Sylvia Allen Oman – Director
Originally hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Sylvia Oman moved to Missoula in 2007 to work in administrative and leadership positions with local non-profit organizations. Prior to this, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and a Master of Music in Pedagogy from Boise State University. She is a certified teacher with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and has a full studio of violin students, ages 4 to 60+. She has played in the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and the Helena Symphony Orchestra, as well as other ensembles in the area. She lives in the South Hills of Missoula with her husband and two young children.
Lamar Blum - Advisor Emerita
A graduate of the University of Montana School of Music, Lamar Blum (IL) taught public school strings in Missoula before becoming a supervisor of primary music for classroom teachers. After moving to Illinois, a private studio was more suitable to her family needs. Her exposure through Eugene Andrie to the Suzuki method offered new dimensions to the musical community of Elgin. Offering violin, viola, cello, bass and flute by Suzuki instruction was new to the area. It has led the community in music education since 1975. The Elgin program is looked upon a model program which gives Lamar the opportunity to speak to groups of teachers on studio organization. She is also sought after as a teacher and lecturer for summer and weekend institutes. Lamar is active in the Suzuki Association of the Americas as committee chair and speaker at various conferences. She has recently completed a three year term on the Association’s Board of Directors. Naming a phalaenopsis orchid for Shinichi Suzuki, she traveled to Japan in 1991 to present one to the then 92 year old educator on the Annual Grand Concert in Tokyo. At that time, she remained to take classes with Suzuki.
In 2001, Lamar retired from the Elgin Symphony Orchestra after 30 years of playing and was named a Musical Treasure of Elgin. In 1999, she was recognized by the Musician’s Union for outstanding contributions to the Music Education of Young People. She holds the 1993 Margaret Hillis Award for the Arts form the Elgin YWCA, the 1991 Entrepreneur Award from Women in Management, 1989 Music Educator of the Year by the Elgin Youth Orchestra and is listed in the 1966 Outstanding Young Women of America. Lamar is extremely grateful to be a part of the Montana Suzuki Strings Institute. She wants to help provide a wonderful Suzuki experience for each parent and child who participates.
Dr. Timothy (Terry) Durbin – Violin
Dr. Timothy (Terry) Durbin’s unique brand of teaching excellence makes him one of the most sought-after clinicians/conductors throughout the world. With infectious enthusiasm and inspired musicianship, he brings smiles and laughter to students throughout the United States and around the world. His dynamic teaching career includes over 800 workshops and institutes! His performance and teaching career stretches across the United States and Canada into Bermuda, Germany, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand and Singapore, and he has recorded two CDs, including the complete chamber music of Marcel Dupre for the Naxos label. He has been appointed principal conductor of the Cave Run Symphony Orchestra beginning with the 2016 season. He has directed the South Dakota and Montana All State Orchestras. He is the holder of the American Suzuki Institute Suzuki Chair Award for 2013. Terry Durbin is also an accomplished composer and notable arranger.
Dr. Durbin holds a DMA in orchestral conducting from Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles, California, a Masters in violin performance from the University of Illinois, an undergraduate degree in violin performance from the University of Alabama, and is currently the director of the Suzuki String Program at the University of Louisville. He is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Terry lives with his wife, Sandy, on 140 acres north of Lexington, Kentucky. They have three children and two grandchildren. He believes in the magic of music’s power to enrich our lives.
Colleen Fitzgerald - Violin, Book 1 Teacher Training, ECC
Ms. Colleen Fitzgerald, executive director of the Barcel Suzuki String Academy (BSSA), currently teaches private and group violin lessons and Suzuki Early Childhood Education classes at BSSA. Ms. Fitzgerald earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance with Suzuki Pedagogy Emphasis under mentor, Professor Carol Dallinger at the University of Evansville and a Masters of Arts in Teaching degree from Cardinal Stritch University. She has also received supplemental Suzuki teacher training with Kay Collier-McLaughlin, Ed Kreitman, Tom Wermuth, and Alice Joy Lewis and acquired her Early Childhood Education training under Suzuki ECE founders, Dorothy & Sharon Jones. Ms. Fitzgerald started Suzuki violin lessons at age 6 and two years later began studies with Suzuki teacher trainer, Joan Rooney.
Trina Carey Hodgson - Cello
Trina Carey Hodgson has a varied and distinguished career as performer, teacher, clinician, corporate presenter, and in the recording industry in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Students from her program, A-Cello-Rondo, have attended major universities and made careers in music. Trina studied at the Eastman School of Music, and received her MA degree at UCSB. Teachers include Ronald Leonard, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Tanya Carey. Service includes the boards of LA-ASTA, LA Violoncello Society, Suzuki Music Association of California, Cello Coordinator of SAA national conference, and the MTAC scholarship committee.
Beth Titterington - Violin
Beth Titterington is a registered Suzuki Association of the Americas Violin Teacher Trainer and has been actively involved in the Suzuki Method since 1972, when she first heard the Japanese Talent Education Tour Ensemble (Matsumoto, Japan). Margery Aber chose her as one of the ‘honorarium students’ for the American Suzuki Institute the next year, in 1973. Since that time, she has studied with many people in the field including, most importantly, Dr. Suzuki. Ms.Titterington has served on the faculty at the Conservatory of Music / University of Missouri (KC) teaching Suzuki Method pedagogy classes and she also directs her own studio, Kansas City Talent Education. An active clinician from 1979 to the present, she has taught and lectured at hundreds of institutes and workshops across the United States, Canada and in England. Ms. Titterington has served on numerous SAA committees and was elected to the SAA Board of Directors, serving from 2006-2009. She founded the Heart of America Suzuki Association in 1979, which is a regional affiliate of the SAA.
Jim Van Reeth – Violin
Jim Van Reeth is director of the Denison Suzuki Program in Granville, OH and teaches violin. He is a member of the faculty at Suzuki Music Columbus in Bexley, OH and enjoys teaching music appreciation at Denison University. Jim holds a Bachelors of Music in violin performance from the Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College-CUNY and a Masters in Music Education with Suzuki Talent Education emphasis from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he completed long-term Suzuki training with Patricia D’Ercole. He is a member of the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra and is a Suzuki parent/practice partner. His favorite food is ice cream.