Ms. Joanna Smit Nelson

Joanna Smit Nelson runs a violin and viola studio out of her home in Winfield, PA. She recently moved to Pennsylvania from Maine, where she was a Suzuki Violin and Viola Faculty member of the Pineland Suzuki School in Manchester, the Director of Snow Pond Community Music School in Sidney, and Music Director at the United Church of Christ in Waterville.
Joanna received a BM in Music Education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN where she studied viola with Charles Gray, voice with Dr. Alison Feldt and conducting with Dr. Anton Armstrong. Joanna was a young Suzuki student herself, and began her violin studies at the age of four in Manhattan, KS. She has done Suzuki teacher training at the Chicago and Cleveland Suzuki Institutes, and is an active member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has held teaching positions in public schools, community music schools and directed church choirs. Before moving to Maine in 2012, Joanna was the choir director at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hanover, NH, on the Suzuki faculty of the Upper Valley Music Center in Lebanon, NH, and the Program Director of the Upper Valley Music Center. She is a passionate teacher and welcomes students of all ages into her violin and viola studio. She enjoys drawing on her backgrounds in both vocal and instrumental music in all her performing and teaching endeavors.