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2011 Summer Session
July 10th through July 15th
Registration Currently Closed
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String Faculty for the Suzuki Strings Institute is chosen from master teachers. Each teacher has experience in assisting students at all levels to play their best.
Lamar Blum (IL) A Suzuki violin teacher for almost 30 years, Lamar Blum was introduced to Suzuki Method in 1963. Since that time, she has established a Suzuki studio in Elgin, Illinois for violin, viola, cello, bass and flute hiring highly qualified teachers in each area. As director and teacher, Lamar organizes and administrates the activities of the Elgin program along with teaching her own students. Maintaining an organized program and communicating with parents are high priorities.
In the broader Suzuki community, Lamar is presently serving a three-year term on the board of directors for Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has also served the SAA as a committee chair & co-chair for the National Conference, has been a speaker for the Leadership Conference and has contributed several articles to the American Suzuki Journal, the summer Mini-Journal and Suzuki World magazines. She has been an institute teacher at several institutes across the country (both summer & weekend) and is in the fourth year of directing the Montana Suzuki Strings Institute.
In the Elgin community, Lamar helped found an arts organization and acted as treasurer for four years. She has also been active in Women in Management serving as various committee chairs. She was recognized by this group for her entrepreneurship in 1992.
As a member of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra for three decades, Lamar served on the players’ council for ten years of those years. She was involved in contract negotiations on two occasions. She was the first person to recognize the need for children’s concerts in Elgin helping to organize the initial programs. Upon retiring, she was honored by the ESO League as a Musical Treasure of Elgin.
Lamar and husband, John, have raised two daughters involved in Suzuki education. The philosophy has given them a guideline for parenting and setting priorities in life.
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Judy Blank (MI) received a Bachelors of Music Education from Northern Illinois University. She studied with Pierre Menard and Schmuel Ashkenasi of the famed Vermeer Quartet. She also studied with Ruggerio Ricci, a renowned violin virtuoso. Judy began her Suzuki training in Rockford, IL with Eleanor Stanlis. She has served on the board of the Suzuki association of the Americas for four years. She has been a guest clinician at Suzuki workshops in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia, and New Zealand. Judy now resides in Ann Arbor, MI where she has a private studio of 70 students. She also performs in the Ann Arbor Symphony.
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Colleen Fitzgerald (WI), the 2006 recipient of the Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching from the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee, has been teaching violin for the past 12 years. Besides teaching, Ms. Fitzgerald is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree from Cardinal Stritch University. During the year she adjudicates at the National Federation of Music Club's Junior Festival Auditions and is a frequent guest clinician at Suzuki weekend workshops throughout the Midwest. For the past 8 summers, Ms. Fitzgerald has had the opportunity to teach students from all over the United States and Europe as a clinician at the Louisville Suzuki Institute-Kentucky, Capital University Suzuki Institute-Ohio, and Montana Suzuki Strings Institute-Montana. Besides her many teaching opportunities, Ms. Fitzgerald performs as 1st violinist in the Newstring Quartet.
Ms. Fitzgerald began Suzuki violin lessons at age 6 and two years later continued her studies with Suzuki Teacher Trainer, Joan Rooney. She is a graduate of the University of Evansville where she studied under world-renowned Suzuki pedagogue, Professor Carol Dallinger, and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance with Suzuki Pedagogy. She has also received supplemental Suzuki teacher training at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, WI and began her Early Childhood Education training under Suzuki ECE Trainer, Dorothy Jones.
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Beth Youngblood (MT) was introduced to both fiddling and improvisation while living in Asheville, N.C., in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She spent eight years touring the country and the world with the Howard Hanger Jazz Fantasy, as well as learning fiddle tunes “back porch style” from some genuine old-timers. She is the current director of the Missoula Branch of the Montana Women’s Chorus, performs as violinist/vocalist with activist singer-songwriter Judy Fjell, the world music ensemble, Mandir, is the lucky mother of 2 musically passionate sons, and maintains a full private Suzuki violin studio in Missoula.
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Timothy “Terry” Durbin (KY) is one of the most sought after clinicians/conductors in the country, bringing smiles and laughter to over 40 workshops and institutes each year. He is a composer who has written many works for string instruments. He has soloed with orchestras in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, and has recorded two CD’s, the most recent being the complete chamber music of Marcel Dupre for the Naxos label. He received his undergraduate degree form the University of Alabama and his Masters in Violin Performance form the University of Illinois. He lives in Kentucky with has wife, Sandy, and their three children. Terry is a believer in magic and the power of music to enrich us and make our lives more meaningful and beautiful.
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Matthew Marsolek (MT) is a composer, arranger, and bandleader for Drum Brothers. He has studied East Indian and West African music for the past 15 years with a variety of teachers, including Mukesh Desai form India and Abdoul Doumbia, Mamady Keita, Joh Camara, and Karamba Diabate from Guinea and Mali, West Africa. Matthew has experience and training in jazz, classical, and Hindustani vocal technique and is also an accomplished jazz and classical guitarist. He has also received awards of excellence form the University of Montana for his musical work with theater and dance. As a recording artist, Matthew has released projects with Drum Brothers and Mandir as well as two solo recordings, the most recent entitled, “The Bhakti Road”. A dedicated and charismatic educator, Matthew teaches classes and clinics in rhythm, and hand drumming throughout the Northwest and in Canada.
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Martha Shackford (OR) currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where she teaches at the Oregon Suzuki Talent Education Center. She is a violin teacher trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and offers a 2-year course for violin and viola for area teachers. She has had private studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Fayetteville, Arkansas; the Washington DC area; and Mount Vernon, Iowa. She has taught in inner city public schools, conducted youth orchestras, directed and founded a Suzuki School at the University of Arkansas, served on the board of directors of many organizations, been involved in several Latin American Suzuki projects, writes for professional journals, and travels extensively doing Suzuki workshops and summer institutes. Martha particularly enjoys reading, knitting, movies, meditating, socializing, hiking, and traveling. Her greatest passion is in finding ways to develop community. She is currently working on creating the Portland Suzuki Project, a center for teachers and families which focuses on bringing the Suzuki Approach to low income families.
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Molly Morrison holds a Masters in Piano Performance from Arizona State University. From 1987 – 1994 she was an Instructor at the University of Montana and has taught classes in accompanying, pedagogy and piano.
She is an active accompanist with the Suzuki Summer String Institute, the Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras Concerto Competitions, regional Met Auditions and Montana All-State Choirs .
A Montana Master Teacher and a nationally certified music teacher, Molly teaches private students of all ages, presents workshops to music teachers and adjudicates throughout the Northwest. She has recently been named as the NW Certification Chair on the National Certification Commission for MTNA.
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Shigetoshi Yamada studied at the Toho Gakuen University in Tokyo under Hideo Saito, Etsuko Hirose, Saburo Sumi and William Primrose. After graduating, he was encouraged to study violin in Europe by Shinichi Suzuki. Following Dr. Suzukiʼs recommendation, Mr. Yamada entered the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he studied baroque violin under Sigiswald Kuijken and Lucy Van Dael. During this time, he performed in an ensemble with Frans Bruggen and participated in a number of concerts with Nicolaus Harnoncourt.
Upon his graduation for the Royal Conservatoire, Mr. Yamada was invited to come to Ann Arbor, Michigan to join the faculty of Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute and join the Ars Musica Baroque Orchestra. With this ensemble, he participated in numerous live performances and recordings.
In Michigan, Mr. Yamada studied modern violin under Ruggiero Ricci and went on to become the principal violinist of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Yamada has given solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany and Venezuela. He has performed as a concertmaster with various baroque orchestras in Dallas, Kansas City and Milwaukee. In 2001, Mr. Yamada performed in the Chicago Symphonyʼs chamber music series. Currently, he teaches at the Music Institute of Chicago; currently a techer-trainer of the S.A.A. He actively researches the development of violin technique from the Baroque period to modern times.
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Susie Rischo is a professional artist, teacher, former owner of Perugia Restaurant and Gallery and executive director of StoryKeepers, a non-profit organization seeking to inspire individuals to express or preserve their personal histories. She serves on several boards in Missoula and she and her husband, Ray, received the Cultural Achievement Award from Missoula Cultural Council in 2008.
Susie received Bachelorʼs degrees with honors in Elementary Education as well as Art. She served as director of Community Preschool for seven years and has taught in private and public schools in Missoula from preschool, through high school since 1980. She has worked with special populations including students with ADHD, developmental disabilities, gifted and emotionally disturbed. She has given private art lessons and continues to teach, on occasion, at the Missoula Art Museum.
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Allen Lieb received his M.M. in Performance from SIU/Edwardsville, studying Suzuki pedagogy with John Kendall and holds a Teacher Training Certificate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Japan after several years' study with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. A registered Teacher-Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Allen has taught at institutes, workshops and conferences across the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. He is Chair of the SAA Violin Committee, the SAA liaison to the International Suzuki Association Violin Committee and a member of the SAA Heritage Committee. Currently residing in New York City, he is Head of the Violin Department and Instructor of the Teacher-Training Seminar at The School for Strings, violin instructor at The Diller-Quaile School of Music, and the Curriculum Coordinator for the Newark Early Strings Program, a Suzuki-based violin program jointly sponsored by the Newark Public Schools and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, serving over 500 students in 13 elementary schools, for which he was recognized with the 2008 Samuel Antek Award for Music Education. Allen is also the Suzuki consultant with Musicians4Harmony, a New York-based organization sponsoring activities to revitalize the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and the Baghdad Conservatory of Music and Dance.
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Faculty