The Toot is fortunate to present some of the best teachers and players in the Early Music world. This year our distinguished faculty includes:

Susan Barton (viol)

Susan leads the Dallas Consort of Viols and is south central regional coordinator for the Viola da Gamba Society of America. A Dallas area player for more than 20 years, she has taught viols (especially beginners) at the Toot since 1986. In real life, she is an editor and writer on the national pages of the United Methodist Reporter, and is a member of the Toot Board of Directors.

Becky Baxter (historical harp)

Ms. Baxter's resume as a professional in the field of early harp includes performances of harp literature from the 12th through 18th centuries on a wide variety of historical harps. Becky has performed at events such as: the National Harp Society Convention, Houston Grand Opera's productions of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea (including subsequent broadcasts on NPR), the Boston Early Music Festival, the Round Top Early Music Festival, the Texas Early Music Festival, the Amherst Early Music Festival, and the Historical Harp Society Conference/Workshops.

In addition to her full-time career in church music as Associate Director of music and organist at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas and as a pedal harp performer and teacher, Ms. Baxter currently serves on the faculty of the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Texas Early Music Festival. Her first recording on the Dorian label is titled O Lux Beata, Renaissance Harp Music (DOR 93193.) She also appears as a guest artist with Chatham Baroque on another Dorian CD, Españoleta (DOR 90284.) Both recordings went up in the shuttle with astronaut Bill McArthur in Fall of 2000.

Tish Berlin (recorder)

Letitia Berlin teaches in California and at workshops around the country, including the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Oregon Coast Recorder Society Winds and Waves workshop. She directs the Hidden Valley Early Music Road Scholar workshop, the San Francisco Early Music Society Music Discovery Workshop and several small workshops for Tibia Adventures in Music. Besides Farallon, Ms. Berlin performs with the Tibia Recorder Duo, the Wild Rose Ensemble and the Sitka Trio.

Ms. Berlin has performed as a guest artist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. Recordings include two CDs with the Farallon Recorder Quartet: Ludwig Senfl: Motets, Lieder and Instrumental Works, and From Albion's Shores: Music of England from the Middle Ages to Purcell, as well as Ladino love songs with Yátan Atán on the New Albion label.

Ms. Berlin received a master's degree in early music performance practices from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a three-time recipient of the Recorder Residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon, sponsored by the Oregon Coast Recorder Society. Ms. Berlin is the Past President of the American Recorder Society.

Frances Blaker (recorder)

Frances Blaker performs on recorders of all types and sizes with the Farallon Recorder Quartet and Tibia Recorder Duo. As a member of Ensemble Vermillian she explores, transcribes and performs chamber music of the 17th and 18th centuries. She has performed as soloist with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Vita Nova, and numerous other groups in the US, Denmark, England, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Frances is conductor and music director of BABO (Bay Area Baroque Orchestra), a community orchestra for accomplished amateur players. As co-director of Tibia Adventures in Music, she organizes workshops for small groups of adult students in the US and abroad. She teaches private recorder lessons both in person and long distance via Skype and is a sought after instructor at workshops all around the US.

Ms. Blaker is the author of The Recorder Player's Companion and the "Opening Measures" column in the American Recorder magazine, and a collaborator and performer on the Disc Continuo series of play-along recordings.

Her compositions have been published by PRB Productions and Lost in Time Press. Ms. Blaker can be heard on Ensemble Vermillian's two-volume survey of German 17th century chamber music centering around Buxtehude's opus 1, Stolen Jewels and Buried Treasure. The Farallon Recorder Quartet's recordings include the works of Ludwig Senfl and newly released recording of music from England, From Albion's Shores.

James Brown (viol)

James A. Brown, received his degrees in organ performance and choral conducting from the University of Houston, before moving to New York City to pursue studies in viola da gamba and historical musicology. While in New York, Mr. Brown served as musical director for Polyhymnia, a group dedicated to the performance of Medieval and Renaissance sacred repertory.

As gambist, Mr. Brown is a core member of La Follia Austin Baroque, and has performed with the New York Continuo Collective, Texas Early Music Project, Conspirare, Ars Lyrica and Polyhymnia. Mr. Brown has served as faculty and Executive Advisory Board member for Amherst Early Music. As a conductor his primary efforts have been in the choral/orchestral repertoire of the French Baroque, and in the music of Claudio Monteverdi. Mr. Brown is also full time director of Worship and the Arts for First Presbyterian Church, Austin and the Artistic Director of the Saint Cecilia Music Series.

Bruce Brogdon (lute)

Bruce Brogdon studied classical guitar at the University of St. Thomas. His interest in early music led him to take up the lute, and he has studied privately and in masterclasses with Paul O'Dette and Pat O'Brien. Bruce has performed with the Texas Baroque Ensemble, the Green Mountain Consort, the Houston Baroque Ensemble, the Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, Ars Lyrica Houston (based at University of Houston), and Aquinas, the resident ensemble of the University of St. Thomas.

Bruce leads his own group, Canzonetta, which specializes in plucked string continuo (lutes, guitars, and harp), and features music of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Therese Honey (harps)

Therese Honey has been performing, studying, researching and teaching harp in the Houston area since 1968. She performs early music with the Texas Early Music Project and La Follia Austin Baroque and more, and performs Celtic music at the North Texas Irish Festival, Milwaukee Irish Festival, and more, in addition to nationally broadcast PBS Christmas Specials. She has presented concerts and workshops throughout the United States and Canada. Ms. Honey has published several books of arrangements of Celtic and Early Music for Celtic harp and has recorded 4 solo CDs.

Jan Jackson (recorder)

Jan Jackson, director of Passing Measures, has been directing and performing with professional and educational Early Music ensembles in Central Texas for over 20 years. She has participated in various Early Music festivals and Renaissance faires around the country and in numerous workshops, including those at Amherst College and the Professional Recorder Program at Indiana University.

Ms. Jackson performs with the Texas Early Music Project, in addition to directing and performing with Passing Measures (medieval, renaissance, and baroque repertoire) and Timely Treasures (harp/recorder duo with early music and celtic repertoire).

She has served on the National Board of Directors for the American Recorder Society and on the Educational Committee for that organization. A registered Suzuki recorder instructor, she is a charter member of the American Recorder Teachers Association, a member of its board of directors and the chair person for ARTA's Scholarship Committee. She is a faculty member for the Armstrong Community Music School (South Austin), and the Texas TOOT (formerly Texas Early Music Festival). She teaches in students' homes, at workshops, at the the First Baptist Church in Blanco, Texas, and privately at her studio, the Academie of Musick (North Central Austin).

Danny Johnson (voice and workshop director)

Award-winning director, international performer, and recording artist Daniel Johnson has been the artistic director of the Texas Early Music Project since its inception in 1987. Johnson has performed and toured both as a soloist and ensemble member in such groups as the New York Ensemble for Early Music, Sotto Voce (San Francisco), and Musa Iberica. He can be heard on various recordings for Koch International, Foné Records (Rome), Amherst Festival Productions, and the Texas Early Music Project label.

Johnson was the director of the UT Early Music Ensemble, one of the largest and most active in the U.S., from 1986-2003. In 1998, he was awarded Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for university ensemble directors. He is also the recipient of the 1997 Quattelbaum Award at the College of Charleston. Johnson teaches master classes in performance practice and also serves on the faculty, staff, and the Executive Advisory Board of the Amherst Early Music Festival. He has been on the faculty of the Texas Toot since 1994.

Susan Richter (ensemble)

Susan Richter earned a music education degree from North Texas State University (now UNT) and after a brief foray as a junior high band director, turned to the world of information technology to earn a living -- but music remains her life's interest. She played recorder and sang with the Early Music Ensemble of Los Angeles, and was a section leader and Board member of the Choral Society of Southern California (Beverly Hills). She is currently a member of the Wireless Consort (a recorder ensemble based in Dallas/Fort Worth), and of the St. David's Compline Choir and Texas Early Music Project in Austin, Texas. Other musical interests include music leadership at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, "administrating" the Texas Toot early music workshops, playing clarinet and saxophone in pit orchestras, and playing penny whistle duets with her husband, Win Bent. Susan works as a data modeler for the Texas Education Agency.

Dr. Frank Shirley (recorder)

Dr. Frank Shirley holds a Master of Music degree in musicology from the University of Texas, where as a Ph.D. in mathematics he teaches courses in math for non-math majors. He has performed in early music ensembles in Ithaca NY, Dallas, and Austin, and has taught for several years at the Fall and Summer Toots. He has studied recorder in workshops with Saskia Coolen, Reine-Marie Verhagen, and Aldo Abreu. In addition, Dr. Shirley has performed as a bass chorister in the UT Early Music Ensemble, the Austin Civic Chorus, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Dallas area Renaissance Polyphony Weekend.

Dale Taylor (winds)

Dale Taylor has been working in early music and living in the past for almost 40 years now. He studied with Arnold Grayson, Phil Levin and Bernard Krainis and built instruments with Levin Historical Instruments. He worked at Colonial Williamsburg and San Augustin Antinguo and was a featured guest for Southstreet Seaport Museum's Music Makers of South Street, highlighting the old instrument making district in New York.

He performs on recorder and baroque bassoon with the baroque ensemble Muse and leads the Renaissance alta band Jornada, where he plays cornetto, shawms, sackbut, dulcian and recorders. He owns Taylor Historic Music, where he repairs early instruments, and is currently developing a line of sackbuts and slide trumpets.