Elizabeth Meyer

Biography

"Libby Meyer first came to the Keweenaw in 1999 as an Artist in Residence at Isle Royale National Park and fell in love with the beauty of the landscape and wonderul arts community that exists here. She has been director of the Copper Country Suzuki Asscociation since the fall of 2000 and has been teaching violin and viola to both children and adults for over 20 years. Libby is the Concert Master of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, plays viola with the Marquette Symphony and teaches music history and theory at Michigan Technological Unversity. She continues to compose when her schedule allows. Libby holds degrees in music theory and composition from Michigan State University and Northwestern University and has attended teacher training workshops at Suzuki Institutes in Stevens Pointe, Wisconsin and Deerfield, Illinois. Libby’s primary violin and viola teachers have been Eduard Kesner and Glen Mellow of the Detroit Symphony, Barry Shapiro, currently with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Li-Kuo Chang of the Chicago Symphony. Libby enjoys playing many different styles of music from classical to jazz to folk to Celtic music. She is an avid Irish fiddler and has worked with many traditional musicians in the area. She has attended fiddling workshops at the Gaelic College on Cape Breton Island and at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. Libby enjoys all the Keweenaw has to offer and spends most of her free time outside. Her favorite activies include kayaking, running, horseback riding, cross country skiing, camping and gardening. Libby lives in Hancock Township with her husband Evan, a big Pyrenees Mountain dog named Mervy, many chickens, thousands of honey bees and a secretive cat named Sophie. Libby enjoys working with students of all ages, from 3 to 73. When asked what her favorite age to work with is, her immediate response is ""whatever age I’m teaching at the moment"". She teaches adult fiddling classes, advanced violin/viola students and three year old ""pre-twinklers"". While the Suzuki approach encourages learning by ear, Libby also stresses note reading and the importance of being a good reader. As a theorist and composer, her students learn music theory as part of the regular lesson. She often manages to make this fun! She uses humor in her teaching and on any given day if you walk by her studio you are bound to hear laughter. Libby enjoys the challenge of tailoring her approach to each individual student and discovering how different people process information. Libby believes that it is important to set goals for students that are challenging but also attainable. A bored or frustrated student will quit whereas a student who is challenged yet sees progress is more likely to continue. Her primary goal with each student is to instill in them an appreciation and love of music and the desire to summon the discipline to work toward playing that music on their instrument to the best of their ability. "

Research Interest

Classical music composition, Violin/viola performance, instruction