Mr. Thomas Wm Schoen

SAA Registered Training

(Violin)

Core Units

• Every Child Can!
• Filosofía
• Suzuki Principles in Action
• Viola,Violin Teaching Strategies
• Violin Foundation 1A
• Violin Foundation 1B
• Violin Unit 2
• Violin Unit 3
• Violin Unit 4
• Violin Unit 5
• Violin Unit 6
• Violin Unit 7
• Violin Unit 8
• Violin Unit 9-10
• Violin Practicum
• Viola Unit 4
• Suzuki Early Childhood Education Prenatal Through Baby/Toddler Years, Stage 1

Supplementary

• Viola Overview Units 1-3

Thomas Schoen was born in Dawson Creek, B.C., has a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from the University of British Columbia, has studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and Suzuki Institutes in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Steven’s Point Wisconsin (on scholarship as a Suzuki Teacher Training Scholar), and Seattle Washington. Thomas has completed and registered all 10 violin units of short term teacher training, the violin practicum, as well as an overview of viola books 1-3 and viola book 4 with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. He has been the recipient of many scholarships, won first prize in the Vancouver Friends of Chamber Music Competition and has received awards in many other festivals and competitions.

Thomas currently resides in Edmonton and enjoys a busy and varied performing career as a recitalist, chamber, and orchestral musician, performing on both modern and baroque violins. He subbed regularly with the Edmonton Symphony, has played with the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Okanagan Symphony, the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, the Oshawa Symphony, where he played as principal second violin, and the Vancouver Early Music Festival Orchestra among others. He performs regularly throughout Canada with the Schoen Duo who are well known for their concerts and educational programs and have been recorded by the CBC and broadcast in Alberta on the program Our Music.

Mr. Schoen has extensive experience teaching and adjudicating in both British Columbia and Alberta. He is currently violin instructor at the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta, as well as teaching privately in his home studio. Former teaching positions include Red Deer College, the B.C. Conservatory of Music, the Central Valley Academy of Music, Lakeland College and the Society for Talent Education in Edmonton. He has also conducted string ensembles for the Society for Talent Education, has coached string sectionals for numerous youth orchestra and gives frequent workshops in the schools. His students have been awarded both silver and gold medals for violin from the Royal Conservatory and have been recommended to provincial music festivals. He has worked with the Vancouver School Board providing class violin instruction, and has presented early childhood music workshops for 3 to 5 year olds in day cares and preschools. Most recently he has taken training in Suzuki Early Childhood Education, and now teaches Suzuki music classes for parents and their 0-3 year olds. In addition to his teaching duties, Thomas was institute director of the Alberta Summer Suzuki Institute from 2010 to 2021.

Thomas has received a Certificate of Achievement from the Suzuki Association of the Americas (2017) and a Teacher of Distinction award from the Royal Conservatory of Music (2018) in recognition of his teaching.

Thomas is one of the founding teacher members of Edmonton Suzuki Strings, the newest Suzuki program in Edmonton, Alberta.