Education Faculty
Berger received a bachelor's degree Phi Beta Kappa from St. Olaf College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in music from the University of Minnesota. Berger is especially interested in contemporary music methods and the child voice. She studied Dalcroze eurhythmics under Robert Abramson of the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Berger was named Minnesota Classroom Music Educator of the Year in 1990 and taught in public schools for more than twenty years before joining the St. Olaf College faculty. She is an active keyboard performer and music education presenter. |
Instructor in Music, Nancy Lee, holds a B.A. in music education from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. She has been at Southwest High School as the Vocal Music Director since the fall of 2000. Ms. Lee has taught in Slinger and Milwaukee, WI, Prior Lake, MN, Trenton, New Jersy, and Farmington, IA. |
Mahr holds a B.M. degree in composition and a B.A. degree in music education from St. Olaf College and a master's degree in trombone performance and a D.M.A. in instrumental conducting from the University of Iowa. An internationally acclaimed composer, Mahr received the 1991 Ostwald Award in the ABA Band Composition Contest for his composition The Soaring Hawk. He was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1993. Formerly director of bands at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and founding conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble, Mahr is the principal conductor of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds and is active as a clinician and guest conductor nationally and internationally. Recent commissions have come from the United States Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, and the American Bandmasters Association. Over a dozen of his works for band have been published, with many released on compact disc recordings and included on state contest lists. Mahr is the president of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association. |
Peterson received a B.S. in Music Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato and an M.M. in Vocal Performance from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is Chair of the Performing and Visual Arts Department at Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota, where she teaches grades 6-12 vocal music, including the select vocal ensembles Elements of Sound and Vocalise. She was formerly Fine Arts Coordinator for the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Public Schools. Prior to her administrative position in Sioux Falls, she taught high school vocal and instrumental music, middle school vocal music, and elementary instrumental music. Peterson is active as a choral clinician throughout the Midwest. Peterson's choral ensembles have appeared on state, division and national ACDA conventions. She is a member of ACDA, MENC, and MEA. At St. Olaf she teaches Choral Methods and Choral Literature I. |
