Katie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Masters in Music in Violin Performance from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.  In addition to teaching music at Wellan, she teaches Suzuki violin lessons. As an educator she is dedicated to enriching her students’ lives through the joy of music. Teaching students of all ages, she works with her students to incorporate music that motivates and stimulates their interests.

Katie is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When she is not teaching, she often performs with local bands and enjoys traveling and reading.

Nate Shaffer loves everything about music.  While studying concert piano and composition at Brandeis University, he started playing in the ImprovCollective with Tom Hall—a group of musicians of all different levels, coming together to spontaneously create new music, seemingly without rules, boundaries with guidelines. It was a revelation: that we can actualize our musical potential in this very moment! After all, it’s a lot more convenient than writing it all down!

Over the years, he’s focused in on the discipline of this liberating practice.  Working in this way forces us to entrain our awareness to the present moment, our relationships with others and our selves. He is thrilled to be creating a space for Voyagers’ burgeoning minds and spirits to grow through improvising music, unpacking music’s roles in society, and appreciating sounds in general. 

In addition to offering creative private lessons, Nate works as a music director at ImprovBoston, and keeps a busy schedule of performing, recording, and writing.