teaching Instrumental Music: Contemporary Pedagogies and Perspectives.
Kristen has presented over 125 sessions/research posters at conferences including American Educational Research Association (AERA), American String Teachers Association (ASTA), Biennial Colloquium for Teachers of Instrumental Music Methods (IMTE), Biennial Music Educators National Conference (NAfME), International Society for Music Education (ISME), Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), and MENC’s All-Eastern Conference as well as many state conferences.
Kristen’s background in music education includes eight years of public-school string teaching at the elementary and high school levels (Fairfax County Public Schools and Warwick Public Schools) and collegiate teaching experience at Rhode Island College, Central Michigan University, and Christopher Newport University Music Education. Before teaching full-time, she was a full-time performing musician, including performing with the Chagall String Quartet, who received a two-year Rural Residencies Grants through Chamber Music America. She continues to perform as a member of RI’s Music on the Hill Chamber Music Festival.
Teaching
Courses:
- String Literature
- String Pedagogy
- String Instruments
- Graduate Courses in Music Education
Degrees
- B.M., Eastman School of Music
- M.M., Ph.D., University of Michigan
