Doris Koppelman was trained in the Suzuki Method, which she taught as a piano teacher for decades. Having attended the Bronx High School of Music and Art, she received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Hunter College in 1946.
After studying the Suzuki Method of violinist Shin’ichi Suzuki, she became a registered teacher trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), applying the Method to teaching piano. Her book Introducing Suzuki Piano is a standard teaching tome, and she served as piano editor for the American Suzuki Journal. In 1994, the SAA awarded her a Distinguished Service Award. She and her husband Walter Koppelman moved to San Diego in 1965.
Mrs. Koppelman passed away at her Del Cerro home on September 11, 2011, due to complications related to cancer. She was 85.