Philip Smyth began playing and performing music at a very young age. He started learning the violin using the Suzuki Method and picked up guitar and some other instruments along the way. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from UW-Stevens Point as well as Suzuki violin teacher training from the masters in the Suzuki Program there as well. Philip was a member of the elite string group BARRAGE during their 2011 and 2012 seasons playing both guitar and violin.

He started off his public school teaching career in Marshfield in 2013 and has been the High School Orchestra Director here in Neenah since 2016. He is thrilled to be here working with such a wonderful staff in an incredible program. Other than teaching at NHS he can be found performing with local country band Grand Union. When not involved with anything music related he can be found hanging out with his wife Jennifer and two daughters Elaina and Hannah probably on a bike somewhere on the trails around Neenah.

Betsy Jacobson-Holtz developed her love for music at a young age, beginning Suzuki violin studies at the tender age of three. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and her Master’s Degree from UW–La Crosse. From 1992 to 2009, Mrs. Holtz was thrilled to exercise her passion for music education as an orchestra director for the School District of La Crosse. In Pennsylvania from 2009-2013, Mrs. Holtz remained active as a performer, teacher, and adjudicator with local ensembles. New to the Fox Valley in 2013, Mrs. Jacobson-Holtz is happy to be back in Wisconsin and happier yet to be working with middle school orchestras again. She can be found at Shattuck and Horace Mann Middle Schools, riding her bike, or going out for ice cream with her family.

Brian Beiser has been serving the Neenah Joint School District since 1978. In addition to private string instruction, Mr. Beiser is currently on the Suzuki teaching staff helping with the After-School Suzuki Program. Mr. Beiser believes in helping students reach their fullest potential. Brian is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.  In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors, and building/flying radio controlled airplanes.

Jennifer Bulmahn began her love of music in first grade, learning to play cello through the Suzuki method in Milwaukee. After performing in musicals, Strolling Strings, the Waukesha Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Mrs. Bulmahn went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2010 with her Bachelor’s Degree in String Pedagogy. Afterwards, she spent several years teaching in the Waukesha School District as well as expanding her private studio of Suzuki students out of her home.

In August 2012, she accepted the call to teach in the Suzuki after-school program here in Neenah. Besides teaching in the after-school Suzuki program, she is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and takes teacher training classes at the Aber Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. When she is not practicing or teaching, Mrs. Bulmahn loves reading, perler bead crafting, and playing board games and video games with her husband and friends.