Strings

Katie Butler

I truly love teaching. I enjoy watching my students develop into music lovers and achieve competency on their instruments.

My strengths are an abundance of patience, and an ability to work with all learning styles. As such, while I teach students of all ages I am particularly well suited to teaching the very young beginner. I use many of the techniques that I learned in my Suzuki teacher training while incorporating notation reading that I consider to be important. Piano lends itself so well to notation reading that I do not use the Suzuki method.

Poppea Dorsam

Poppea Dorsam received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Boston University where she studied with Michael Reynolds and George Neikurg and was a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. Undergraduate studies were completed at Oberlin Conservatory under Andor Toth Jr.

Alisa Rose

Alisa is a member of the Real Vocal String Quartet and Quartet San Francisco, who was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for their album "QSF plays Brubeck".

Alisa has performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Blue Highway Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, on PBS "Song of the Mountains", and in Carnegie Hall. With 49 Special she won the 2009 Rockygrass Band Competition.

Sherry Lewis

Music has always been a big part of my life with both teaching and performing. I enjoy conveying my musical knowledge to those that are eager to learn, for self-enrichment or with a professional goal in mind.

India Cooke

India Cooke, violinist, composer and educator, plays a wide range of music from classical to jazz. India has performed in San Francisco Bay Area symphony and opera orchestras, chamber ensembles, and Broadway shows. As one of California's most respected contract artists, she has performed as featured soloist with Joe Williams and the Louie Bellson Orchestra, and has played with Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and many others. Her continuing jazz and improvisation experiences include performances with Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Pauline Oliveros and many others.

Tyler Lewis

Tyler Lewis, Violinist, received his B.A. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while under the instruction of Bettina Mussumeli. Previous instructors include Nathan Rubin, Concert Master of Oakland East Bay Symphony, and Eric Hansen, professor at Cal State Hayward. Specializing in Baroque and Modern music, Tyler has appeared in groups such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Santa Rosa Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and has performed at Festival De Sole in the Napa Valley and St. Paul's International Chamber Music Festival.

Colyn Fischer

Colyn C. Fischer (born 1977, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) has been playing the violin since the age of three and has been Scottish fiddling since the age of five. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance in Violin from Wheaton College, Illinois, and has recorded with various ensembles and genres including classical, rock, jazz, and Scottish.

Colyn has performed professionally with numerous orchestras in the Chicago and Pittsburgh areas.