Kathryn B. Drake

Kathryn Drake (they/them) is a violin faculty member of Ithaca Talent Education in Ithaca, New York. They graduated with a M.M. in Suzuki Pedagogy and Violin Performance from Ithaca College where they did long term Suzuki training with Carrie Reuning-Hummel. Drake’s work is focused on the use of violin mastery as a landscape for inner work from a very young age.

Drake began violin in the Suzuki Method at the age of four with Deanna Badgett, and later studied with Tim Washecka and Kristi Manno. They attended The University of Texas at Austin where they studied Violin Performance under the instruction of Sandy Yamamoto and the Miró Quartet while also completing dozens of hours of elective pedagogy courses with Dr. Laurie Scott and Dr. Robert Duke. While in Austin, Drake taught at Monarch Suzuki Academy and The University of Texas String Project, maintaining a studio of over 20 while also a full-time student.

While in graduate school, Drake lived in residence at the Ithaca Zen Center where they explored concepts of stillness, oneness and emptiness. Their critical look into the teachings of Shinichi Suzuki (a Zen practitioner himself) through the lens of Zen philosophy has yielded an original approach to teaching the Suzuki Method.