1965

Mari Gottdiener:

While at Merrywood, Mari was both a student and a teacher of violin and viola. She has lived in
the Bay Area for 25 years. She worked for Cal. Coastal Comm, practiced law, and started a
business to resolved consumer problems with large corporations. She’s now playing chamber
music as much as possible.

Mark Leder:

A French horn student and teacher at Merrywood, Mark has been a singer with the New Haven
Chorale, the Yale Russian Chorus, and the Hartford Chorale. He received his PhD in English
from Yale University in 1977 and went on to complete his law degree at UConn in 1985. He
worked as a personal injury attorney from 1985-2003 and most recently was an adjunct English
instructor at CCSU.

Joel Russell:

A clarinet student and teacher at Merrywood, Joel is now a semi-retired land conservation
lawyer after almost 40 years of practice. He has two grown sons and on grandson. For over 20
years, he has been married to Mari Gottdiener, whom he met at Merrywood in 1965. They now
happily live in Northamptom, MA.

Bill Schneiderman:

A cello student at Merrywood, Bill became a startup advisor, coach, occasional investor, and
educator. He published several articles in psychology journals during his early career, then later
in various trade journals as an Operations Management consultant and company founder. He
has proudly run multiple marathons in under three hours. Married, he has two children and
three grandchildren. He reports he is “still happily playing chamber music.”

Gordon Swift:

Gordon was a violin student while at Merrywood. With a background in Western classical and
South Indian classical violin, he has played in bands ranging from jazz-rock fusion to reggae to
country-and-western. He holds a Doctorate in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. He
has published several articles including: “South Indian gamaka and the violin” (Asian Music,
1990),
“Exploring Carnatic violin: the sinuous style of South Indian Music” (Strings, 2005), and “Is it a
violin or a fiddle” (Strings, 2021). Recordings include String Music (1983), Gordon Swift Group
(1984), Wondrous Love (1999). The Lost Acres String Band (2009), and Fiddle & Harp (2019).
He currently works as an editor  and has his own website.