Arlington where he studied viola as a student of Catherine Forbes and studied early childhood music education and music learning theory with Dr. Diane Lange.  Charles has also studied violin pedagogy at Indiana University with Mimi Zweig and has completed hundreds of hours of Suzuki teacher training at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 

 

During his many summers at ASI, and at Institutes  and workshops worldwide, Charles has studied pedagogy and Suzuki philosophy with some of the most illustrious Suzuki Teacher Trainers in the world, including: Barbara Barber, Helen Brunner, Linda Case, Ronda Cole, Carol Dallinger, Teri Einfeldt, Alice Joy Lewis, Edmund Sprunger, and Tom Wermuth.  He has been profoundly influenced and inspired by his principle mentors Nancy Lokken, Edward Kreitman, and Kerstin Wartberg.

 

His students have consistently won high recognition in many solo competitions and contests, and are often selected to participate in prestigious performing groups including various All-Region Orchestras, all levels of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, and the Texas Music Educations Association’s All-State Orchestra.  His students have performed as soloists with orchestra, and have participated and won distinction in area competitions such as the Collin County Young Artist Competition, the Roger & Ella Jo Adams Concerto Competition, and the Dallas Symphonic Festival.  His students have been selected to perform at three consecutive Biennial National Conferences of the Suzuki Association of the Americas: as members of the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas, as members of the Young Artists Ensemble, and as a featured soloist in Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall as a part of the 2010 Kaleidoscope Concert.  His students have been accepted to prestigious universities and music schools such as Rice, Eastman, University of California – Berkeley, Oberlin, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the U.S. Naval Academy, and have become extraordinary individuals in many diverse fields.

 

Charles has won many awards for his scholarship, musicianship, and abilities as both a performer and as a teacher.  National achievements include winning the American Suzuki Institute’s Shinichi Suzuki Scholar Award in 2004 and 2005, national finalist in the Music Teachers Nation Association Studio Teachers scholarship competition, Most Outstanding Graduate Student (University of Texas at Arlington), and membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honors society.  In 2010, Charles became one of the first teachers in the country to earn the Certificate of Achievement from the Suzuki Association of the Americas, an award given to teachers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to lifelong learning and excellence in their teaching.

 

In 2014, Charles became a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.  He has taught at workshops and Institutes throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Germany; he is also past President of the North Texas Suzuki Association, a Chapter Affiliate of the SAA.

 

As a professional musician, he has played viola and violin in a wide array of orchestras, chamber groups, and many other diverse performing ensembles across the country. His multi-faceted career includes teaching, performing, administration, conducting research in the field of string pedagogy, writing, and presenting lectures and workshops on various topics.