All of our teachers are performing musicians who are very active in their fields. They are also passionate about music and the development of children.
They create a fun, informal, social setting that spurs engagement and supports each child's musical development.
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Michele Venegas
Joyful Sounds owner and director, Michele Venegas, has taught Music Together® for several years in Michigan, Vancouver, B.C., and Florida before opening the Joyful Sounds Music Studio in Grand Rapids. She also has a special teaching approach, having been taught to play following the Suzuki method and teaching Suzuki Violin professionally for 15 years. She has taught music to hundreds of children through private tutorials and in classrooms and workshops, including the internationally renowned Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Michele did several units of Suzuki Violin training at the University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point, and did her Music Together training in Princeton, New Jersey with Music Together's co-authors Kenneth Guilmartin and Lili Levinowitz, PhD. She has also taken many fiddle workshops, including a Fiddle Workshop for Teachers, led by Bob Phillips and the founders of Barrage, the world famous Fiddle troupe.
Michele also has a passion for Celtic music, and has been fiddling with various regional groups for several years. She is currently the fiddler for the regional Celtic/World-Beat group An Dro. Michele loves using her skills to open the door to young children's love of music!
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Natalie Hockamier
Natalie Hockamier teaches Suzuki Violin at Joyful Sounds. She has been a member of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra in Muskegon since 2002 and performed with both the Traverse City and Holland Symphony Orchestras. She also founded the Heritage Hill String Quartet, which has been performing weddings for several years.
Natalie is interested in a variety of musical styles, with her focus being of classical and Celtic fiddle music. She has completed Suzuki training for Books 1 through 3 at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and is looking forward to completing the Book 4 training the summer of 2011. She also received fiddle training at the Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York with Matt Cranitch.
Natalie has been teaching privately for 10 years and feels very fortunate to have a great job playing and teaching music.
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Alicia Gregorian
A Native of East Lansing Michigan, cellist Alicia Gregorian Sawyers received her Masters Degree from New England Conservatory in 2008. While at N.E.C. she studied with Natasha Brofsky and was selected to participate in several intensive chamber music seminars, which gave her the opportunity to work with renowned musicians such as Paul Katz, Roger Tapping and members of the Borromeo String Quartet. Alicia received her BM from Michigan State University studying with Suren Bagratuni. There she had the honor to perform in a Master Class given by members of the Juilliard String Quartet. During this time she also enjoyed a semester studying abroad in Vienna, Austria and gave several cello recitals there.
A diverse musician, Mrs. Sawyers has performed with famous artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman to Kanye West. She has appeared in concert at Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall for the Mostly Mozart Festival. Alicia has spent her summers at various music festivals including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Sound Encounters Contemporary Music Festival, The Meadowmount School of Music, Festival de Musica (Costa Rica), and The Perlman Music Program. As an orchestral musician, she has had the pleasure to work with many great conductors, including Joseph Silverstein and Hugh Wolf.
Living in Grand Rapids MI, Mrs. Sawyers performs with several orchestras throughout the area and around the state. She is the Principal cellist for the West Michigan Symphony. A passionate and dedicated teacher, Alicia currently has over 30 private students. She was on the faculty for the Grand Rapids Community College Suzuki Program for 3 years. She joined the faculty of Joyful Sounds in 2011.
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Leanne King MacDonald
As a performer, Ms. MacDonald is a violist with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Co Principal Viola in the West Michigan Symphony in Muskegon. She earned both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music specifically in viola performance, from Western Michigan University and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her instructors include Masao Kawasaki, Igor Fedotov, Burton Kaplan, and Robert San. As an educator she has taught privately the Suzuki Method and non-Suzuki for over 10 years, conducted the Lake Michigan Youth Orchestra Junior Strings, coached string sectionals at various Grand Rapids area high schools, and has been invited to conduct several viola and violin workshops in the West Michigan area. She has trained in the Suzuki Method with renowned teachers as William Starr, William Preucil, and Joseph Kaminsky.
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