Mildred Yi is lecturer of music education and conducting at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Since 2017, she has mentored aspiring music teachers, led conducting seminars, and has developed curriculum and provided instruction for the undergraduate conducting course sequence.
Previously, she was orchestra conductor at Vanguard University, a Christian liberal arts college in Southern California where she led the orchestra in concerts, tours, worship services, and university events. During her tenure, she initiated collaborations with local college orchestras and school music programs and enhanced Vanguard University’s instrumental performance and music education degrees to receive recognition by the National Association for Schools of Music and California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Prior to working in higher education as a conductor and music teacher educator, she began her career as a high school and middle school music director in California.
In addition to guest conducting for the University of California Irvine Symphony, Concordia University of Irvine Orchestra, and Newport Mesa All-District Honor Orchestras, she served as clinician and adjudicator for school instrumental music festivals. She has also led conducting workshops for collegiate and early career sessions at the California All-State and Music Education Conference (CASMEC) and regional conferences of California Music Educators Association (CMEA).
Her scholarly work includes research presentations at the Music In Schools and Teacher Education Conference of International Society of Music Education (ISME), Symposium on Music Teacher Education of Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), Research in Music Education (RIME) conference, and Music Research and Teacher Education Conference of National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
Mildred Yi earned a Doctor of Education and a Master of Education in music and music education at Columbia University Teachers College, a Master of Music in instrumental conducting at San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Arts in music at the University of California, Berkeley.
