American String Teacher

Gordon Epperson is well known to the cello world and particularly to the readers of the American String Teacher. For eight years he edited the “Cello Forum,” and much of the material published by ASTA in his book, The Art of Cello Teaching, is a compilation of his essays appearing over those eight years. Epperson is artist, teacher, scholar, writer, philosopher; his philosophical treatise, The Musical Symbol, is a fundamental resource in the study of the aesthetics of music. He has just returned from a five-month tour in New Zealand where, as a Fulbright Scholar, he concertized, conducted master classes, and lectured in all of the principal cities and universities.

William Pordon is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Lowell. He studied with Ludwig Becker, Leon Valenches, George Bornoff, and Rafael Bronstein, and has had many years of experience in teaching strings and conducting throughout New England. He is a past president, and now secretary/treasurer, of the Massachusetts ASTA.

Frederick Neumann, a noted American musicologist, first studied politics and economics in Germany where he received his Ph.D. He immigrated to America in 1937 and took music education courses at Columbia University and received the M.A. and Ph.D. from that school. He is an accomplished violinist and has taught at the University of Miami, the Cornish School of Music in Seattle, the University of Richmond, and Yale University. He has conducted extensive research on violin techniques and performing practice in general with particular emphasis on the Baroque period.

Margaret Farish is well known to members of ASTA, having most recently served as national Publications Chairman. She was educated at Eastman School of Music, where she earned the Bachelor of Music and the Master of Music degrees. Her best-known work is String Music in Print. Much of her career has been devoted to new developments and techniques in modern music.

Julie Lyonn Lieberman, author of Blues Fiddle and New Age Violin, is equally at home playing jazz violin, Irish music, C & W, bluegrass, blues, New Age, and classical. A singer and composer as well, her music has been heard in several off-Broadway shows, and numerous music festivals, concert halls, clubs, colleges, and radio stations throughout the East Coast.