Mrs. Ellen K. Rizner

Ellen Rizner first observed the Suzuki Method in 1976 at the American Suzuki Institute in Steven’s Point Wisconsin. Dr Suzuki was present at the Institute and was available for long teacher and parent discussion sessions in the evenings. While at Steven’s Point, she had a chance to observe the famous “diaper class” taught by Kay Slone. She then signed up for one of the first teacher training courses at the University of Louisville, taught by Kay Slone.

Mrs. Rizner has taken teacher training from Kay Slone, Doris Preucil, Betty Dyer, Gerri Arnold, and Alice Joy Lewis. She spent many summers observing amazing teachers while taking her own children to Steven’s Point and to Blue Lake Suzuki Camp in Michigan.

Ellen Rizner is a graduate of Northern Michigan University with a degree in Music Education. She taught in the Alpena, Michigan Public Schools and has maintained a Suzuki Violin studio for over 40 years in Holland, Michigan. Many of her students have gone on to become teachers and performers and all have gone on to be fine human beings as Dr Suzuki hoped!

Mrs. Rizner plays in the Holland Symphony Orchestra and the Bogaard String Quartet. She is the mother of two grown children: Caitlin White, an orchestra teacher in Hinsdale, Illinois and Ben, who is a viola playing National Park Ranger! Her husband, Gary, recently retired after 39 years of teaching middle school orchestra for the West Ottawa Public Schools in Holland.