Welcome

Core Suzuki Teachers

	Susan Baer, PhD - Violin Greenbank. - donaldsue.turner@ttu.edu, 806-535-1803. | Sue is a free-lance violinist and violin teacher. In her four decades of experience with the Suzuki method, Susan has run a thriving private studio, co-founded a Suzuki school, organized workshops, taught in a long-term training program, and served on the Board of Directors of her local foundation. Susan is in high demand as a Suzuki clinician and registered SAA violin teacher trainer. She has served as area coordinator for four SAA conferences and has been published in the SAA journal. Dr. Baer holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree, a Master of Music degree in violin performance, and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts. She is a part-time Greenbank, Whidbey Island resident.
	Ward Beebe - Violin, Fiddle - Oak Harbor. humming@whidbey.com, 360-929-0457. | Ward is a registered Suzuki Violin Instructor and also teaches Irish and Scottish traditional fiddle. Ward grew up in Tacoma, WA. and started his musical studies on the piano at the age of seven. At ten, he started playing the violin. For the past 30 years he has been very interested in traditional dance music of New England, and the roots of that music including Irish and Scottish traditional music. Since 1996, he has focused on teaching violin and fiddle. He received his Suzuki teacher training from Vera McCoy-Sulentic, Debbie Goolsby and Liz Arbus. He has taught at the Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Island Strings Summer Music Camp on Whidbey Island, the Suzuki Association of Washington State Fall Festival, and the Super Suzuki Saturday in Port Angeles. Ward has played on-stage with award winning Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, and master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. He has also studied with respected Cape Breton fiddlers Buddy MacMaster, Jerry Holland, Carl MacKenzie, Joe Cormier, and J.P. Cormier; the founder of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Frank Ferrel, and treasured French-Canadian fiddler Lisa Ornstein. He is an Officer and Director of the Suzuki Association of Washington State; co-founder of tthe Whidbey Island Youth and Community Orchestras; and is the Steward of the Northwest Regional Scottish Fiddle Championships.
	Teo Benson - Violin. Teo is based in Seattle but will teach on Whidbey Island by appoitment. violinteo@gmail.com, 206-755-9591, www.teobenson.com Teo began studying violin at the age of five under Linda Good in the Island Strings program on Whidbey Island. In 1995, as a sophomore in high school, he received runner up in the All-Island Concerts on the Cove Concerto Competition. He received aBA in English with a music minor from The Colorado College, where I studied with Michael Hanson. He was the winner of The Colorado College concerto competition in both 2003 and 2004. He earned a Masters in violin performance from The University of Washington in 2006. I studied with Ron Patterson. He is still studying with Mr. Patterson. Currently he is a member of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra as well as in his band, The Crying Shame. Teo has been teaching for 12 years and currently keep a studio of more than twenty students.
	Mavis Cauffman - Harp. Clinton. mgc@whidbey.com, http://www.cauffman.net/mavis Mavis enjoys playing folk, classical and pop music on her pedal and folk harps. She is a trained Suzuki harp instructor, but also teaches other methods.
	Brian Crisafulli - Violin, Fiddle. Clinton & Mukilteo. macfulli@whidbey.com, 360-579-3620. Brian has received training in the Suzuki violin method from the Chicago Suzuki Institute, and in Scottish fiddling from the Ohio Scottish Arts School in Oberlin, Ohio, and the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School in Boulder Creek, California. He has degrees in counseling (M.Ed.), teaching (M.A.T.), and zoology (B.S.). Brian has served as leader and violinist with Scottish dance bands, as solo violinist for dance classes and Scottish dance workshops, and as a teacher of Scottish fiddling and classical violin playing. He is currently teaching on Tuesday evenings at the Gene Nastri School in Mukilteo.
	Kat Fritz - Violin, Viola. Clinton. katfritzmusic@yahoo.com, 321-4311. | Kat Fritz began her musical life in fifth grade when she was given a school viola to play. It was love at first sight. Her first private teacher taught her fiddle tunes instead of scales, which she still loves to play today. Kat pursued viola performance studies at Lawrence University Music Conservatory and spent many years performing in various professional symphonies around the country. She worked with the Greater New Orleans Suzuki Forum and the GNO Youth Orchestra. Kat is the founder and director of Music Together of Whidbey Island, an early childhood music appreciation program.
	Linda Good - Violin, Viola, Cello, Guitar, Banjo, Piano, Recorder. Langley. llgood@langleywa.com, 360-221-6439. | Linda Good studied piano and violin as a child and began learning viola in junior high. She was in the Seattle Youth Symphony, attended Pacific Northwest Music Camp for five summers and studied recorder and music theory. She received her BA in music from UW and an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii. She began teaching privately on Whidbey Island in 1969. She co-founded Island Strings with Paula Pugh in 1974. For more than 30 years she has been an enthusiastic advocate of the Suzuki philosophy and taught hundreds of South Whidbey children to play the violin and to appreciate music.
	Elizabeth Lovelace - Violin & Fiddle. Greenbank. elizab@whidbey.com, 360-222-3467. | Elizabeth has taught Suzuki violin and traditional folk fiddle to adults and children since 1990. She performed for three years with Orchestra Seattle directed by George Shangrow and trained and taught at the Suzuki Institute of Seattle for six years. In 1994 she traveled to Matsumoto, Japan to take teacher training from Dr. Suzuki. She loves the traditional folk fiddle and has played in numerous dance bands over the past fifteen years.
	Karis Mills-Viola, Violin. Oak Harbor. kjhmills@yahoo.ca, 360-279-0809. | Karis has been playing the violin since she was seven years old but has switched primarily to viola since moving to Oak Harbor in 2005. Her initial inspiration when she was six years old was a violin that her great-grandfather had made, which was always hanging on the wall in their music room. She played in youth orchestras almost from the very beginning, attended a Christian summer music camp from the end of middle school all the way through high school, and then entered college on a music scholarship for a degree in Music Education. She transferred to and graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois where she took a break from the violin and focused instead on percussion and a degree in Neuropsychology. She resumed her violin playing after graduation at the nudging of the man who is now her husband (a composer, percussionist, and teacher). Even through the break from the violin, music has always been the leading factor in Karis’ life. She believes that her music is a God-given gift but that talent, like so many skills, must be developed. Therefore, she has approached her practicing and teaching accordingly, with much patience and loving attention. Karis is currently playing viola in the Saratoga Chamber Orchestra and in a professional string trio.  Although she is currently working primarily as a performer and teacher, she has also recently begun an apprenticeship in violin making, following in her great-grandfather’s footsteps.
	Kimmer Morris - Violin, Viola Langley. kimmerlyzimmer@yahoo.com, 360-221-6932. Kimmer has taught violin at the Langley Middle School for close to 25 years. She grew up in Langley, an Island Strings student under Linda Good. She is an active performer and recording artist with the duo Yours Truly, which specializes in folk music with an Eastern European flavor.
	Karla West - Violin, Viola. Oak Harbor. karla.west@yahoo.com. Karla began her violin and viola training in Canada through the Royal Conservatory of Music Program. She holds her Bachelor Degree in Viola Performance from Biola University (CA), and her Suzuki Violin Pedagogy Certificate from the University of Denver (CO). Karla has appeared with the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra & String Quartet, the Canadian National Youth Orchestra, the American Youth Symphony, and the Biola Honors Quartet. She currently teaches violin and viola in Oak Harbor, WA, and performs with the North Sound String Quartet, Skagit Valley Opera, Starry Night Orchestra and Saratoga Chamber Orchestra.
Associate Teachers
Former Island Strings Teachers