Our Teaching Staff

Holly Rognstad, Violin Teacher

Having completed her studies of the Suzuki violin repertoire during high school with Everett Goodwin,  Holly continued her musical development with Yulia Smead of the Lawrence Music Academy of Appleton.  Additionally, Holly completed her SAA-registered teacher training through Book 5 and she continues to enrich her knowledge of Suzuki pedagogy through participation in summer institutes.  Holly has taught violin for the past seven years, and she joined the faculty of the Oshkosh Suzuki Music Program in the fall of 2006.

Nancy Kaphaem, Cello and Bass Teacher

Nancy received her Masters in Cello Performance with an emphasis in Suzuki pedagogy from Western Illinois University.  She has taught at the Oshkosh Suzuki Music Program for over 18 years.  Mrs Kaphaem is an active professional performer in the region, playing in the Green Bay, Oshkosh, and Fox Valley Symphonies and in other local ensembles while serving as both a substitute principal and section player.  She also was principal cellist of the Ohio Light Opera, and she has performed at Green Bay’s Weidner Center in productions such as West Side Story, Funny Girl, and Peter Pan.  She has appeared with such diverse artists as Lyle Lovett, Johnny Mathis, Peabo Bryson, The Moody Blues, and others.  Mrs Kaphaem enjoys composing and arranging for student performances, and she has appeared as a guest cellist/improviser on a number of CDs.  She also has taught as a guest at Marion College in Fond du Lac and at UW-Oshkosh.  Mrs Kaphaem enjoys teaching all ages and levels, and performing a variety of styles.

David Smith, Violin Teacher

Following two decades as a professional musician in Europe and Southeast Asia, fiddler David Algeo Smith returned to the U.S. in 2001 and has since captured top-tier prizes on the Midwest regional and national fiddle contest circuits, winning 5th place at the ’04 National Old-Time Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser, ID; 1st place in the ’03-’04 Nevada State Championship; 1st place in the ’04 Indiana State Hot Fiddle category; and numerous 2nd places in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and Georgia.  He has taught at the South Carolina and Colorado Suzuki summer institutes and at numerous workshops in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and the U.S Virgin Islands.  He is a proud graduate of Suzuki Books 1-4 as a teacher trainee under Nancy Lokken , Patricia D’Ercole, and Edmund Sprunger at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point.  Currently he is in his seventh year teaching at the Oshkosh Suzuki Music Program.