-Training, Degrees and Qualifications: B.Mus, Violin Perf,; Univ of Cincinnati, C-CM M. Mus. Violin Perf. Univ of Wisconsin - Madison, School of Music. Diploma of the Advanced Degree, Kodály Approach to Music Education; British Kodály Academy and Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Suzuki Association of the Americas - Registered Teacher Training, Units 1 - 10, Supplementary courses and SAA registered courses:
Simon Fischer, Pedagogy of Dorothy Delay in Action;
Linda Case, Extending Repertoire Horizons after Bach A min Concerto
Cathryn Lee, Development of the Bow. from Twinkles to Mozart
SECE; Suzuki Early Childhood Education, Stages 1 and 2,: Working with Infants Age Zero to Three
Paul Rolland String Pedagogy Certification, Candidate Level 4..
Additional degree and work experience: J.D., Cleve. State Univ, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. (Worked in International and Immigration Law, Consumer Rights, Family, Labor and Employment Discrimination, Music and Arts Law.) Additional Languages: Hebrew, French, Russian
- Concert Violinist: Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra; member, Chamber Players of the Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem; member, Chamber Orchestra of Dormition Abbey; member. Primavera Chamber Orchestra - London UK; member, Cleveland Chamber Symphony; member, Ohio Opera and Ballet Orchestra; guest, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; guest. Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra; guest., Madison Symphony Orchestra; member Dayton Philharmonic; guest, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; member.
- Teaching Experience and Pedagogic Positions: Director, Zohar Violin Studio, offering individual and group lessons for all ages. Also: chamber music coaching, courses in music theory, ear training, composition, improvisation, song writing, and more. Over forty years private studio teaching experience. Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute, Violin and Viola Faculty. String Pedagogy Clinician, Conference Presenter, Masterclasses. Blue Lake Family Arts Camp, Violin Faculty. Ann Arbor Schools - string sectionals coach for orchestra upper strings. String Division Chair, Michigan Music Teachers Association, Student Achievement Testing for Strings; developing curriculum and exams from levels 1 - 10 for musicianship skills; performance, sight reading, aural awareness, ear training, theory, sight singing and solfege. Adjudicator, Michigan Federation of Music Clubs.
What follows is a fuller version for those interested to read more.
Overview: Wendy Zohar, violinist and violist, teaches using the Suzuki Approach as well as traditional approaches to learning violin and viola. She works with students of all ages in her Ann Arbor studio. She is a member of the Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute, a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and its Michigan affiliate MASTA, and the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and its Michigan branch, MMTA. She is affiliated with the Kodaly Educators Association and the Paul Rolland String Pedagogy organization.
Wendy is a presenter at professional pedagogic courses and conferences, gives public master classes and clinics, adjudicates at regional instrumental exams, and writes her own pedagogic and music theory materials. She performs with regional ensembles and as a soloist in concerts and events. Her many years of study, enrichment courses, extensive teaching experience and professional performance and specialized pedagogic training give her tools to work with a broad range of students at many stages of learning, and students with a wide range of giftedness as well as physical, cognitive and emotional challenges.
Overall objectives: Wendy believes that the study and performing of music can unlock human potential for excellence and and can bring about fuller realization of an individual's potential and happiness. Fulfillment through music can lead to greater capacity for realization of one's abilities, teamwork and leadership, higher cognitive attainment, sense of love and self-worth, and a connection to community, at all stages of life.
Teaching goals and experience: Wendy focuses on helping her students develop into dedicated, refined individuals who learn to listen, expect the most of themselves, open their horizons, work together and enjoy focusing and working hard. They become fine and sensitive players, whatever their level, and gain immense satisfaction reaching their goals. It is crucial to Wendy that her students love music and have fun playing, while cultivating kind and caring hearts. Enriched by her Kodály training, she has made singing, rhythm, pitch, solfege, harmony, ear training, improvisation and composition central pillars of learning music, right from the start.
In addition to her studio teaching, Wendy leads string sectionals at area schools, gives workshops, masterclasses and clinics, and adjudicates at regional music competitions and exams. She has taught at summer programs including Blue Lake Arts Camp in Michigan, and in past years she was on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Queensgate School, where she taught Kodaly Approach music and violin at a private girls’ college and finishing school in London.
Performance: Wendy played for many years as a member of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Primavera Chamber Orchestra of London, UK, in which she served both as section leader and soloist. She toured Europe with these orchestras. She’s also played with the Ann Arbor, Saginaw, and Adrian symphony orchestras, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Orchestra of the Ohio Ballet and Opera. Her love of and devotion to chamber music blossomed during summers with the Castleman Quartet Program. She has been a member of the Van Leer Chamber Players and Chamber Soloists of the Jerusalem Symphony, and has performed chamber music with many colleagues in the U.K. and the U.S.
Early Music: Ms. Zohar has an avid interest in Early Music and historically informed performance. This interest developed starting in her college years, at C-CM where she played in Collegium Musicum on period instruments, both string and wind. She also sang in the madrigal group. In Israel she was invited to perform throughout the country as a member of the Israel Chamber Ensemble's thespian, singing and dancing troupe depicting the Italian Renaissance. Years later she played and recorded with a baroque chamber orchestra in Jerusalem led by Christopher Hogwood. She coached with Baroque violinists Michael Sand and Sergiu Luca. She led Handel and Bach oratorio orchestras throughout Israel. In summers she has participated in the Tafelmusik and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute programs. She has performed with period performance ensembles in Ohio, Michigan, and the U.K. and incorporates understanding of early music performance in her approach to playing and teaching of Baroque and Classical music.
Training: Wendy was awarded a full merit scholarship to study at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (C-CM) where she completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance with Henry Meyer with emphasis in chamber music with the LaSalle Quartet and Lynn Harrell. Wendy earned a full graduate fellowship with stipend to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where she formed the Imai Quartet - graduate string quartet in residence, and was coached by the Pro Arte Quartet, She completed a Master of Music in Violin Performance with violinist Thomas Moore, and chamber music with the Pro Arte Quartet. She received an Advanced Diploma in the Kodály Approach to Music Education from the British Kodály Academy, London, and the Liszt Academy of Music, where she trained with Cecilia Vajda and Erzebet Szönyi. These studies included instrumental and choral conducting, ear training, solfege, early childhood education, and advanced music theory. She has learned a great deal from outstanding pianists with whom she played: In her summers at the Castleman Quartet Program she coached with Samuel Sanders. During her years in London she had the opportunity to work with Joseph Seiger, former pianist of Mischa Elman. In graduate school her accompanist was Joseph Seiger's son Jonathan, so one could say there was a family connection. In Jerusalem she worked exclusively with Ora Rotem Nelken, acclaimed pianist and specialist in the music of Bartok, Mark Seter and Andre Hajdu.
Suzuki: Wendy's Suzuki teacher training through the ten books, registered with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, is with master teachers Ronda Cole, Nancy Jackson, Anne Montzka Smelser, and Linda Case. Her Early Childhood Education training is with Lynn McCall and Dorothy and Sharon Jones. Further courses include an overview of Supplementary Literature from the Bach A minor Concerto to the Mozart Concertos with Linda Case, an enhanced Bow Pedagogy Workshop with Cathryn Lee, and advanced violin pedagogy with Simon Fischer,
Traditional: Influential violin teachers and players include Jeanette Drinkall Meyer, Charles Castleman, Henry Meyer, Max Hobart, Ramy Shevelov, Haim Taub, and Simon Kuhn. She counts among her top viola instructors, Heidi Castleman, Paul Doktor and Garfield Jackson. She has coached with Joseph Gingold, Immanuel "Manny" Horowitz, Janos Starker, Nobuko Imai, and members of the Amadeus, Tokyo, and Borodin Quartets. After hearing her play, violist Rivka Golani gave strong commendation, and informally invited her to assist teaching her class at the Trinity College of Music in London. Over her years of performing she has teamed up with pianists Ora Rotem Nelken, Talila Reuvner, Yael Hochenberg, and Denella Sing, in close friendship and as chamber music partnerships..
Posture, Movement, Balance: Wendy is dedicated to helping students learn music as they develop personally, but she also strives to help her students find freedom in movement, inner and outer balance, physically, mentally, and in their lives, leading to greater mental alertness and comfort She studied the Alexander Technique with Shmuel and Ora Nelken in Jerusalem, and began teacher training in AT with Shoshana Kamenitzer in London. She applies what she learned from her work in AT to her physical approach in the use of the body and finding core strength, comfort, and natural balance in playing violin and viola. She incorporates her personal experience of Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement, directly from Yochanan Riverant, in her own physical awareness as she teaches. Along similar lines, she employs Eurhythmics of Jacques Dalcroze, for the physical embodiment of rhythm, pulse, tempo and musical structure. She incorporates in her pedagogy the work of Paul Rolland and his Teaching of Action in Playing.
Tone and Healing: She is particularly interested in the physical side of playing; developing an approach to the instrument and bow for each individual so that tone is optimized while avoiding injury. Moreover, she has developed methods for overcoming pain and debilitation after accidents that may have resulted in injury to back, neck, shoulders, arms or fingers. Her approach to an injured student is like that of a therapist of the body, using careful observation, gentle and gradual practice motions leading to healing, using soft movement techniques as a form of physical therapy until full range of motion, ease of use and comfort is restored so that the student can play once again, often better than before.
As a registered Suzuki teacher, Wendy finds great wholesomeness and wisdom in the naturalistic approach of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki to child development; the acquisition of musical ability being a natural reflection of the child's environment, where the development of talent enriches the soul of the child. Central to both her Suzuki and traditional pedagogy are the dual pillars of the mind and the physical body in learning to play.
Goals and Outcomes: She works with each student according to how they learn best, embracing both intellectual and kinaesthetic learning. Wendy builds into her teaching, at the foundational level, elements of deep listening and response by the student. This leads to her teaching of music theory and structure, musical phrasing, singing and movement, the study of solfège, improvisation, and interactive musical games that enhance students’ understanding of music. She strives that her students all learn to make a beautiful tone and play expressively and with musical understanding. She believes that every child CAN learn to play and sing, and find their own voice and expression through the music within.
Affiliations: Wendy is a member of the American String Teachers Association and its Michigan affiliate, MASTA; the Music Teachers National Association and its Michigan affiliate, the Michigan Music Teachers Association (MMTA). Wendy has served as the SAT, Strings Division Chair (Student Achievement Test program), and is an active member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
More Interests: Wendy draws in pen and pentel, pencil and pastels, and paints in oils and watercolors. She has won juried awards for her artwork. She takes pleasure in culinary arts and creating delicious dishes from whatever she finds on hand. She loves to read and to write, is a singer/song-writer/song-leader, folk guitarist and a baroque recorder player. She aspires to be a creative and responsible gardener when she has the time. Housekeeping is not her favorite pastime. While raising her sons she studied law and practiced as an attorney for a period of about twelve years. On a personal note, Wendy feels blessed and thankful for her parents who raised her with love and wisdom, and are celebrating their 73rd anniversary. She has three brothers with families each, and has three boys who’ve grown to become fine men, independent and successful in their careers, all artistic and musical as well. Two of her boys are married and now with children of their own. Her greatest blessings are her three beautiful grandchildren.