Loren Abramson has taught instrumental strings for the Parkway School District Shenandoah Valley Elementary School in West St. Louis County for thirteen years and has also has assisted at the middle and high school levels. She maintains a private violin studio and is an active performer in the greater St. Louis area. Ms. Abramson, a nationally recognized Suzuki clinician, has served on the faculty on many summer institutes and winter workshops. She has a Bachelor of Music Degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Arts Degree from Lindenwood College. She received her Suzuki training from Sanford Reuning and John Kendall. Loren enjoys running with Molly, her golden retriever, swimming, and eating chocolate in whatever spare time she can find.

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Reagan Brasch (violin faculty) graduated with a Bachelors of Music in violin performance and received her Masters in Suzuki Pedagogy from the University of Denver. After teaching with Denver Talent Education
for five years with James Maurer, she moved to Chicago to teach at the Music Institute of Chicago under the direction of Gilda Barston. Mrs. Brasch gives both private and group instruction in Suzuki. She also teaches early childhood musikgarten classes to toddlers and preschoolers as the part of the Music Institute’s SMART Start program. Her most recently published article was in the Suzuki Journal concerning teaching pretwinklers. Mrs. Brasch has taught extensively at Suzuki institutes and workshops around the country.

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Amanda Brown (family chorus director and piano accompanist) received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the University of Georgia. An accomplished vocal coach and pianist, she currently teaches and accompanies at North Atlanta Talent Education in Roswell, Georgia. She is also a Suzuki mom to her sons, Graham and Ellis.

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Kevin Horne studied with Jascha Brodsky at the New School of Music in Philadelphia and with Linda Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. After performing in several and orchestral ensembles in Philadelphia he attended the American Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point with Ed Kreitman. He then continued his teacher training up to book 7 with Linda Fiore, Martha Shackford, and Cathy Lee. He became a sought after Suzuki teacher in Philadelphia teaching at the Darlington Fine Arts School, the Sibelius Academy and his home studio. From 1999-2002 Mr. Horne was the Suzuki Department Head at the Wilmington Music School, in Delaware. Currently he maintains a full studio as a member of the Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute, and teaches at the Great Lakes Suzuki Institute in Canada.

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Carolyn Mead holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Michigan, and Western Illinois University, where she studied long term Suzuki teacher training with Dr. Tanya Carey. She has taught public school strings, orchestra and private studio in Nebraska, Wyoming, and California. She currently has a private cello studio in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Kimberly Meier-Sims (violin faculty and teacher trainer)
Director of the Sato Center of Suzuki Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, became one the youngest registered Suzuki Teacher Trainers in the country in 1988. She conducts long-term teacher training classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music. From 1996-2004, Ms. Meier-Sims was a full-time faculty member at the University of Memphis where she conducted long-term teacher training, was the Coordinator for the University of Memphis Suzuki String Summer Institute. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in education and performance from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where she studied with John Kendall, the first American Suzuki pioneer. At Western Illinois University she received her Masters degree in performance, studying violin and pedagogy with Almita Vamos. The summer of 1986, Ms. Meier-Sims traveled to Japan for a six week study with Dr. Suzuki. From 1984 to 1996 Ms. Meier-Sims was a violin instructor at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, where she also served as Suzuki Teacher Trainer, Faculty Program Assistant and Chamber Music Coordinator. An active performer, Ms. Meier-Sims has played with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and has held the positions of associate principal second violin and first violin in the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra. She was the Violin Coordinator for the 2002 10th SAA National Conference in Minneapolis. Ms. Meier-Sims traveled to Cork, Ireland in February 2000 to do a one week workshop. In April 1999, she attended the Thirteenth World Suzuki Method Convention in Japan. She has taught Suzuki workshops throughout the U.S. and has taught summer institutes in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Columbus (OH), Denver (CO), Fort Worth (TX), Hartford (CT), Ithaca (NY), Louisville (KY), Memphis (TN), Spartanburg (SC), Stanford (CA), and Stevens Point (WI).

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Beth Carr Novak (violin faculty) began her formal study of the violin at the age of four. Her studies continued at Humboldt State University where she was Concertmaster of the Humboldt Symphony and winner of the 1996 Concerto Competition. Following completion of her B.A in music education and violin performance she attended the Hartt School of Music where she received a MM in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy. Other institutions of study include the Chautauqua Music Institute, Rocky Mountain Music Center, California Summer Arts, Britt Festival and Sequoia Chamber Music Institute. Ms. Carr has studied chamber music with world renowned quartets such as the Alexander String Quartet, Cavani String Quartet and the five time Grammy winning Emerson String Quartet. She has held numerous principal positions in orchestras such as the Humboldt Symphony, Solano Symphony, New Britain Symphony, Waterbury Symphony and Connecticut Virtuosi. Ms. Carr’s performances have taken her across the United States and to Europe. Ms. Carr currently resides in Chicago where she holds the position of Associate Director of the Naperville Suzuki School; teaching private lessons and group classes of all ages as well as traveling to Suzuki Institutes around the country during the summers.

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Carrie Reuning-Hummel (violin faculty and teacher training course) began the study of violin at the age of five with her parents, Joan and Sanford Reuning in Ithaca, New York. She was one of the first Suzuki students in the U.S. and studied with Shinichi Suzuki on numerous occasions. Carrie is very active as both a Suzuki teacher and as a registered Suzuki Teacher Trainer. She has taught at hundreds of institutes and workshops throughout the continental U.S. as well as in Canada, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Mexico, and Israel. Carrie received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Iowa and is now a professional violist. She keeps busy homeschooling her two children and is especially interested in exploring parent/child practice partnerships with families.

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