Carol Tarr is an active teacher and performer in the United States.  Currently, she is an adjunct professor of Cello Pedagogy at the University of Denver, Lamont School of Music.  She maintains a busy studio in her home in Lakewood, Colorado.  She also teaches students at Beth Eden Baptist School, Lakewood.  She has taught at Cleveland Institute of Music, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Northern Colorado, and Beloit College, Wisconsin.  Several of her former students are teaching in notable institutions:   Cleveland Institute of Music, Music Institute of Chicago, Capital University, Columbus, OH, and Converse College, South Carolina.  Two of her students now have careers as professional concert cellists:  Alisha Weilerstein, and Julie Albers.  Both are under management and perform regularly with major orchestras throughout the world. Carol has been invited to teach in over 30 states in the US, five provinces in Canada, England, Spain, Denmark, Indonesia, China, Japan, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.   In the Denver area she developed the cello program and the music theory curriculum for Denver Talent Education and currently serves as their artistic advisor.  The Suzuki Method of instruction is her basis for work—as she believes as Dr. Suzuki, did,   “All children can learn, given the right environment.”   There is no greater gift you can give you child, than the opportunity to study music. Carol has a Bachelor of Music in cello performance from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, Md.   She is a Suzuki Association of the Americas Registered Teacher Trainer and a nationally certified teacher of music, American Music Teachers’ Association.  In 2004 she was the cello coordinator for the American String Teachers’ convention in Dallas.  She has served on the board of directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, twice president of the Suzuki Association of Colorado, and is currently working with the Federation of Music Clubs—to revise the cello portion of their syllabus. Making it possible for young people to learn, play, and enjoy music is her passion!!

Reiko Imrie, pianist and native of Osaka, Japan, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance and finished the extended Master course from Soai University in Osaka.  She has extensive performance experience in Japan as both a soloist and chamber musician, and has performed with a number of orchestras, including the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. Reiko was named Best New Artist in the 1987 Naniwa New Artist Competition sponsored by the Sankei News Group. She also won both the Osaka Prefectural Governor’s Award and the Osaka Mayor’s Award. The Sankei Newspaper music critic wrote of Reiko’s “exceptional expression informed in her music.” In 1988 Reiko won First Prize in the French Music Competition, sponsored by the French Embassy and Air France, held in Osaka. Reiko taught several years at Okayama Women's College and gave frequent master classes at Yamaha music schools and Kawai music school in Osaka. Reiko moved to Minnesota in 1999 and joined the MacPhail faculty that same year. She resides in St. Louis Park with her husband, Rob, and their cats, Hana-chan and Kuro.

Mary Sheedy Kurcinka is a best-selling author and internationally recognized lecturer and parent educator. Her books Raising Your Spirited Child, Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook; Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles; and Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving or Missing  Sleep have been translated into ten languages.  As director of parentchildhelp.com, Mary provides training nationally and internationally for families and professionals, including medical personnel, educators, and social service providers who serve families. Licensed as a parent educator and early childhood teacher, she has pioneered efforts to bring topics such as temperament, neurobiology, the importance of sleep, and emotion coaching into homes, schools, medical practices, and businesses. She is as comfortable as a keynote speaker for major professional conferences as she is working one on one with families in their homes or teachers in their classrooms.  Known for her real-life examples, Mary links research-based information with typical challenging behaviors and provides practical solutions that really work. Her presentations have helped hundreds of thousands of parents and professionals to understand children better, and themselves as well.  Mary’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Parenting magazine, Good Housekeeping, Parent Magazine, Working Mother, First for Women, and Speaker Magazine and on Good Morning America, National Public Radio, Good Morning Canada, Fox Nine News Good Day, and many other national and local television, radio, magazine, and newspaper venues.  She has also presented at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, National Conference.  A former director of one of Minnesota's largest Early Childhood Family Education programs, Mary is the founder of the Spirited Child and Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles workshops. She also provides individual parent consultations for families and professionals.   Mary graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota with a master's degree in Family Social Science and from Iowa State University with a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education.  Born on a third-generation dairy farm, Mary lives with her husband in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the proud mother of one son and one daughter — now adults with whom she loves to spend time. 

NANCY LOKKEN directs Augsburg College Suzuki Talent Education (ACSTE) in Minneapolis, where she also teaches Suzuki pedagogy as a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She studied with Dr. Suzuki in Japan and is an active Clinician and Teacher Trainer at institutes and workshops throughout North America. She is a founding member and first President of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota, and served on the board of the American String Teachers’ Association of Minnesota. She was the Coordinator of the 30th Anniversary Conference of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) in 2002, has presented at SAA and American String Teachers’ Association (ASTA) National Conferences, and currently serves on the SAA Teacher Development Committee. Ms. Lokken has taught in Bermuda, Canada, Spain, Mexico, and Peru. The ACSTE students were selected to perform in the International Ensembles Concert at the SAA Conference in 2004, invited to perform in Mexico City at the 4th International CEDROS-UP Festival in 2005 and 2010, and have toured in throughout Mexico and Spain. Ms. Lokken was honored by the American String Teachers Association with the award of Master Teacher for the state of Minnesota in 1998.