Ms. Kimberly Meier-Sims

Kimberly Meier-Sims, Conservatory Violin faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Head of CIM Suzuki Pedagogy Degree Program, and registered Violin Teacher Trainer through the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Director of the Sato Center for Suzuki Studies at CIM from 2004-2022. Ms. Meier-Sims conducts a graduate two-year Suzuki teacher training program at CIM which is part of the unique Master duo degree program in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy. She became one of the youngest registered Suzuki Teacher Trainers in the country in 1988. From 1996-2004, Ms. Meier-Sims was a full-time faculty member at the University of Memphis where she conducted long-term teacher training, was the Coordinator for the University of Memphis Suzuki String Program and Director of the University of Memphis Suzuki String Summer Institute. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in education and performance from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where she studied with John Kendall, the first American Suzuki pioneer. At Western Illinois University she received her Master’s degree in performance, studying violin and pedagogy with Almita Vamos. The summer of 1986, Ms. Meier-Sims traveled to Japan for a six-week study with Dr. Suzuki. From 1984-1996 Ms. Meier-Sims was a violin instructor at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, where she also served as Suzuki Teacher Trainer, Faculty Program Assistant and Chamber Music Coordinator. She has published articles in the American Suzuki Journal, Strings Magazine and the Tennessee Musician. In 2001 she was recognized as one of Tennessee’s outstanding educators by the Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts. She was the Violin Coordinator for the 2002 10th SAA National Conference in Minneapolis. In April 1999, she attended The Thirteenth World Suzuki Method Convention in Japan. Ms. Meier-Sims has taught Suzuki institutes and workshops in Cork, Ireland and throughout the U.S.