Laura Nerenberg

Montreal native Laura Nerenberg began violin studies at age 3. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa (Canada) and a Master of Music degree from the Hartt School in Connecticut. Laura completed Suzuki Pedagogy training with Teri Einfeldt at the Hartt School. Her violin teachers were John Gomez, Mitchell Stern and Katie Lansdale.

Laura is the director of Rideau Falls Violins, a private Suzuki and Creative Ability Development (CAD/Improvisation) program in Ottawa. She has been a Suzuki teacher since 1997 and a CAD (improvisation) teacher since 2003. Equally at ease with beginning and advanced students, Laura is sought after as a guest clinician at several Suzuki institutes and workshops from British Columbia to Newfoundland and New England to Africa. She was thrilled to return to Canada’s Yukon territory to adjudicate and give workshops in 2014 and 2017.

Laura is an active performer, playing music of all kinds, from Schmelzer to Miles Davis. She is also the proud Suzuki parent to a creative and energetic second-grader. Laura has been, since 2012, a board member of the Suzuki Association of Ontario. She is the representative of her region in Eastern Ontario, including the city of Ottawa and its surroundings.

Since 2015, Laura is also an Improvisation teacher-trainer. She knows that every human has immense creative capacity. As teachers, we can nurture this creativity in our students which changes their brains to be more flexible and adaptable to the changing world.

Laura runs unique online courses to empower teachers with all levels of improvisation experience to nurture creativity in their studio and in their own playing.

Testimonials:

“[Laura] communicated the essence of the Creative Ability Development philosophy with intelligence and humour, creating a safe and respectful environment for her colleagues in which to free themselves from preconceived notions of music learning and instruction and to explore the world of improvisation without judgement.”

“I think I am becoming more confident as a player, less fearful. More me. More playful. Improvisation has improved my sight-reading and harmonic thinking as well.”

“I have incorporated improvisation into my students’ lessons. It has been wonderful, almost all my students are very motivated and happy with it. They feel free and you can tell by their big smile.”