Reflections on Serving on the SAA Board of Directors

Wendy Azrak has been teaching Suzuki violin since 1974. She trained and worked with leading teachers and pioneers of the Suuzki method here in the United States. She was the director of the Scio Ridge Suzuki Studio and on the faculty of the Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute. She had an active studio in her home in Ann Arbor Michigan where she taught both violin and viola students .
Wendy is a Teacher Trainer in violin and especially enjoys getting teachers started on their Suzuki journey.
Wendy has her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Michigan. She is also a Certified Music Practitioner and is a Bedside Musician at the University of Michigan Hospital.
Wendy had the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors for SAA from 2014-17.
In June 2017 Wendy retired from active teaching to move to Charlotte, NC to be with family.

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Holly Blackwelder Carpenter A Suzuki teacher since 1995, Holly directed the Japan Seattle Suzuki Institute from 2010-2018 and served on the SAA Board from 2014-2016. Holly is currently the Strings Director at Rogers Adventist School where she directs three orchestras and teaches a full studio of private violin students.

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Susan Montzka McDonald is Suzuki Coordinator at the Community Music School of Webster University, where she has taught for over 35 years. She has taught at numerous Suzuki workshops and institutes from California to Florida. She is a registered SAA Violin Teacher Trainer, and has served on the SAA Board of Directors.

Susan began her study of the violin as a Suzuki student of Kazuko Numanami in Oberlin, Ohio. She earned her BM in Music Education from Lawrence University Conservatory and her MA in Violin Performance from Western Illinois University, where she studied Suzuki Pedagogy with Almita Vamos. She continued her long-term pedagogy study with John Kendall at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Susan currently performs with the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis. She is also the mother of two Suzuki violin graduates.

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