We honor Tamara Slobodkin as a Teacher Laureate, reaching 20 years or more of teaching through MusicLink. Tamara Slobodkin grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, where she began studying piano at the age of 8. Her home was always filled with music, as she accompanied her mandolin-playing father and her saxophone-playing brother. She gave her first recital at age 10, and from then on followed her interest in music. She attended Oberlin College, and then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband where she continued her piano studies. 

Upon moving to Stony Brook, New York in the late 60s, she decided to follow her interest in Baroque music and studied harpsichord with Agi Jambor and obtained her first double manual harpsichord. In the early 70s, she was a member of the Long Island Ensemble players, who performed throughout Long Island, New York. She also opened her private piano studio, which she has maintained to this day. In the early 70s, she became a founding member of the North Shore Pro Musica, a varied ensemble group who performed throughout Long Island, New York, and Massachusetts, where she performed on both piano and harpsichord. 

In the late 90s, she decided to curtail performance and focus more on teaching. Ms. Slobodkin became very interested in the work of Dorothy Taubman and Edna Golandsky and continues to use their approach to piano teaching and performance to this day. 

With the start of the MusicLink program, Ms. Slobodkin was able to formalize her determination to provide instruction for students who were not able to pay for lessons. MusicLink provided the perfect medium, and she has always had at least 1 MusicLink student in her studio since its inception.