Joy Moeller has been a member of the MacPhail’s Suzuki violin faculty since 1985. She currently divides her teaching focus among the Suzuki and Sing Play Learn with MacPhail® departments and is on MacPhail’s roster of “Community Partnerships” teaching artists. She has a special interest in collaborations that bring music educators together with Literacy and ELL initiatives in the schools and the community.
Joy believes that Suzuki’s motto, “Every child can learn” can be a powerful guiding principle for any teacher-student relationship. Whether in a private lesson or class, no matter what the age of the “child,” her aim is to meet the students where they are, give them a vision of what is possible, and help them find joy and a sense of real accomplishment in the process along the way.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in elementary education from Ottawa University, where she also trained in Suzuki Pedagogy. Other teacher preparation has included short-term Suzuki teacher training at Ottawa University and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and graduate studies in Child Development and Literacy Education at the University of Minnesota.
Favorite non-musical hobby: I love to read—I have an eclectic home library that includes anything from Literary Classics to Detective Fiction to Children’s Picture Books.
