2009-2010 Prep Strings Staff

prepstrings@cwu.edu
Rachel Nesvig is very excited to be the new Prep Strings Program Director for the 2009-2010 school year. She is currently getting her Masters in Violin Performance and her K-12 teaching certificate. Last year, she had a great time directing the Debut Orchestra and will miss all of her Debuters a lot this year. When she is not playing violin, you can find her polishing her cello chops in KVYO or playing the Norwegian folk fiddle called the Hardanger Fiddle. Although originally from Tacoma, Rachel graduated from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with a double major in Norwegian and Music. She hopes to teach music after she graduates, whether it be orchestra, general music, band or choir. She has a strong love for traveling and hopes to teach in international schools sometime in the future. Besides performing and teaching, Rachel loves to drink coffee, go on powerwalks, and go to shows and concerts. She is looking forward to a great year with Prep Strings!

bpsmith @ cwu.edu
Bret Smith is a teacher educator, conductor, and cellist who specializes in instrumental music education. He holds degrees in music and systematic musicology from the University of Washington, where he worked with James C. Carlsen and Barbara Reeder Lundquist, and a Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy in music education from the University of Michigan, where his mentors were Robert L. Culver, James O. Froseth, Richard J. Colwell, and Anthony Elliott.

Dr. Smith has taught instrumental and vocal music from elementary to high school in Washington state, and comes to CWU from Maryland, where he taught as a member of the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Music from 1999-2005. He has served on the Executive Boards of the Washington and Maryland Music Educators Associations, and the faculty of the Maryland Summer Youth Music Camp and the Laughing Horse Youth Orchestra Festival. He has conducted numerous honor orchestras, including the Prince George's County High School Honor Orchestra in Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center in 2000. He has participated in the Aspen and Marrowstone music festivals, the International Institute for Chamber Music, and the International Workshop, where he studied conducting with William LaRue Jones and Marvin Rabin. His recent clinics include the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Eastern Division Music Educators National Conference, the American String Teachers Association national conference, and the West Virginia, Colorado, and Washington Music Educators Association state conferences. He frequently provides in-service sessions in the public schools, adjudicates orchestra festivals, and works with private arts organizations.

He enjoys performing as a member of the Yakima Symphony cello section, the string ensemble Trio Sole' (with Susan Coson and Jackie Gause), on electric cello with the trio Uku the Mighty (with John Moen and Greg Vik), as tenor banjo player in an as-yet-unnamed Dixieland band (with Curtis Peacock, David Blink, and Jeffrey Chapman), and as the lead guitar player in the classic rock band Short Term Memory (with Dale Hubbard, Todd Pederson, and Jeff Lund). He frequently collaborates in other chamber ensembles with CWU colleagues on cello, baroque cello, bass, guitar, and banjo.

Smith is co-author, with James O. Froseth, of the innovative string method Do It! Play Strings! published by GIA Publications. In addition to incorporating sequential pedagogy into authentic, diverse musical repertoire, he performed all the cello models and produced and mixed the 5 CDs that define the curriculum. His research interests include students motivation and personal investment in instrumental music study, personality and music teaching and learning, and the assessment of musical learning. He has published articles in several peer-reviewed and discipline-specific journals, including the Psychology of Music, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, the Journal of Research in Music Education, and the American String Teacher. He is currently Chair of MENC's Special Research Interest Group on Assessment.

Early Beginners Violin Class
*Master Teacher Barb Riley
Barbara Riley, violinist and violist, received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Western Washington University. While in Bellingham, WA, she was introduced to the Suzuki Method and encouraged to begin teaching. In 1988, she spent several months in Matsumoto, Japan, studying with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. For 23 years she led a busy life in Seattle, teaching violin and viola and playing in musical theater. Barbara has taught at many Suzuki Institutes including Seattle, Oregon, Idaho, Palouse and Walla Walla.
Since moving to Ellensburg, Washington in 2005, Barbara enjoys sharing the Suzuki method and philosophy with her new students and their families. She continues to be active in chamber music, orchestra and fiddling groups, and enjoys her new life on a small farm that she shares with her husband, a dog, a cat, and two horses.
*Marysa Gunning, Instructor


Beginning Strings
*Marysa Gunning, Instructor
*Sarah Schmidt, Instructor

Silver Strings
*Matt Larsen, Director
Matt is from the Tri-Cities where he graduated from Columbia Basin College with an AA degree before transfering to CWU in 2007.  With drumset as his main instrument, Matt has played in Jazz Band 1 for 2 plus years as well as the top combos in the jazz program.  Matt is married to an awesome gal named Kelly and they will be moving to Yakima in December so that Matt can student teach and find a job teaching band and orchestra.  This is his second year directing Silver Strings.
*Rachel Nesvig, Instructor

Gold Orchestra
*Samantha Sabrowsky, Director
*Michael Chapman, Instrutor
*Dorin Ellis, Instructor

Debut Orchestra
*Tim Rooney, Director
*Emily Rodgers, Instructor
*Katie Hanson, Instructor
*Jessica Jasper, Instructor

Kittitas Valley Youth Orchestra
*William Waag, Director and Graduate Teaching Assistant
*Bobby Collins, Assistant Director
*Lisa Clegg, Instructor
*Heather McRostie, Instructor
*Dan Becker, Instructor
*Jason Prindle, Instructor
*Chantel Kelley, Instructor