Cello
Tessa Oakley
Come back soon for Tessa's exciting biog.
Violin
Mauren Quinn
Maureen 's Suzuki journey began when she was a Suzuki parent to her son Jamie, who attended lessons with Sheena Coia in Glasgow. Inspired by the method she started her teacher training in 2007 with Mysie Ferguson in Edinburgh and has completed four levels of training.
She now has a thriving studio in Clydebank .
Maureen completed Suzuki Early Childhood training in Switzerland in 2017 .
Together with her partner teacher Elaine Wilson, she has started Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE) classes in Glasgow's south side. She is thoroughly enjoying introducing the Suzuki concepts to the youngest members of our Suzuki community through movement and song !
Maureen started playing violin at the age of 7 and enjoyed many years playing in the West Dunbartonshire Schools orchestra. She completed a BSc Physiotherapy in1986 and worked in the NHS until 2012. Her training in this area supports her teaching with special regard to encouraging the good movement patterns necessary for playing the violin.
She has played in the Glasgow Orchestral Society since age 17 and is one of its longest serving members.
Maureen 's Suzuki journey began when she was a Suzuki parent to her son Jamie, who attended lessons with Sheena Coia in Glasgow. Inspired by the method she started her teacher training in 2007 with Mysie Ferguson in Edinburgh and has completed four levels of training.
She now has a thriving studio in Clydebank .
Maureen completed Suzuki Early Childhood training in Switzerland in 2017 .
Together with her partner teacher Elaine Wilson, she has started Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE) classes in Glasgow's south side. She is thoroughly enjoying introducing the Suzuki concepts to the youngest members of our Suzuki community through movement and song !
Maureen started playing violin at the age of 7 and enjoyed many years playing in the West Dunbartonshire Schools orchestra. She completed a BSc Physiotherapy in1986 and worked in the NHS until 2012. Her training in this area supports her teaching with special regard to encouraging the good movement patterns necessary for playing the violin.
She has played in the Glasgow Orchestral Society since age 17 and is one of its longest serving members.
Maureen instigated the Glasgow Suzuki Workshop in 2013 which is now a very successful annual event.
She has taught at workshops in Ayr , Edinburgh and Glasgow and has attended London workshops and gala events.
She has just recently taken on the mantle of Scottish Convenor for the BSI and will be joining other teachers in London in June 2018 as part of this role.
Maureen was honoured to be asked to compere the 2017 Scottish Graduation, which she has supported since its instigation in 2013.
Maureen considers herself a very curious life long learner, is an avid participant in the global online Suzuki community and continues to share the wealth of inspiration which comes her way from this community.
Violin
Karina MacAlpine
Karina MacAlpine Bmus (hons) TCM. ESA level 5
Karina studied violin at Trinity College of Music with Hu Kun and Eszter Boda Katona. In 2000 Karina became a Suzuki teacher and currently teaches along side Clare Raybould, Charlotte Clemson and Alex Chalabi in the Dulwich Suzuki Group. Karina’s private teaching is in Penge, S E London. International Suzuki courses include Melbourne Australia, Cork Ireland and The Haag Netherlands. Regular UK Suzuki courses include the BSI National Workshop, VIney Hill, Sfz and the London Suzuki Group International Summer School at Bryanston in which she is Assistant Musical Director. Karina also performs regularly with the Blond String Quartet.
Flute
Diana Dickerson
Diana Dickerson is a Graduate of the European Suzuki Association and has diplomas from both the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music and the London College of Music. She coordinates Suzuki Method for Flutes in the UK, training teachers from UK and abroad as well as helping to establish National events such as the Concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Diana has been published in the main national flute journal for the British Flute Society. She has a large private teaching practice as well as teaching in schools around the Bristol and North Somerset area and has had students in the National Children’s Orchestra.
Violin
Amanda James
Amanda James was first introduced to the Mother Tongue Method when her daughter learned the violin with Brenda Smith in Ayr.
From 1996 Amanda travelled to Cork in Eire where she trained as a Suzuki Method Violin teacher with Phillipa Lees and Trudy Byron Fahy. In 2000 Amanda transferred to the Scottish Teacher Training Course in Edinburgh run by Mysie Ferguson. Amanda’s pupils are members of the Kyle Suzuki Violin Group which has run Day and Weekend workshops at Wellington School in Ayr since 1999.
Amanda has taught at workshops in Cork, Galway, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Suzuki Method has given the opportunity to travel widely, attending Suzuki Conferences and Summer Schools in Dublin, Paris, Turin, Matsumoto, and Gdansk.
Elizabeth Peploe
Violin
I did not start playing the violin until I was 45! I seem to have done everything late…I was a mature student at Moray House, and then taught at Gilmerton, Moredun and Liberton Primary schools. My husband suggested I take up the fiddle as a sort of antidote to the stress of teaching, and I went along to the Shetland Fiddlers- then in Pilrig Street- and put in a note here and there. I began having lessons with a brilliant young Shetlander. By chance I heard about a Suzuki Conference in St. Andrews which I attended- and was immediately ‘hooked’. The philosophy, the quality of teaching which I observed and the emphasis on ‘ear before eye’ totally appealed to me. I obsessively worked on my playing, helped now by David Hume. I was accepted on the Suzuki Teacher Training Course, then based at Hitchin.
I was given a post as an Instrumental Instructor by Colin O’Riordan for Liberton High and the feeder Primary schools. I also took private pupils, and was the first Suzuki teacher in Edinburgh. I feel grateful and privileged to be part of the world wide Suzuki Family
Violin
Danny Miller
Danny was born in Edinburgh and studied Violin at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Peter Lissauer and then in Salzburg, Austria with Professor Igor Ozim of the Mozaretum Universitat. Prizes include the Bette & Willie MacPherson Prize for Solo Violin Playing, the Governor’s Prize for Chamber Music (Finalists) and the Mabel Glover String Quartet Competition (Highly Commended). In 2012, he was awarded an Apprenticeship with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
As a performer, Danny enjoys a busy freelance schedule as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician across Scotland, Italy and Austria. He was Principal Second Violin of the Mediterranean Opera Festival Orchestra during their 2016 tour of Sicily where he also performed as a soloist with the orchestra. In 2017 he was invited to play for the Concertmaster of the Teatro Massimo, Palermo. Upcoming engagements include performing with the Varna Opera Academy, touring Italy with Raucous Rossini and The New Generation Opera Festival and performances at home and abroad as Leader of the Argyll String Quartet and with pianist, Ancuta Nite. The Miller Nite Duo are due to release two CDs in June.
Danny received his Suzuki training from Mysie Ferguson in Edinburgh and has held teaching positions at many institutions and schools across Scotland including Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is currently on the Instrumental Teaching Staff at Edinburgh Academy and George Watson’s College as well as running a busy private Suzuki Practice.
Seonaid Aitken
Violin
Seonaid Aitken is a versatile, award-winning violinist, vocalist, pianist and composer/orchestrator from Fife, Scotland. Classically trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London), Seonaid has played regularly for 16 years with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. She specialises in Gypsy Jazz, performing extensively with her Scottish Jazz Award-nominated band Rose Room, as a guest with Swing 2017 and Dutch Classical/Jazz crossover violinist’s group the Tim Kliphuis Sextet, and she was recently invited to share the stage with jazz fingerstyle virtuoso, and former guitarist of Stephane Grappelli’s, Martin Taylor. She also plays in Country/Bluegrass and traditional Scottish/Irish Folk styles, featuring frequently with Country band Ashton Lane and touring for several years with Idlewild frontman and folk singer Roddy Woomble. Seonaid now presents BBC Radio Scotland’s new Sunday night show ‘Jazz Nights at the Quay’.
Violin
Elaine Wilson
Elaine grew up in Ireland, learning violin through the Suzuki Method with Patricia Kelleher. She moved to Scotland to study at the Royal Conservatoire. Whilst there, she won the Orchestral Prize, and the Hilda Bailey Violin Prize, and took part in many masterclasses, most notably with Midori, Jonathon Morton, and the Brodsky and Maggini Quartets. Elaine specialised in Early Music, taking classes with Margaret Faultless, Catherine Mackintosh, Adrian Butterfield, Walter Reiter, and Ruth Slater.
As a freelance violinist, Elaine has played with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Northern Sinfonia, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Irish Baroque Orchestra, and Dunedin Consort and Players.
Elaine began her Suzuki training in Edinburgh with Mysie Ferguson in 2012, and is currently taking Level 5 training at the Antwerp Conservatoire. Elaine is qualified as a Suzuki Viola teacher and Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE) teacher. Elaine is currently teaching in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Violin/Viola
Mysie Ferguson
Mysie studied violin and viola at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She played viola professionally for many years with the Academy of the BBC; the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and latterly as a freelance player. She toured extensively within Europe, Hong Kong, America and Canada.
Principally now an educator, Mysie has worked extensively with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland both as Director of its Training Orchestra and as strings coach and audition panellist. She is currently Head of Strings at the prestigious Edinburgh Academy. As a fully qualified Teacher Trainer of both violin and viola she is very involved in Suzuki Teacher Training in many countries. Mysie is much in demand as a workshop teacher having taught regularly in Denmark; Norway; Iceland; Spain; Ireland and the UK as well as teaching at the recent Suzuki Convention in Matsumoto, Japan.
Flute
Nicola Shorland
Nicola Shorland started playing the flute under the Suzuki Method with Susie Alington; she has been to Suzuki Summer School almost every year since age 8. She is now a Graduate Teacher of the Suzuki Method.
She has a music degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama which she studied with Ian Clarke, Sarah Newbold and Pippa Davies. In 2004 she won the Gloucestershire Young Musician Competition and performed at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music. She has travelled across the world with her flute, performing on the top of mountains in Canada and at the edge of the bay in Mumbai.
Claudio Forcada
Violin
Claudio holds a PhD from Birmingham City University on a thesis on efficacy in violin teaching and the psychological aspects related to the acquisition of motor skills. He has also published three handbooks and filmed six documentaries on string pedagogy, music education, music psychology and research.
Since 1999, Claudio has given more than 300 workshops and lectures in Europe, America and Asia. In 2012, Claudio was awarded with the “Ernest Newman Price” at the Birmingham City University and, being also honoured in 2012 with recognition from the president at the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador for his contribution to the musical education of the country.
Besides his roles as professor of string pedagogy at the Valencian International University and director of Studio Forcada (London and Henley-on-Thames), Dr. Forcada is trainer in residence at “El Sistema. Portugal” and “Mes Música” (Mallorca. Spain). He is also trustee and founder of the charity “Children4Music” and member of the Henley Symphony Orchestra.