Pineland Suzuki School Teachers

Ellen is a fiddler, specializing in the musical styles from the State of Maine, which includes: Scots/Irish, French Canadian, and Maritime traditions. Her music has taken far and wide with several groups, including travel and perform with family. Ellen has been a Suzuki teacher since 1986 and is dedicated to the ways that Suzuki method and fiddling intersect and benefit each other. Ellen is a founding member and top youth instructor of Maine Fiddle Camp. Betsy Kobayashi and Ellen co-founded the Pineland Suzuki School together in 1993 by combining their programs and creating group classes. Their long, rich experience together through all the bumps and celebrated moments, has included dreaming up every aspect of the school and all its functions. Ellen created the fiddling branch of the school, recording on 3 occasions, and inspiring the students by taking trips to thriving fiddling places: Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Ireland, Turkmenistan, and most recently, Shetland. Ellen says, “PSS was formative for my family and set my 3 girls on a beautiful path of music making. They have come away with a belief in themselves that anything is possible that they got in no small part from the Suzuki method.”

Betsy has been teaching violin and viola lessons, coaching chamber music, conducting orchestras on occasion since 1976, and freelancing on violin and viola. After studying with Dr. Suzuki in Matsumoto, Japan for 2 years, Betsy got married to ‘the wonderful guy’ Naoto, and lived in Tokyo for another 5 years immersed in the culture of the Suzuki Method in Japan. When they moved to Maine, Ellen Gawler and she got their students together for group classes and Pineland Suzuki School was born! Her three children studied in PSS. Even though they do not play music now, they have a great love and respect for people and music, hard work, beauty, discipline and detail.

Anne McKee (violin) hails from Hallowell, where she began playing the violin at age four through Pineland Suzuki School. She recently completed her Master of Music degree at Boston Conservatory under the tutelage of Dr. Katie Lansdale. Some of her recent musical accolades include first prize in Midcoast Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, second prize at Peter E. Tannenwald Young Artist Competition, and finalist in Boston Conservatory’s all-school concerto competition. In addition to long-term study with Betsy Kobayashi, Lydia Forbes, and Eva Gruesser, Anne has taken masterclasses with Sergiu Schwartz, Alexi Kenney, Grigory Kalinovsky, and Joseph Lin, as well as members of the Ying, Jupiter, Lydian, and Ariel Quartets. She has enjoyed attending Bowdoin International Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Promisek Bach+ Workshop, and Harvard Music Festival. Most recently, Anne was invited to perform at Music From Salem (NY) as one of two Emerging Artists in their summer concert series. Anne is not only a dedicated performer but a passionate teacher and community builder. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 2020, Anne worked on a Maine island called Islesboro for two years as a community engagement fellow. There, she started the island’s first-ever violin program, teaching up to twenty students per week, and every summer she returns to hold a violin workshop for learners of all ages. Anne moved back to central Maine this summer to begin her music career teaching at Pineland Suzuki School and Bay Chamber, as well as performing around New England in orchestral and chamber music settings. Her pedagogy is heavily informed by Suzuki training from Terry Durbin, Laurie Scott, and Ann Montzka-Smelser, string pedagogy courses from Rictor Noren at Boston Conservatory, and her own experience as a Suzuki kid at Pineland Suzuki School.

Lori grew up in Endicott, New York, and began playing violin at the age of 8. After her first year of lessons in public school, she began taking private lessons and studied the Suzuki method until the age of 18. She was also a member of the Binghamton Junior Symphony in Junior High and served as concert mistress in her 8th grade year. In High School she joined the Binghamton Youth Symphony Senior orchestra. She was a member of her high school orchestra and second violinist in her high school quartet. She competed yearly in the New York State music festival as a chamber group member, orchestra member, and in solo performance. After moving to Maine in her early 20’s she took a 14 year hiatus from playing the violin. After some child rearing and other major life changes, she resumed playing violin in late 2001. She has studied privately with Steve Kecskemethy, principal violinist of the Portland String Quartet. Lori attended Suzuki teacher training classes for Suzuki instruction at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, Hart Music School in Hartford, Connecticut, and Stanford University in Paolo Alto, California. Lori is an active board member of the Maine Suzuki Association and is a certified Music Together teacher. She teaches group classes with the Pineland Suzuki School based in Manchester, Maine. She is an assistant organizer of the Capital Strings advanced performance group. She currently has a studio of 26 private students, ranging in age from 3-17. She is the orchestra manager and mentor of the Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony Orchestras in Augusta, Maine. She is also a member of the Colby College Symphony Orchestra in Waterville, ME. Occasionally, she plays piano trios and string quartets with other area musicians. In her spare time, Lori enjoys playing violin and cello duets with her husband for public events and just for fun.

Deirdre Wood Becher grew up in southern California in a musical family of six siblings who all play classical violin, Celtic fiddle and step dance as well.   Deirdre began learning violin from a Suzuki violin teacher when she was 4 years old. She continued with Suzuki and classical violin throughout her childhood years and also became immersed in the Irish and Scottish music world. She and her siblings attended fiddle camps every summer where they learned from the top Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton fiddlers and dancers. Their love and dedication to music and dance evolved into a family fiddle and dance band, Celtic Spring.  Celtic Spring performed at festivals, schools, and theaters throughout the United States and brought them to shows in Australia and Europe. Their band was featured on multiple television series including Good Morning America, the Today Show, and America's Got Talent, in which they placed in the top five of Season One.  After college, Deirdre began a fiddle/violin and stepdance school in California and her students performed at many local venues. Two of Deirdre's fiddle students have competed at the Scottish Fiddle Nationals in Pennsylvania and both won first in the Junior competition.   In 2019, Deirdre, with her husband and kids, relocated to Maine and were thrilled to discover the wonderful music culture of Maine.  Deirdre is so happy for this opportunity to share the joy of step dance and fiddle with PSS students!

Matt has a Bachelor's degree in Viola Performance and a Master's in Contemporary Improvisation on mandolin and violin from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

As long as she can remember Maisie Newell has played the fiddle! Her musical experiences have run the gamut from playing in a bicycling circus band touring through Greece to playing in the orchestra for the World Ballet in Charlotte N.C. Maisie grew up with fiddling and Maine's rich traditional music at the contradances. She studied the Suzuki method with Betsy Koboyashi at Pineland Suzuki School's beginnings and then went on to study at USM and the Hayes Conservatory in N.C. She then had a good long adventure around the country and working on organic farms, sharing traditional music and good food and exploring many exciting musical styles from southern old time to Romanian Roma fiddling and had many amazing performance opportunities with family bands, orchestras, string bands, dance bands and various pit bands for performance art and circus along the way. Maisie soon realized she couldn't beat Maine and moved to Montville where she now lives with her husband and kids. She farms and teaches. She especially still loves playing with her family (and friends and students) for contradances. The Suzuki method helps nurture not only fine musicians but fine people. Thank you to Betsy and Ellen for all the inspiration and to Pineland Suzuki School teachers and students for all the hard work and beautiful music!

Judy began teaching at Pineland Suzuki School in September 2022. She began playing viola with Midcoast Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2019, shortly after she moved to Westport Island, ME from NJ. Prior to the move, she worked as a freelance musician in the PA-NJ-DE area for many years, performing with orchestras including the Philly Pops, Delaware Symphony, Reading Symphony, Kennett Square Symphony and Bay-Atlantic Symphony. She was part of back-up bands for shows in Atlantic City casinos for many years and performed with Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Natalie Cole among others.She has also had extensive experience performing and coaching chamber music.

Barbara Paschke was raised in Plattsburgh, NY. At the insistence of her parents, both educators who believed in music as an essential part of education, she started cello through the school music program in third grade. She soon discovered her passion for music and continued her education at Ithaca College. After undergraduate school Barbara moved to Boston where she received a Master’s in Music Performance from New England Conservatory. At the suggestion of a friend who had studied with Dr. Suzuki, she became interested in the Suzuki method and feels fortunate to have studied with many esteemed Suzuki cello teachers including Gilda Barston and Rick Mooney. Barbara and her husband David are both long time cellists with the Portland Symphony, commuting many years from Stow, MA. In Stow she maintained a studio of over 40 students ranging in age from 3 to 80. In 2019, they moved to Poland Maine. She has led the cello groups at the Maine Suzuki festival in both 2022 and 2023. She joined the Pineland Suzuki School in 2023, where she teaches newly recruited beginners and coaches a more advanced chamber group. Barbara is hoping to add more cellists to the strong string training program in Central Maine. Building a warm and inspiring rapport with her students, her approach is a positive, playful approach to learning good technique and helping students to find a new voice with their music.

Colin has been teaching violin and viola to students of all ages for 15 years and is thrilled to be teaching in Maine. He is currently the Orchestra Director for the Waterville Public Schools. Colin previously taught at East Lyme Middle School in Connecticut and the Rhode Island Philharmonic School. A native of Bellingham Washington, Colin earned his BM in Viola Performance at Oberlin Conservatory studying with Peter Slowik, his MM in Viola Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he was a student of Atar Arad, and his graduate degree in teaching from Oberlin Conservatory. An avid chamber musician, Colin plays with Halcyon String Quartet and has performed for members of the Emerson, Pacifica, Cleveland, Concord, and Takas quartets and for Yo Yo Ma. He has collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Robert Spano, Menahem Pressler, and Jeremy Denk. Colin’s teaching is influenced by his work with Mimi Zweig at the Indiana University String Academy, Suzuki Teacher training, and the many musical and pedagogical mentors that have shaped his approach to sharing music with young people. When not performing and teaching, Colin enjoys spending time outdoors, running marathons, beekeeping, and gardening.

Brendan was born in Ivins, Utah, and started playing piano at the age of five. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Vermont. Brendan has worked in summer camps as a Music Specialist and Accompanist for camp Broadway shows, including Seussical, Rock of Ages, James and the Giant Peach, Hello Dolly and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! He has worked on a variety of music projects such as music composition and fine arts collaborations, the development of music engagement activities and improvisational piano works. Currently, he teaches private lessons at Snow Pond Center for the Arts, has released a piano album and serves as the Piano Accompanist at Hall-Dale Schools, the Pineland Suzuki Strings program, Penney Memorial Baptist Church, and the CODA Chorus.