Alicia DeSoto

Alicia DeSoto serves as Associate Director of Bands at Lewisville High School in Lewisville, Texas. Prior to working with the Lewisville Band, Ms. DeSoto spent eleven years as Associate Director of Bands at Shadow Ridge Middle School in Flower Mound, Texas. Ms. DeSoto earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree with Magna Cum Laude and Distinguished Honors from the Honors College at the University of North Texas, and her Master of Music in Music Education degree from Southern Methodist University.  

Ms. DeSoto’s ensembles have consistently earned Superior ratings at UIL and local festivals. Additionally, the bands at Shadow Ridge were selected by the Foundation for Music Education as a National Winner in the National Wind Band Honors Project (2010-2018), and were official performers at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL in 2012 and 2018. The Shadow Ridge Honor Winds had placed as a top 5 Finalist in the Texas CC Honor Band Contests multiple occasions and was awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Cup in 2017.

Ms. DeSoto has been a multiple recipient of the Lewisville Education Foundation’s “Foundation Award” and has been honored with the Texas PTA Lifetime Member Award. Ms. DeSoto is an active guest clinician and lecturer, and has professional affiliations with the Texas Bandmasters Association and Texas Music Educators Association. Current projects include the Musical Mastery Beginner Band series with Asa Burk, Kathy Johnson, Chris Meredith and Dominic Talanca.  As the chief editor for Musical Mastery, Ms. DeSoto has enjoyed the opportunity to compile an instrument-specific beginner curriculum to share with thousands of students throughout the country.