Alison Maerker Garner: VITA
EDUCATION
Indiana University, BM Performance (violin) with Josef Gingold, Paul Biss 1986
University of Tennessee, MS Music Education (piano) and Child Development with an Emphasis on Interrelated Arts 1993
Suzuki Piano Registration and Every Child Can with Fay Adams, UT 2009
Suzuki Violin Registration Books 1-10 with William Starr, Boulder, Co 2000
Kodaly Certification for early childhood, Belmont University 1995
Orff Certification for early childhood, University of Kentucky 1994
Dalcroze apprenticeship with Marvelene Moore, UT 1992-1994
Modern Dance training 1968-1983; Circle Modern Dance 2009: Ballet, Jazz, Mime, Choreography training 1979-1982; Studio Art (intermittent) instruction and art history 1975-1991
Master’s Thesis Developmentally Appropriate Music, Dance, and Art Activities 1993
EXPERIENCE: TEACHING AND PERFORMANCE
Coordinator Studio2 Music Program 1992-2020.
Co-founder Knoxville Area Suzuki Cooperative 2015.
Director of Musical Minds Chamber Music Workshop May 2017
Guest artist at Jamestown University, ND 2016
Guest artist at ETSU, TN 2015 & 2016
Guest clinician and artist Salisbury College, MD 2015
Guest artist Blacksburg, VA 2015 & 2016
Director and Clinician Musical Minds, Knoxville, TN 2011
Director Suzuki Piano Workshop, Knoxville, TN 2010
Director Celtic Festival, Knoxville, TN 2010
Director Suzuki Violin Workshop, Knoxville, TN 2007
Clinician in various workshops and institutes, U.S., 1993-Present
Instructor UT Suzuki Strings Program 1990-2000
Private violin and piano instructor 1984-Present
Instructor Orff, Dalcroze, and Kodàly Methods Episcopal School K-5 and others 1992-2002
First violin La Scala Quintet 2010-2012
First violin Oak Ridge String Quartet 2008-2012
First violin Trillium 2013-Present
First (Baroque) violin Knoxville Early Music Project 2015-Present
First violin Sacramento Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Owensboro Philharmonic, and others 1984-2003
Soloist An Afternoon of Violin Music 2006; CD produced the same year
Red-Haired Mary 2008, CD of Irish fiddle
Soloist Demo 2009, CD of classical violin.
Soloist violin and piano Indiana University Honors Performances 1983-1985
Soloist violin and piano for Showcase performance for Suzuki’s American tour 1978.
Soloist piano UT Suzuki Tour Group in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Atlanta’s Symphony Hall 1978
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
Musical Minds, vol.1: Text with Teacher’s Manual and accompanying CD 2011; Musical Minds reading supplement books for piano and violin 2020
Musical Minds, vol. 2: Text with accompanying Reading Book and 6 CDs 2014; Musical Minds Chamber Folksong Book for strings and piano 2020
Musical Minds, vol. 3 Renaissance-Baroque: Text with accompanying Reading Book 2017; Chamber Baroque Books for strings and piano 2020
Musical Minds, vol. 4 Classical-early Romantic: Text with accompanying Reading Book 2017; Chamber String Quartets 2020; Chamber Piano Trios 2020
Musical Minds Handbook for Teachers and Parents 2020
Articles:
Listen, Watch Play: The Suzuki Method, Neuro-Musicology, and Talent Education. Publication pending 2015.
Cultivating Artistry and Aesthetics in the Music Student. Paper given Salisbury, MD and Blacksburg, VA 2015.
Preparing the Mind and Body for Performance: Conquering Stage Fright Through Effective Practice, Clavier Companion, July 2014.
Imaginative Learning: Teaching Music Through the Creative Mind, Teaching Music, August 2011.
Performance Anxiety: Treatments for Stage Fright, American String Teacher’s Association Journal, Fall 2011.
Audiation as a Basis for Note-Reading, lead article American String Teachers’ Association Journal, vol.59, no.3, August 2009.
Leap of Faith, American Suzuki Journal, vol.34, no.4, Summer 2009.
Singing and Moving: Teaching Strategies for Audiation in Children, Music Educator’s Journal, vol.95, no.4, June 2009.
How to Use the Suzuki Method in the Preschool Classroom, Teaching Music, vol.16, no.2, October 2008.
Kodàly in the Suzuki Program, The Kodàly Envoy, vol.35, no.2, winter 2008.
Practicing Alone: What Makes Practice Perfect, American Suzuki Journal, vol.34, no.4, Summer 2006.
Making Music Their Own, American Suzuki Journal, vol.32, no.4, Summer 2004.
Alison Maerker Garner: Biography
Alison Maerker Garner began her music and modern dance studies at four. As a child, Ms. Garner studied with William Starr, Linda Case, and Hiroko Iritani Driver Lippman in violin, and Constance Starr in piano. Ms. Garner, described early on as a “gifted child with a beautiful spirit,” toured North and South America with the University of Tennessee Suzuki Tour Group as a violin and piano soloist from 1970-1982 where she performed for Dr. Suzuki twice (observing she played “from the head and the heart,”) Carnegie Hall, President Carter at Kennedy Center, various television programs, and talent organizations in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Memphis, New York, Orlando, and Washington D.C. Ms. Garner won piano competitions in the Knoxville area (1982) playing Chopin and Bach’s Italian Concerto and soloed on Haydn’s Piano Concerto in DM with the University of Tennessee orchestra in 1978 at age 13. In violin, she performed on tour the Bach a minor Concerto at age 8, Mozart A major Concerto at 10, and Mendelssohn Concerto at 11. She was awarded a scholarship to earn a BM from Indiana University in Violin Performance under Josef Gingold and Paul Biss, with a Minor in Piano Performance with Heather McLaughlin and Enrica Cavallo Gulli. Franco Gulli commented her playing was “excellent, with good tone, and strong virtuosity.” She was invited to live with Paul Biss and his wife, Miriam Fried, receiving lessons from them daily. Josef Gingold singled her out as the “only student who not only was a fantastic fiddle player, but who had the intelligence and spirit” to make a positive, lasting impact in the music field. Mr. Gingold insisted on teaching Ms. Garner twice a week, while students normally received lessons twice a month. Ms. Garner’s MS is from the University of Tennessee in Music and Arts Education and Child Development with piano as her instrument. Ms. Garner has Suzuki violin registration books 1-10 from William Starr, Suzuki piano registration from Fay Adams, holds Orff Certification from the University of Kentucky, and has Kodály Certification from Belmont University. She has studied primarily modern dance, but has also taken ballet, jazz, mime, and dance composition. Ms. Garner studied studio art throughout her childhood and pursued art history coursework in high school, college, and post-college. Through her connection with Marvelene Moore at the University of Tennessee, Ms.Garner has studied and taught Dalcroze-Eurhythmics classes at UT, the Oak Ridge Children’s Museum, Suzuki string workshops, and area Montessori schools.
Her violin was earned in 1986 by audition with the maker, Sergio Peresson. Following her playing of the Prokofiev Concerto 2, Tchaikovsky Concerto, and Bach Chaconne, Mr. Peresson invited Ms. Garner to choose any instrument in the store to take home for a fraction of the price!
Ms. Garner coordinated Studio2, a music program for children offering classes in private violin and piano instruction, Musical Minds, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, chamber music, reading and theory, and MusicTime from 1992- 2020. Her students have ranged in level from beginning to advanced, the most accomplished moving on to achieve scholarships at colleges and holding performance level positions in such schools as Eastman, the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northwestern. Ms. Garner has taught extensively as a music specialist in Knoxville preschools, the University of Tennessee children’s programs, and the Episcopal School of Knoxville for grades K-5. She has been a guest clinician at the American String Teachers Association National Conferences, National American Suzuki Conferences, Music Teachers’ Association, and Guild, as well has directing numerous Suzuki violin, piano, Celtic, and Musical Minds workshops in the Knoxville area. She has been a clinician for workshops across the U.S. as a violinist, Irish fiddler, Musical Minds instructor, Kodalt/Orff teacher, and Dalcroze specialist.
As a performer, Ms. Garner began her professional career as a full-time first violinist in the Sacramento Symphony (her first and only audition), Owensboro Symphony, and Evansville Philharmonic. In 1996 she was independently invited by the orachestra committee and maestro to play for the Chicago Symphony. According to the personal manager this was unprecedented. She is or has been an active member of the Trillium Trio and Quintet (from 2013), Knoxville Early Music Project (2015-2019), La Scala Quintet (2010-2012) the Oak Ridge String Quartet (2008-2009.) Ms. Garner ‘s CD An Afternoon of Violin Music includes Ravel’s Tzigane, Bazzini’s Dance of the Goblins, Hora Staccato, Bach Chaconne, Biber Sonata, Kreisler favorites, and Scherzo-Tarantella. David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, describes her playing as “exceptional, with a sound violinists spend their entire lives trying to achieve.” Ms. Garner played in the Irish band Red-Haired Mary from 2005-2012 which has performed around the Southeast, on national radio, and put out a CD. She has taken master classes in Irish fiddle from Kevin Burke, Liz Knowles, and Martin Hayes; Scottish fiddle from Ed Scott Perlman, and Cape Breton fiddle from Kimberly Frasier.
Ms.Garner is widely published in peer-reviewed journals, as well has self-publishing Musical Minds.
Ms. Garner has certification in CBT, NLP Life-Strategy Coaching, Polyvagal-informed Clinical Practice, Somatic Experience Therapy, Brainspotting and IPNB from the Mindsight Institute. Training in therapeutic practices also includes: Internal Family Systems for parents and children, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Primal Alexander Technique and mindfulness study with Tara Brach.
Ms. Garner resides in Knoxville, TN with her husband Stanton Garner, Jr. and daughter Helen.