Amanda Duncan
Percussionist, Drummer, Steel Pannist, Educator
BIO
Amanda is a multi-faceted percussionist and music educator based in Southern California. She plays drums, percussion, and steel pan with a wide variety of ensembles throughout Southern California. Amanda frequently performs and records with Tracy Thornton and Pan Rocks, musical theatre companies, local symphonies, as a solo steel pan artist, and has shared the stage and recording studio with artists ranging from Mike Portnoy, Stephen Perkins, and Billy Sheehan to Liam Teague, Martin Chalifour, and Michael Giacchino.
A 2024 Hero Finalist nominee for Parenting OC Magazine, Amanda is in her 11th year as the Director of Percussion at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where she teaches Steel Drums, Percussion, AP Music Theory, and is also one of the Instrumental Music Instructors for the TAPA Conservatory. Additionally, she is adjunct music faculty at Fullerton College, a music education evaluator with Long Beach Camerata, and has taught online through The Den Collective.
Amanda is a former committee chair for the National Society of Steel Band Educators, and worked as music supervisor for the short documentary “The Jill of the Trade” produced by Xplore the World Productions. She’s been interviewed by the Trinidad Guardian, When Steel Talks, the podcasts “Discussions In Percussion,” “Pete’s Percussion Podcast,” “Strike Up,” and “Concert Honesty,” and featured on Pan Magazine’s social media accounts.
Passionate about the steel pan and music of the West African diaspora, Amanda performed with the Silver Stars Steel Orchestra in the 2016 Panorama finals competition in Trinidad, visited the Mangrove Steelband in London, UK in 2019, and has also twice studied samba drumming and Brazilian culture in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Brazil. Amanda received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Percussion Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB and Northern Illinois University, respectively.