Susan Ott Rodberg
Susan Ott Rodberg, a 2002 National Certified Teacher in Early/Middle Childhood Music/Orchestra has always regarded music as a vital part of life. Mrs. Rodberg began playing the violin at age 9 in Springfield, Ohio. She majored in Music Education at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus). Her major instrument was violin and minor instrument was cello. She played violin in the Otterbein College/Community Orchestra and string bass in the Otterbein College Concert Band. She earned her Bachelors of Music Education Degree in 1980. She began teaching Jr. High General Music, 6th Grade Band and Jr. High Strings in Marysville, Ohio that same year. In 1982 she accepted a position as a Suzuki Violin Instructor in Norfolk, Virginia. A year later she moved back to Columbus and taught Suzuki Violin at Capital University, a prominent Suzuki Program, for 3 years. During this time she studied the Suzuki Method at various Summer Institutes, and even met Dr. Suzuki who consistently choose her to help him in teaching demonstrations.
She moved to Florida in 1986. She taught the Suzuki Method at a private studio based at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Later she opened a private studio and soon had over 40 violin and cello students. She also was an Adjunct Instructor of violin and cello at Palm Beach Community College. In 1993 she was invited to teach at the former Palm Beach County School of the Arts. Her responsibility there was to teach middle and high school orchestra as an Artist-in-Residence. She taught there for 3 years until becoming a full-time teacher at U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts.
During 10 years of teaching at U.B. Kinsey, Mrs. Rodberg has nurtured an after school class of 40 students (now some of those children have graduated from Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. High School of the Arts Orchestra Program!), to its current program of nearly 200 second through fifth graders, and EVERY kindergarten and first grader. Every spring, many of those students return to U.B. Kinsey for an alumni orchestra concert featuring present and past students' achievements.