Suzanne Schreck, Director of “Twinklers to Sizzlers…Suzuki Violin”
Suzanne Schreck received a Bachelor of Music degree, with distinction, from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, in 1974. While there she studied violin with Carroll Glenn, piano with Gladys Leventon, and Suzuki Pedagogy with Anastasia Jempelis. Ms. Jempelis was one of the first teachers in the United States to recognize the genius of the Suzuki Method, and Eastman was one of the first schools to do a systematic study of it.
Ms. Schreck’s education has been supplemented by graduate study at Virginia Commonwealth University and through the attendance of numerous Suzuki Institute training courses.
After teaching Suzuki Violin at Old Dominion University for 5 years, Ms. Schreck left ODU in 1979 to open Twinklers to Sizzlers…Suzuki Violin, a private studio. At its height the studio employed 3 teachers and managed 160 students.
Now, Ms. Schreck teaches out of her home in the Ipswich area of Chesapeake (just north of Greenbrier and just over the city line from College Park). Twinklers to Sizzlers… may have down-sized in numbers, but its offerings and goals remain the same:
to provide the most comprehensive Suzuki environment possible.
Ms. Schreck has played professionally with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Opera Association – for which she sat Principal Second Violin for 10 years – and was a founding member of the Hardwick Chamber Ensemble. She has performed in Ohio, western New York state and New York City, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. She has been critically praised for her “rich, sonorous tone” (the Post- Journal, Jamestown, New York).
Graduates of Twinklers to Sizzlers… have been accepted by Virginia Commonwealth University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. A 2007 graduate was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $16,000 by Old Dominion University. Students have also won awards from the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission; two students have won the prestigious Concerto Competition sponsored by the Bay Youth Symphony. A former graduate is now an award-winning, professionally-established composer at the age of 25. Another graduate is a renowned jazz pianist, though still in college.
While it is always rewarding for a music teacher to see graduates continue in music, Ms. Schreck would say there is more to Suzuki education than that. “The best part is watching students develop into adults. It is so much fun to see how they turn out. Everyone is unique. Personalizing instruction can be demanding – I understand how a teacher could suffer burn-out. Boredom, however, is out of the question. Teaching is a great, exciting privilege. I feel blessed.”