In Memoriam: Doris Harrel

Doris Leland Harrel, noted pianist and teacher of San
Marcos and recently Austin, died April 5 of pneumonia at the age of 93. Born in Iowa of Norwegian
ancestry, at age six months her parents moved to California
and she grew up in the Los Angeles area. She started piano
lessons at age five. After high school she enrolled at the
Juilliard School of Music in New York, graduating with the
bachelor’s degree in 1949. That summer she married (John)
Ralph Harrel. They lived first in Lindsborg, Kansas, where
she taught piano at Bethany College. In 1951 they returned
to graduate school in New York City and she earned the
masters’ degree from the Juilliard School in 1952.
From 1952–60 the Harrels operated a private music studio
in Roslyn, New York, and Doris served as organist and
choirmaster at the Community Church in East Williston,
nearby. Two children were born during this period.
In 1960 the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and Doris
taught piano at Morningside College as well as in her own
private studio. She and Ralph jointly served as organists at
Trinity Lutheran Church. The couple frequently appeared
as piano duettists and in 1964 performed the piano solos in
the “Carnival of the Animals” (Saint-Saëns) with the Sioux
city Symphony Orchestra under Leo Kucinski.
In 1968 the family moved to San Marcos, Texas. Doris
returned to school at the University of Texas in Austin, earning the doctor of musical arts degree. During those years
she taught at Texas Lutheran College and the Universities
of Texas at Austin and San Antonio. After the completion
of her doctor’s degree she became interested in the Suzuki
method of music instruction and developed a very successful
private studio in San Marcos using that method. She was
registered as a teacher trainer for the Suzuki Association of
the Americas and has taught hundreds of Suzuki teachers,
as well as students, in workshops and institutes in 20 states
as well as in Canada, Chile, Peru, and Australia. The success
of her studio locally led to the training of many teachers in
the Central Texas area and the subsequent formation of
the Heart of Texas Suzuki Association. She has also been for
many years a continuing teacher trainer for the Houston
Area Suzuki Teachers Association. In addition, she has
served as President of the San Antonio Music Teachers Association and was named Teacher of the Year by the Austin
Music Teachers Association.
She continued to appear as a pianist, most recently as a
duo-pianist and duettist with her husband. They have
performed at two-pianos in various cities in Texas and in
Logan (Utah), Oakland, Minneapolis, Denver, and Calgary
and Orford Arts Centre (Quebec).
Doris lived her last four years in Westminster Manor in
Austin, where she enjoyed good food and lively friendships.
She is survived by two children and their families. Dean
Harrel and his wife Susan, of Pasadena, Texas, have two
sons, Leland (married to Kate Harrel) and Kent (married to
Candace Longfellow). Jennie Elliott of Lafayette, Colorado,
has son John and daughter Wendy.
Planning for a memorial service celebrating her life is on
hold pending the resolution of the coronavirus situation.
S
When you think about Doris Harrel you can think about
her Juilliard education, her long beautiful marriage to
Ralph, her family, and her career as a college teacher. You
can reflect on all her performance experiences. And of
course, you can think about her life as a Suzuki Piano teacher
trainer. You can read the obituary written by her family,
where so much of her long and productive life is detailed.
Mostly though, when we think about our musical mentors,
we think about our own personal journey with them, our
own experiences, and their huge impact on our own lives.
Doris had that impact on me and on countless other students
and teachers. Everyone who knew Doris has a personal story.
I met Doris in 1990 in the lobby of the University of Texas
music building. We walked over to the basement cafeteria to
get a cup of coffee. A friend had said I should consider doing
pedagogy training with her, but it was a big commitment.
We sat down and Doris started talking about the mother
tongue method and Dr. Suzuki’s insights into nurturing the
whole child. Before the coffee was cold, I knew I had to do
this training and I knew I had to do it with Doris.
She offered long-term teacher training in her home in
San Marcos, Texas. We would meet on Monday afternoons.
When we arrived, she would greet each of us at the door
with a hug. We would make our way to her kitchen, getting

hot coffee, tea or water. She showed us
where things were the first time but
after that we would make ourselves at
home. She would serve a simple snack,
often toasted bakery bread with jam,
and we would gather around the table.
Learning together in her home studio
we trainees became lifelong friends.
She would talk about the outline for
the day and share articles for us to
read, and we would ask questions
about the observations we were doing.
Once again, before the coffee was cold,
we were heading to the pianos.
At the pianos everybody played
everything and she showed us the
touch she was after by borrowing
our hands and playing on our arms,
learning through our senses. How did
it feel? How did it sound? She knew
when you understood it in your mind,
when you internalized it in your playing, and most importantly, when you
heard the right tone. She didn’t stop
until everybody had it.
Musical expression for Doris was
everything, but it wasn’t a mysterious
thing that only elite musicians could
achieve. She broke it down for us,
teaching classes like “How Do You
Know That?” where she helped us find
clues for interpretation in the music.
She loved the pedal and taught specific
workshops on effective pedaling. The
end goal was always the message in
the music, but in order to get there
you needed intellect as well as the right
physical approach. Mind, body, and
spirit all worked together, years before
that was a thing.
Musicality was taught from Book
One. Especially from Book One!
She taught us that even very young
children could express music with
nuances. For Doris, it all came from
the ear. Harmony, rhythm, balance,
and voicing were all approached solely
by listening. There were no little tricks
or gimmicks to make the melody sing
over the accompaniment. The teacher
simply traded back and forth, student
playing right hand, teacher playing
gentle left hand, until the student had
the correctly balanced sound in his or
her ear. The hands will do what the
ear requires, Doris would always say.
Doris loved teaching. She taught at
countless institutes. I don’t recall
a class ever finishing on time. I remember the sign she used to pull out
of her briefcase: “Beware the Attack
Musician.” We listened to Alicia de
Larrocha and Mitsuko Uchida playing
Mozart and compared the nuances of
their sonatas. Nuance was a special
word for Doris.
Doris loved learning. For her, there
was always more to learn. She was
always introducing her trainees to new
ideas and new people to learn from.
She attended Taubman sessions in her
eighties. She was open minded and
was never afraid to say she changed
her mind after learning something
new. Last fall in her nursing facility,
she attended the recital of her colleague and family friend Tim Woolsey
and had many insightful reflections
for him. Even at age 93 she was still all
about the music.
Doris loved music. Her love was
contagious. I can still hear her voice
asking “Don’t you just love that?”
regarding a deceptive cadence in a
Mozart sonata or a chromatic harmony
in a Chopin prelude. She talked about
the universal impact of music, how
after 9/11 people expressed their grief
with music. She shared with us how
while fighting pain in the hospital, her
husband Ralph hummed a Beethoven
bass line to help sooth his pain.
Doris loved people. She saw the
spark in everyone and fostered the
careers of so many of our great Suzuki
piano teachers. She brought teachers
from Austin, Houston, San Marcos,
and San Antonio together, creating
a beautiful Suzuki piano community. We would gather in her home
for dinner after weekend workshops.
Trainees, trainers, and students were
all there sharing a meal and a glass of
wine, building lifetime friendships.
She believed in all of us.
I consider Doris to be the single most
influential mentor in my musical life.
I know I’m not alone. She embodied
the Suzuki philosophy to nurture the
whole child. She nurtured each and
every trainee and every student in
her path. Her classes were the way I
want my studio—actually my whole
life—to be, an environment where
everybody is loved and respected,
where everybody grows. Doris gave
us unconditional approval and affection, while setting the highest bar in
service to the music. She reached out
her hand to lift us along our musical
journey. She blessed us so that we in
turn can bless our students. Her life,
her service, and her belief in us all,
are to me, the greatest example of Dr.
Suzuki’s words: where love is deep, much
can be accomplished.
We are so grateful for the life of Dr.
Doris Leland Harrel.
– Sara Stephens Kotrba