Meet Suzuki Pioneer Dorothy Jones

Dorothy Jones is a world renowned Suzuki specialist in Early Childhood Education. Asked to do so by Dr. Suzuki in 1985, she founded and directed for 12 years, a Suzuki School in London Ontario Canada. It was designated by the International Suzuki Association (ISA) in 1993, as a world Teacher Training Centre for Suzuki Early Childhood Education.

 

Named a Teacher trainer in the SAA, the ESA, and the PPSA, she is a Past President of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) and was for 10 years a board member of the ISA. She was also a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of Ontario(SAO) and served a two year term as President of that organization. She has also been a Suzuki parent, Suzuki Piano Teacher Trainer and keynote speaker at conferences and workshops around the world for the past 25 years.

 

Her consultations have assisted individuals and schools in Canada, USA, Latin America, Switzerland, Australia, Great Britain Singapore, Japan, Denmark New Zealand and Korea.

Leena Kareoja-Crothers

 

Leena Kareoja-Crothers teaches the group piano classes for Alyla Suzuki. She is a world class musician and the only SAA registered teacher trainer for piano in New England. She founded the Suzuki Piano program at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven CT in 1976. Graduate of the Music Conservatory in Lahti Finland; State Music Academy in Vienna. Additional studies with Samson Francois in France and Karl Engel in Germany. Recitals, orchestra solos in Finland, Austria, Germany. U.S. recordings for state radio in Finland Sweden and Austria. She has won numerous honors for her superb playing and teaching abilities. She recorded Suzuki Piano Books 1-3, and her own Boook 4, for student use. She recently co-authored with Mary Craig Powell, the syllabus for the newly revised Suzuki piano book 6. Alyla offers individual apprenticeship programs with Leena for Suzuki piano teacher training in collaboration with NMS and Westport Suzuki School.

 

Lynn McCall

 

Lynn McCall is the Director and co-founder of the Alyla Suzuki Center in Woodbridge Connecticut. In 2006 she brought the pilot program for Suzuki Early Childhood Education to Connecticut. She is the Founding Director of the SECE program at the Cobb Montessori School in Simsbury Ct. and served as Director of Early Childhood programs at the Bethwood School in New Haven where she also taught Suzuki piano. Lynn has been a clinician for teacher workshops and a presenter at the 2010 SAA conference. At the 2012 SAA conference Lynn will be a presenter and is the SECE Coordinator. Currently she is a speaker for the SAA Parents As Partners online series. She has completed extensive SECE training with Dorothy Jones and has assisted her in teacher training. In addition, she has maintained a private piano studio since 1995.

Laura Speno


Laura Speno is the co-founder of the Alyla Suzuki Center. She received her B.M. and M.M. from the University of Hawaii. She had extensive Suzuki training from Hiroko Primrose and attained short-term training at summer institutes from the Hartt School of Music, Hartford, CT, The American Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah. Mrs. Speno has taught Suzuki Violin for 18 years and was the String Director at the Bethwood Suzuki School at which time she brought her students to perform at many venues including Carnegie Hall in New York City. In addition to teaching Suzuki Violin, Laura has taught Early Childhood classes for many years. She has now completed three levels of Suzuki Early Childhood Education in London, Ontario with Dorothy Jones.

 

Veronica Kiss

 

Veronica Kiss graduated magna cum laude with honors, earning a B.A. in Music from Mount Holyoke College. She received her M.Phil. in Musicology at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She has performed as a violinist in several ensembles throughout the U.S. and Europe, including local orchestras such as the Hartford, New Haven, Eastern Connecticut, and Bridgeport Symphonies, and chamber ensembles in Cambridge. She also participated in several festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and Bowdoin Summer Music.


Veronica has had more than 15 years of teaching experience. She began as a T.A. for Suzuki violin group classes as a teenager, and later taught at the Community Music School in Centerbrook, CT and Bethwood Suzuki School in Woodbridge, CT. At Bethwood, she served as the Coordinator of the Advanced Student Program and headed the Music Theory Program. In addition to teaching, Veronica helped write the educational curriculum guides for two Young People’s Concerts at the New Haven Symphony.

 

Veronica grew up on Suzuki, starting violin lessons at the age of 7. She has completed her teacher training in Suzuki Violin Books 1 through 4 with Allen Lieb, Edmund Sprunger, and Roger Stieg. Veronica currently maintains a violin studio where she teaches both Suzuki and traditional violin. She also teaches small chamber ensembles. Veronica is excited to join Alyla Suzuki Center as an Apprentice to its Early Childhood Program in the fall.