I started training for my job when I picked up a violin at the age of nine years old - I loved taking violin lessons so much that I thought I might also enjoy teaching them. Thus began my journey toward a career that I can honestly say constitutes my happy place.
Being a Suzuki teacher involves blending art and science with a great sense of responsibility; we see our students weekly for up to fifteen years (ages 3-18), and we take great care in helping to guide their development as musicians and people. I believe thoroughly in the transformative power of picking one activity and gaining mastery through years of sustained study - how we do one thing becomes how we do everything. I'm also a big proponent of fun whenever possible; parents sometimes refer to me as "The Child Whisperer."
Although I wasn't a Suzuki kid myself, I wound up in two of the country's most renowned pedagogy programs, and emerged with two masters' degrees' worth of teacher training (an official one from The Hartt School, and an unofficial one from the Aber Suzuki Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point). In 2016, I became the third teacher in Massachusetts to receive the prestigious Certificate of Achievement from the Suzuki Association of the Americas recognizing excellence in teaching and student performance.
As the director of the Northampton Suzuki Studio and a faculty member at the Northampton Community Music Center in western Massachusetts, I seek out opportunities for continuing education whenever possible (although I often learn the most from the lessons I teach).
Hi, I'm Christa and I make big things happen with little violins.
Continue for my full professional biography
Christa Muller Hendricks holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance, cum laude, from The University of Miami Frost School of Music, a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance with an emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy from The Hartt School, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas Certificate of Achievement. Christa is the director of Northampton Suzuki Studio and a member of the Suzuki Violin faculty at the Northampton Community Music Center in Western Massachusetts. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and has served as board member of the Suzuki Association of Massachusetts and the Assistant Coordinator of the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas for the 2020 SAA National Conference Team. Christa has been published in the SAA e-Newsletter, the American Suzuki Journal, the MA:Suzuki newsletter, and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
As a student in the Hartt School’s prestigious Suzuki Pedagogy program, Christa was a graduate teaching assistant to Teri Einfeldt, and completed SAA long term teacher training in Units 1-8. A strong proponent of continuing education, Christa completed a year-long teaching practicum with Pat D’Ercole through the Suzuki Strings Mentoring Program at The University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point. In 2017, she finished a second complete course of long-term teacher training (Units 1-8) with Pat D’Ercole online via Skype video conferencing. In 2019, Christa completed advanced teacher training in Units 9-10 at the American Suzuki Institute, completing the entirety of the Suzuki Violin School repertoire teacher training . She has been the recipient of generous funding for teacher training from the Northampton Community Music Foundation, the Aber Suzuki Foundation, and the MA:Suzuki Association.
Christa's students have participated in local and national events including the Springfield Youth Symphony, the Ogontz Suzuki Institute, the Hartt Suzuki Institute, WMEA Junior District Orchestra, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition, and have been heard in live performance on WHMP radio, Springfield Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.
Currently a second year returning graduate student in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at Springfield College, Christa maintains a studio of longtime students and has limited availability for new beginners, with a priority for families seeking adaptive teaching customized to address physical, neurodevelopmental, or mental health differences. Her research interests include intervention for individuals with a history of childhood trauma as well as the efficacy of occupation-based intervention in adult psychiatric settings.