About the MMC

Creating the proper environment is essential to building an enriching music education. From the earliest stages of learning to play a musical instrument, it is vital that students be surrounded by the kind of music that they are studying. An awakening of the ear occurs only when the student and those involved in his or her education understand what optimal sound is and how to best achieve it. The widely respected teacher, Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, built his entire methodology of music education upon this foundation. MMC instruction incorporates the principals of Suzuki's "mother tongue" method of learning music as language, as well as those established by other renowned music educators.

Playing an instrument provides a vehicle for artistic expression through which one is able to create a voice. For this creative impulse to take root, students must be given the tools they need early on, to begin to decode the language of music while understanding proper technique. This process requires a delicate balance between challenging students to do their best and providing encouragement in a warm, welcoming atmosphere that fosters learning and enjoyment. The MMC's proven methodology and supportive approach result in happy and enthusiastic students at a high rate of continuation of studies and overall improvement in skills.

Music lessons can also be a vehicle to teach larger life lessons, and this principle is at the core of the MMC philosophy. The MMC offer students an opportunity to develop self-esteem, responsibility, self-discipline, and patience through substantial personal accomplishment. The MMC has the broad goal to impart these fundamental values to students and to help them bring greater meaning to their lives through their connection with music.

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In 1992, Marie was awarded a music scholarship to attend the University of the Pacific Conservatory in Stockton, California, where she studied with Michael Allard and James Stern, who both influenced her and encouraged her to pursue a teaching career. She began offering private lessons in after-school programs in her hometown in 1993, after her first teacher-training class with Michele Higa George at the Chicago Suzuki Institute. Her music education continued at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1995 to 1998.

Her move to Chicago in 1999 brought about noteworthy developments in her career. Through her work with violinist and founding member of Callisto Ensemble Stefan Hersh, Marie learned a systematic approach to playing the violin that would dramatically expand both her performance and teaching capabilities. Additionally, Marie further refined her teaching methododology through study with renowned Suzuki pedagogue Edward Kreitman of the Western Springs School of Talent Education from 2003 through 2005.

Through the years, Marie has continued to teach both in her own private studio and in Chicago area schools. In 2003, as part of an outreach program offered by the Steckman Studio of Music, she launched the first Suzuki violin program at the Healy Elementary School in Bridgeport. Her private studio continued to flourish while she also taught theory, ensemble and private lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music from 2003 to 2005. Marie has also served as a summer teacher for the Western Springs School of Talent Education.

Marie attributes her great success as a music educator to the varied approaches of her own excellent music educators as well as her enduring perseverance as a violinist and teacher, following the path she has always passionately believed to be her calling since she was a young girl.

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