Beth (she/her/hers)is a music therapist, educator, and school psychologist as well as a proud Suzuki mom. Currently Beth is excited to be working as a Teaching Artist through the Overture Center leading “Music and Mindfulness Imagination Vacations” and teaching cello to students ages 4-74! Leading the Madison Cello Ensemble, offering music therapy and  performing with Wellspring Sound Arts Collective are three  of her most joy filled jobs. The opportunity to bring new cello students, who may may not have access to music lessons into the Madison Cello Ensemble is beyond fulfilling!

Some of Beth’s earliest memories are playing cello in nursing homes with her grandmother accompanying, and listening to her sister’s violin lessons at the American Suzuki Institute. While still in high school, Beth was teaching assistant for the first Suzuki cello groups held there in the 1970’s.

Beth studied cello and pedagogy with Kathleen Franceski, Wolfgang Laufer and Gerald Fishbach as an undergraduate and pursued her masters in string pedagogy at UW-Madison. Beth is passionate about cello ensembles and using music as a tool for wellness. Students from her studio have been recognized for their dedication to community service through music, zest-filled performances and fierce passionate technical playing. Beth’s cello students continue to inspire her and are now teaching and performing throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, but many return home annually for the 30 year tradition of a Solstice Cello Celebration!  Beth delights in the accomplishments of her students as empathic creative musicians and community members who use music to bring joy and wellness into their lives and to others.  Beth is most proud of the community built within the MCE studios, and to be collaborating with her cellist daughter Margaret.

Margaret Ruth Billingham, (she, they them) artistic director of Madison Cello Ensemble, joined Suzuki Strings of Madison teaching cooperative in 2021. As a passionate chamber musician and coach, she is excited to see how string ensembles will blossom under the collaboration. Born and raised in Madison, she grew up in the Madison Suzuki tradition, listening to her older sister’s violin lessons with SSM founder Diana Popowycz, and taking violin lessons with SSM founder Maria-Rosa Germain. At the age of five, she began learning cello from her mother, Elizabeth Kiser. The mother/daughter duo created Madison Cello Ensemble when Margaret was eight years old, and upon her return to Madison after college they began to direct MCE together. Experiencing musical learning with an emphasis on community and family has greatly influenced how she approaches teaching through a social-emotional learning lens.

Margaret has a B.A. from Lewis and Clark College, where she studied music, theater, and developmental psychology. Her principal cello teachers include Nancy Ives, Lawrence Levitan, Benjamin Whitcomb, Maggie Townsend, and Flora VanWormer. She was trained to teach the Suzuki method with Joan Krzywicki. At L&C she also trained in Alexander Technique. She has been on the faculty as a teaching artist at Collegio Pedro Aquirre Cerda in Chile, Grace Fine Arts Camp in Oregon, and here in Madison at Camp Begin, Madison School Community Recreation, Bayview Community Center, and Fantastic Folk Fiddle. She also was invited to  joinethe teaching team of Music con Brio. Her training as a Certified Peer Specialist through UW Milwaukee’s School of Continuing Education also informs her teaching technique by incorporating mindfulness and emotional wellness into musical education.  Margaret’s students excel in the community and have received multiple awards, scholarships and recognition for excellence!