Ms. Bekka E. Eöwind

Violin Teacher, Parent

Bekka Eöwind

SAA Member

Contact

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Bekka Eller Eöwind (Schellenberg), violinist, began her studies in the Suzuki method at age 3. She joined the Suzuki School of Newton faculty in 2000, and from 2005 to 2018, also directed an independent Suzuki studio in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. In 2018, she joined the faculty at Música Franklin in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She also directs her own private studio, Woodland Musicians, in Southern Vermont.

A life-long lover of Classical studies and Ancient civilizations, Bekka earned a B.A. in Latin with a minor in music from the University of Rochester, while pursuing her violin studies and Suzuki teacher training at Eastman with Anastasia Jempelis. She passionately dedicated her free time to the University’s musical ensembles, continuing her studies at the graduate program at SIUE in Edwardsville, IL, with Carol Smith and Vera McCoy-Sulentic. Bekka has formerly taught Suzuki violin in Greater St. Louis, Iowa City, the Cedar Rapids Symphony School, and Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She has taught as a clinician at the Suzuki:MA annual festival, where she also filled the role of Director for the 2017 Festival.

As a student, Bekka and her siblings enjoyed a supportive family environment for their music, each exploring a number of different instruments in local Suzuki studios and public school strings programs in the Washington D. C. area. Their mother is a Suzuki piano teacher, and father plays saxophone in area jazz bands. Among her Suzuki violin teachers were: Neva Greenwood, Doris McLaughlin, and Ronda Cole. She studied piano with Barbara Eller and Michiko Yurko, flute with Charlotte Day, and learned cello, clarinet, trombone, and bass in the school programs. She considers bass as her second instrument. Thanks to her parents’ enthusiasm for Suzuki method, she attended many summer institutes, at first as a student, then as a teacher trainee during college, and finally as a parent of two young violinists.

Since 1991, she has facilitated various home-school strings groups, played in pit orchestras and symphony orchestras, performed in faculty recitals with her colleagues, and played fiddle and bass as a member of a folk string band with her husband, who plays banjo and guitar. She home-schooled her two children, both of whom studied Suzuki violin, traditional piano, and non-classical guitar. Her cat Onyx plays early-morning harp and acoustic guitar, whichever has the most playful string set. Her favorite Suzuki piece is the Bach Double, and she loves to teach violin group classes.