By Jon Ranard
Anita Tucker was very young when she had her first violin lesson at the home of Doris Preucil in 1963 using the Suzuki Method of instruction. So new was this form of music education in the United States that Doris Preucil became one of the first five people outside of Japan to embrace and teach music like a language through the “mother-tongue” approach.
Anita and fourteen other young violinists in Doris’s fledgling home studio in Iowa City, Iowa became the catalyst for a unique educational and musical dream that would later blossom into the Preucil School of Music, a nonprofit, community-owned school. Officially opening its doors in January of 1975, the Preucil School of Music engaged as many as 250 students and their families within its first year. Fifty years later, the Preucil School of Music now serves nearly 650 students aged three to adult on two separate campuses, including an Early Childhood Education program for the smallest would-be musicians.
Sixty-two years after that first violin lesson, Anita Tucker (now the Associate Concertmaster of Orchestra Iowa and Concertmaster of the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Symphony) joined over 100 additional alumni from coast to coast to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Preucil School of Music on February 2, 2025. This milestone extravaganza, held at Hancher Auditorium, a state-of-the-art concert hall located on the University of Iowa campus, featured the 49th annual String Concert, showcasing nearly 350 performers, including current students, alumni, and current and former faculty, ending with the world premiere of Serenade for String Orchestra and Piano, composed by Preucil School alumnus Peter Bloesch.
More than 1,500 concertgoers from far and wide enjoyed stirring and joyous performances by the Espressivo Strings, Pretwinkle Cellists and Violinists, the Viola, Violin, Flute, Cello, and Bass ensembles, and the Cello Choir, followed by the Preucil School String Orchestra (PSSO). With melodious sounds still reverberating in the air, audience members and performers retired to the expansive lobby of Hancher Auditorium to discover more than fifty years of artfully displayed memorabilia, scrapbooks, photos, concert programs, international tour posters, and so much more. While sampling an elegant buffet of fine food, students, alumni, families, friends, and community supporters reveled in the memories, history, nostalgia, and sentiment that came with the tradition of excellence established by the Preucil School of Music.
Alumni posed next to photos of their graduating classes as people reminisced, embraced, and reconnected with friends amid the sounds of live music being played by current piano students. Students and alumni rushed to have group photos taken with their cherished instructors and mentors, while others marveled at the large-screen video montages that told the story of the Preucil School through archival photos, fun historical facts, and alumni testimonials.
Basking in the glow of the dream that had come true so many years ago, Doris Preucil and her husband, Bill Preucil Sr., now in their nineties, watched and enjoyed the endless parade of people that had come to show their appreciation for all that Doris, Bill, the Preucil School of Music, and the Suzuki philosophy mean to them, both on and off the stage. Faculty and staff, including current Preucil School director Sonja Zeithamel, were humbled and thrilled by the genuine spirit of community, love, and lasting joy. Sonja, herself a former student and later an assistant teacher to Doris Preucil, had been there through the early years of Doris’s pioneering Suzuki training program. As the anniversary celebration continued to swirl around her, Sonja couldn’t help but remember the very conversation in 1974 that would ultimately change her life, and the lives of countless children, families, musicians, and the entire Iowa City community. Doris had shared her dream of establishing her own music school.
How the Dream Began
It seems that Doris Preucil was destined to make music. Her father was a music teacher and a professional violinist, and her mother, a fine musician in her own right, was also central in Doris’s musical upbringing. Doris learned to play the piano and the violin at a very young age, and fondly remembers that she often fell asleep to the sounds of her parents playing music together.
While Doris began helping her father teach at the age of sixteen, music lessons from her mother also helped Doris find her singing voice, one that served her well during her time with a semi-professional women’s trio while still in high school, regularly appearing on a local television program in Milwaukee. Although there were opportunities to further her career as a member of this Andrews Sisters-styled group, Doris chose to attend the Eastman School of Music. It was there that she further flourished as a violinist and performer, and where she met a fellow student musician named William Preucil Sr., whom she would marry in 1954.
In 1958, Bill accepted an offer to become a viola professor at what is now known as the University of Iowa, where he was a founding member of the Stradivari Quartet. A new adventure had begun. Following years of her own performing, Doris began teaching traditional violin lessons out of their home in Iowa City, all while raising their young children. She had already heard about the “Talent Education” philosophy of Japanese educator Shinichi Suzuki, but her busy schedule of teaching and raising a family didn’t allow her the time to explore this new idea. By chance, in 1962 she was reintroduced to the world of Dr. Suzuki through an episode of Captain Kangaroo, a television program that was a favorite of her children. Doris was mesmerized and intrigued by what she saw. A large group of young Japanese children were flawlessly playing the same Bach Double Concerto that was currently being studied and learned by a high school orchestra in Iowa City.
Doris spent a whole year researching and exploring how she might learn this fascinating new way of educating her own children, as well as anyone else who might have an interest. After much time, effort, and perseverance, Doris employed the Suzuki Method to start her own in-home Suzuki program and studio in 1963. Very soon, other music educators (as well as the Iowa City community) recognized the outstanding level of excellence displayed by Doris’s students, and as more and more children and families expressed an interest in lessons, enrollment grew, as did the need for more teacher training and a larger space to accommodate group activities, recitals, and additional programming.
After consulting with the National Guild for Community Arts Education (of which the Preucil School of Music is now a member), Doris and Bill purchased the former Czechoslovakian Hall in the heart of Iowa City in 1974. Already containing a stage and auditorium, it had been used for gatherings since 1900. The Preucils carefully adapted and restored this historic property to house the newly christened Preucil School of Music, officially opening for business one year later. In 1976, another element was added when the fine arts-oriented Preschool was founded, allowing more children and their families to become involved and learn about the Suzuki philosophy.
As the years progressed, more instruments were added to the curriculum, the lower level of the building was excavated to add more classrooms, endowment and financial aid funds were established, and a Board of Directors and a Guild of volunteers were formed. In 1991, the Preucil School String Orchestra (PSSO) embarked on the first of many international performance tours, winning first prize at the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. Future tours to England, Germany, Italy, Southern Bohemia, China, the Baltics, and the Czech Republic would continue to showcase the extraordinary talents and musicianship of hundreds of Preucil School students, all the while sharing the magic and joy of Shinichi Suzuki’s educational approach.
In 2000, plans were underway to further expand by designing and building a separate North Campus facility to house the Morris Early Childhood Center and additional classrooms, and this project was completed and dedicated in 2003. Over time, the Preucil School of Music has offered instruction in violin, viola, bass, cello, flute, harp, piano, recorder, and voice, and the school and instructors are still helping others learn the art of teaching the Suzuki Method across the state of Iowa and beyond.
Bill Preucil Sr., former principal violist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, vice-president of the International Suzuki Association, and vice-president of the American Viola Society, and he is a registered SAA Teacher Trainer. Bill and Doris collaborated in the development of the Suzuki Viola books, and through his own teaching and constant support, Bill has also been heavily involved in the growth and success of the Preucil School.
Doris Preucil, a former president of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and founder of its Teacher Training Program, retired as the director of the Preucil School of Music in 1997, a position immediately filled by longtime assistant director Sonja Zeithamel. Doris continued teaching until 2019, and she and Bill remain active in the life of the school, staff, students, families, and the community. Innovative fundraising campaigns and events, family-oriented extracurricular activities, concerts, performances, workshops, camps, and holiday-themed community outings continue to play an integral part in the overall impact felt by students, staff, and the community at large.
As an added benefit of the school’s longevity and prosperity, many former students have now enrolled their own children in the program, and others have returned to teach and mentor students with the same dedication, care, and love. The children and grandchildren of Bill and Doris Preucil, as well as those of Sonja Zeithamel, have been students of the Preucil School, gaining incredible insight and perspective about the spirit, meaning, and passion behind their parents’ and grandparents’ life work.
Although every student’s personal experience at the Preucil School of Music is unique, with individual journeys ranging from one to fifteen years, the message and philosophy of love, support, guidance, encouragement, and learning for life remain ever present for all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. Since 1975, nearly 300 instructors have nurtured and championed the talents, individualities, and spirits of countless students and their families.
As we continue to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary throughout 2025 with a special alumni concert series, a roster of thirty-three instructors and administrative staff, and the support of the Iowa City and Suzuki communities, we are grateful for all that has been and all that will continue to be accomplished at the Preucil School of Music. We celebrate and honor those who have paved the way and offer our genuine and heartfelt support for all who strive to make and teach music with love.