String Project Staff
Sara Miller, Lead (Supervising) Teacher
Ms. Miller started playing the viola in 4th grade, through her school district’s elementary orchestra program in Washington state. Inspired by her own music teachers, Sara earned her undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and currently teaches elementary strings in Lincoln Public Schools. She is passionate about cultivating positive, growth-oriented communities for young musicians, and enjoys assisting all students in achieving their individual goals. In her spare time, Sara enjoys catching up with friends and family, trying different arts and crafts, playing video games… and practicing!
Graduate & Undergraduate Teachers
Anna Grass
Anna Grass, violinist, is from Seward, Nebraska. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia University and is currently studying for her Masters degree in violin performance at the Glenn Korff School of Music in Lincoln under Professor David Neely. She began studying violin at the age of seven, played in the Kansas City Youth Symphony in high school, and in the Concordia University orchestra and the Lincoln Civic Orchestra through her undergraduate degree. Anna enjoys playing many other instruments, including piano, organ, bass guitar, and trombone. Through teaching strings, she especially loves sharing the joy of music with students and helping them to discover and explore the ways it connects to the lives of people from all walks of life. Anna has been teaching at Marble Music Studio since August of 2021.
Madee Hall
Madee Hall is from Spring, Texas, a part of the greater Houston metropolitan area. She began playing viola in her middle school’s orchestra at age nine, and continued playing in school orchestras throughout junior high and high school. She began taking piano lessons, along with viola lessons, at the age of twelve. In 2018, she began teaching violin, viola, and piano privately, and now teaches through Marble Music Studios in Seward and Lincoln. Madee graduated from Concordia University in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Viola. She is now pursuing a Master of Music degree in Viola Performance at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Amara Bertelson
Amara Bertelson is a junior Music Education major in the Glenn Korff School of Music at UNL. She is from Rapid City, South Dakota. Her main instrument is the double bass. She has been a member of the South Dakota All-State Orchestra and All-State Band. Amara has been playing the bass for years and cannot wait to teach String Project for another year!
Kiersten Goertzen
Kiersten Goertzen is a junior music education student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Hermain instrument is violin, but she loves dabbling in piano as well. She is so incredibly excited to teach string project again this year and begin to grow in her love for bringing music to younger students and helping them grow to love and appreciate music also.
Jenna Olson
Jenna Olson is a Freshman Music Education Major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She studies the cello under Dr. Karen Becker and has been a passionate musician since the fourth grade. In high school, she took private lessons for cello and piano, as well as participated in the Nebraska All State Orchestra, Lincoln Youth Symphony, and various other honors orchestras for multiple years. When she’s not practicing, she enjoys reading, being with friends and family, or being active outdoors. Jenna can’t wait to start her college journey and have the opportunity todive deeper into music!
Director
Dr. Karen Becker
Karen Becker is Professor of Cello in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and director of the University of Nebraska and Lincoln Public Schools String Project. She also coaches chamber music and teaches Cello Pedagogy and Literature. Dr. Becker is an active soloist and avid chamber and orchestral player, serving as principal cellist of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and touring regularly both as a soloist and as cellist in the Concordia String Trio. She has performed throughout the United States as well as throughout Europe, Mexico and Korea. She is faculty artist with the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana and the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, and often serves as faculty artist for the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Praque, Czech Republic.
Becker has presented at numerous conferences, including international conferences of the College Music Society and national conferences of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) in Kansas City, Atlanta, Providence, RI, Louisville, KY, Albuquerque, NM, and Salt Lake City, as well as the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. She has served as president of both the Nebraska and Missouri chapters of ASTA and has served on national committees. She has received the ASTA Citation for Leadership & Merit and the Private Studio Teacher Award from the Nebraska chapter.