Member Directory

Ms. Colleen Fitzgerald

Violin, Suzuki Early Childhood Education Teacher SAA Member

Ms. Colleen Fitzgerald was named director of the Barcel Suzuki String Academy in 2010. For 15 years she has taught private and group violin lessons at BSSA. During the year she is a frequent guest clinician at Suzuki weekend workshops throughout the Midwest and she adjudicates at the National Federation of Music Club’s Junior Festival Auditions. Ms. Fitzgerald has taught students from all over the United States and Europe for the past 10 summers as a clinician at the Louisville Suzuki Institute-Kentucky, Suzuki Music Columbus Suzuki Institute-Ohio, and Montana Suzuki Strings Institute-Montana. In 2006, Ms. Fitzgerald received the Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching from the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee. Besides teaching, Ms. Fitzgerald has frequently performed as a soloist and as a member of a string trio for weddings, church services and other special occasions.

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 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 with Kay Collier-McLaughlin, Ed Kreitman, Tom Wermuth, and Alice Joy Lewis and acquired her Early Childhood Education training under Suzuki ECE Trainer, Dorothy Jones. Ms. Fitzgerald is a Suzuki Association of the Americas registered Suzuki violin and ECE instructor. In 2010 she earned her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Cardinal Stritch University.