The Simply Violin Team
Lisa Berman, M.M.
Lisa Berman holds a Masters Degree in Violin Performance from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music history and theory from Yale University. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lisa began violin lessons at age four at MacPhail Center for Music, where she studied with Mark Bjork and Mary West. She went on to study with Erick Friedman at Yale School of Music. Lisa has been teaching private violin lessons for over a decade to students of all ages and levels in New Haven, CT, Pittsburgh, and now the Twin Cities area. Lisa is a past first prize winner in the Schubert Club Solo Competition and has been a guest soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and at Tanglewood.
Lisa is the producer and an author of the Simply Violin Series of instructional books for violin, available on Amazon.com, on this site, and in music stores across the country.
Series Art Director
Dan Freiberg
As an advertising creative professional, Dan Freiberg worked many years at prominent ad agencies in Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Since starting Freiberg Advertising, he has provided advertising art direction, copy writing, graphic design and marketing services for a variety of clients, including industrial, technological and retail. Whether in print, TV or Internet, Dan Freiberg believes that advertising must do more than just be there; it must work for the client.
Sheila Graves
Sheila started playing violin/fiddle in at the age of 8 and holds a degree in viola performance from Northwestern University. She has taught at Augustana College and the University of Sioux Falls, in addition to maintaining a private teaching studio. She has been a member of the Heidelberg (Germany) Chamber Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony, and the South Dakota Symphony. Sheila entered her first fiddle contest in 1975. She is a past 1st place winner of the National Old time Country & Bluegrass Music Festival in LeMars, Iowa. In addition, she has placed in numerous fiddle contests and talent shows in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri and Minnesota, including the Iowa State Fair and the Minnesota State Fair. She has been arranging fiddle tunes since 1987. She is a member of the Minnesota State Fiddlers Association and Minnesota Old Time Fiddlers Association. Sheila has a background in violin repair and owned her own shop G&G Violins in Sioux City, Iowa. Sheila has also worked for Kenneth Stein Violins in Chicago, Sioux Falls Music and Claire Givens Violins. Currently she works at House of Note in Minneapolis, specializing in selling and appraising instruments and bows in the violin family. She is a member of the Violin Society of America. She has been a guest lecturer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas national conventions. Sheila would like to dedicate her arrangements to the memory of her Mother, Marilyn Graves, and beloved teacher John Grossman who was a master at teaching, arranging music and making all styles of music fun!