Ellen Docherty is an experienced educator who has been teaching violin, viola, and beginning piano for over 15 years. Ellen's goal as a music educator is to encourage her students to become lifelong musicians. She focuses not just on technique, but on understanding music through music theory, history, and aural skills. In 2008, Ellen graduated with a degree in Viola Performance from James Madison University as a student of Amadi Azikiwe. She has performed as a guest artist at the Yachats Music Festival; the Gateways Music Festival; the Flanders Festival in Belgium; the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the American Embassy in Italy, and for the late Pope John Paul II in Vatican City. 

Ellen has taught in both public and private school programs, has been a guest clinician for All City Orchestra, an adjudicator for District II Orchestra Assessments in Virginia, a Teaching Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, and is currently the violin teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Dunedin, Fl. Ellen is also a member of the Tampa Bay Symphony Orchestra and has a private teaching studio. Her favorite part of being a musician is connecting with people by making music with them in small ensembles and orchestras. She lives in St. Petersburg, Fl with her spouse and two children and loves rollerskating and coffee!