Dr. Michelle Chinn Cannon

Dr. Michelle Chinn Cannon graduated from Boise State University with a BA, completed an MM in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy at East Carolina University, and recently finished her PhD from the University of North Carolina Greensboro researching music, neuroscience and autism. Dr. Cannon began an inquiry into how music may help children with autism under the supervision of Joanne Bath at East Carolina and created a pilot Suzuki violin program instructing 21 preschoolers with autism over a nine-month period. Through her PhD research at UNC Greensboro, Michelle found significant increases in cortical activation and social/communication skills in children with autism after only 20 weeks of instrumental musical study.  Currently Dr. Michelle Chinn Cannon serves as co-director and instructor of violin and viola at the Community Suzuki Music School, a non-proft dedicated to the musical instruction of children and adults of all incomes, abilities and disabilities.