Faculty & Board of Directors
Faculty Members
Ingrid Wieler
Ingrid founded The Suzuki Academy in 2002. She currently teaches nearly 60 private violin students aged 3 and older as well as early childhood music classes for 0-3 year olds. Ingrid began studying Suzuki violin at age 4 with Mary Cay Neal, director of the Buffalo Suzuki Strings. While in high school, Ingrid also studied with Charles Castleman at the Eastman School of Music and then continued study with Nancy Cirillo at Wellesley College, where she served as concert master of the Wellesley College Philharmonic. Ingrid has studied Suzuki pedagogy at the Suzuki Teacher Institute at Ithaca College and the American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. In addition, she has completed workshops in Suzuki Early Childhood Education with Susan Grilli and Dorothy Jones. Her interests include the schools of Reggio Emilia, learning processes, and pedagogical methods and environments. Her favorite hobbies are swimming and travel. After a detour as a corporate attorney for a large law firm in Silicon Valley, Ingrid served as an assistant teacher for the toddler class at Follow the Child Montessori School in Raleigh, NC and attended courses in elementary education at the North Carolina Center for Montessori Teacher Education. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Wellesley College and her J.D. from Cornell Law School. Ingrid lives in Pittsboro with her husband, little son and big dog.
Edith Gettes
Edith, also a former Suzuki child, teaches group classes for the Suzuki Academy. She received her Masters of Music from Indiana University and studied Suzuki pedagogy with Dr. Suzuki for 5 months in Matsumoto. She was a Suzuki teacher in the Triangle area for 10 years. She then went to medical school and is now a psychiatry resident at UNC with a particular interest in the learning process. Edith will be giving a presentation on Music, Neuroscience and Suzuki at the 2007 Suzuki Association of the Americas leadership retreat. She has 2 daughters, Sophia and Hannah, who are Suzuki violin students. Her husband, Jason, often accompanies us with his cello at group classes.
Ingrid Tung
See bio above.
Mary Cay Neal
Mary is the music director of the Buffalo Suzuki Strings, which she founded in 1968 and which provides music instruction to over 300 children. Mary Cay was a pioneer of Suzuki pedagogy in the U.S. and has studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki on many occasions. Mary Cay is a registered teacher trainer and has served on the Suzuki Association of the America's Board of Directors for three terms.
Aaron Lubeck
Aaron brings 9 years experience in start-up environments specializing in grant-writing and fundraising as well as recruiting, training and development. Currently, Aaron is the managing partner of ResiQuest, a real estate investment group based in Durham, NC.