Ms. Nancy Modell

As a teacher trainer and private studio director, Nancy Modell enhances classic Suzuki piano pedagogy with a curriculum that nurtures original musical composition. She also promotes the Taubman Approach, giving pianists transformative tools for physical health and musical expressivity.

Nancy graduated from Ithaca College School of Music earning degrees in piano performance and education. She studied the international Suzuki Approach with Sanford Reuning, Carole Bigler, and Valery Lloyd-Watts.

Established in Springfield, NJ since 1992, Nancy Modell’s Suzuki Piano Studio embraces Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy that ‘Every Child Can!’, Nancy and her studio community strive to foster an anti-racist and equitable music studio culture. Her students are exposed to diverse genres and composers, expanding their musical horizons beyond the Suzuki repertoire. She encourages musicians to explore composers from underrepresented backgrounds (women, BIPOC, etc.) and music from their cultural heritage. Students of all levels compose original music at Nancy Modell’s Suzuki Piano Studio.  Through these practices, the studio becomes a safe space for young musicians and their families to practice creativity, curiosity, compassion, and community-building in a musical setting—values that they can apply in their lives beyond the studio.

Nancy embarked on her journey as a Suzuki teacher trainer by introducing the Suzuki Piano method in Israel in the 1980s and training local piano teachers in her Jerusalem studio. Since then, hundreds of Suzuki teachers have begun or continued their training under Nancy’s mentorship.  Nancy remains committed to advancing the Suzuki Approach and is dedicated to expanding access to training for prospective teachers whose identities will diversify and nurture the Suzuki community.

Nancy has been honored to serve as a clinician at various international, national, and local teacher forums and workshops. She has trained Suzuki piano teachers privately, at institutes, and universities. Nancy has presented her approach to teaching original composition at the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy (2023), the Suzuki Association of the Americas (2014, 2016, 2024), 1era Convención Suzuki de las Américas in Mexico (2019), National Association for Music Education (2016), the New Jersey Music Teachers Association (2017), the New Jersey Education Association (2017), the Taubman Festival (2018), the Piano Teachers Congress of New York (2019), the Piano Teachers Forum of NJ (2017), and the Piano Pedagogy Summer Institute (2024).

She currently serves on the SAA Board of Directors, is Piano Coordinator and Teacher Enrichment Advisor for the New Jersey Suzuki Workshop, Chair of the Piano Teachers Forum of NJ’s Composer Showcase, Chair of the Music Educators Association of NJ’s Composers’ Corner and served as a past MEA-NJ President.