Brittany Nixon May, Ph.D, joins the BYU School of Music as Associate Professor of Music Education
We are so excited to introduce the newest full time faculty member in the School of Music: Dr. Brittany May! Dr. May has been hired to work in the Music Education department, as an Associate Professor of Music Education, Elementary/K-12 General Music.
Dr. May began a life in music in sixth grade, after begging her parents to let her play saxophone for a whole year. She attended the University of Utah for her undergrad, where her saxophone/music education professor encouraged everyone in the saxophone studio to study music education. She then pursued her Masters degree in music education from Boston University. While working on her Masters degree, she was teaching general music and instrumental music in Syracuse, New York and then later in Washington, D.C. She taught for a total of six years before moving back to Utah where she got her Ph.D. in music education from the University of Utah.
Shortly following the completion of her Ph.D., she was hired at Brigham Young University as a member of the music education faculty, over the general/elementary music track. Sounds a little familiar? This is her second time being hired for this same job! She worked at BYU for seven years before her husband’s job gave their family the opportunity to move overseas for four years.
In the past five years, Dr. May has lived in Bogotá, Colombia; Manila, Philippines; Washington, D.C.; and now in Provo, Utah! While abroad, she continued to teach and mentor graduate students pursuing the online music education degree programs at Boston University and Kent State. From 2023-2025 she also worked as a Consular Officer for the U.S. State Department where she adjudicated immigrant and non-immigrant visas in the Philippines. She explained that while it was very different from music teaching, a lot of the same skills that she learned as a music teacher helped her when she worked for the State Department.
When her family returned from their time in the Philippines, she got a job teaching general music again at an elementary school near D.C. While there, she heard that her old job at BYU was opening up and decided to apply. After a long and very competitive application process, she got the job! We are so excited for all that she will accomplish here and are grateful for all of the knowledge and experiences that she will bring to the Music Education program and to the students in the School of Music.
Welcome Dr. Brittany May!
