Ruth Brons, Martha Brons inventors: the Bow Hold Buddies™ bow accessory for violin and viola and the CelloPhant® bow accessory for cello.
Things 4 Strings® accessories, invented by the American String Teachers Association honored mother-daughter teaching team of Ruth and Martha Brons, are teacher designed, tested and approved as the gentlest, fastest way for beginning players to learn a relaxed and effective bow hold.
Things 4 Strings® accessories were developed to help students in the inventors' own studios, each of which counts numerous alumni continuing on as professional musicians. Between them, Ruth and Martha now have over 90 years of teaching experiece! Once Ruth and Martha arrived at the concept of these accessories as a solution to the frustrations both students and teachers to often face over the bow hold issue, they realized these accessories just had to exist -- and it was up to them to make it happen!
Ruth Brons was honored for her work in music education by the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) in 2014 with the prestigious Kudos Award. Ruth maintains a full private lesson studio in conjunction with her work as Suzuki Violin Program Coordinator and Visiting Specialist for Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has also served as a clinician for the South Carolina Suzuki Institute (over twenty years), a music education conference session presenter, and as active free-lance violinist/violist and chamber music coach in the greater New York City area. She holds a Master of Music Degree in Viola Performance from Temple University (Philadelphia)and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Viola Performance from The New School of Music (Philadelphia), and is an alumna of Charles Castleman's Quartet Program. She studied with Max Aronoff, Leonard Mogill, Heidi Castleman, Evelyn Jacobs Luis, and Davyd Booth.
Distinguished performer and teacher, Martha Brons, named South Carolina Teacher of the Year 2008 by the American String Teacher Association™, cited for her Vision and Leadership by the South Carolina Suzuki Association, and has had numerous cello students win local, state and national concerto competitions. She has recently relocated her cello studio from Greenville, SC to West Orange, NJ. Martha studied with members of the Walden String Quartet at the University of Illinois, where she earned a B. Music degree in Cello Performance, and holds a Master's Degree in Cello Performance from the Philadelphia Music Academy, where she studied with the legendary Elsa Hilger.