Dr. Certain began studying the Violin & Piano at age 2 - he was privileged to begin his Violin studies after his 'initial' Study Session with Dr. Suzuki himself at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Suzuki happened to be in Dallas as a guest Professor of Violin in December of 1964. After the Study Session with Dr. Suzuki, he 'highly suggested' to Mrs. Certain," that young Rand begin Private Violin Instruction immediately!!". Thus began Maestro Certain's 19 year Violin & Piano training under the instruction of Mr. & Mrs. Franklin Washburn of Dallas, Texas (University Park).

Dr. Certain received instruction from the following respected teachers:

• Franklin(Violin) & Dorothy(Piano) Washburn - Mr. Washburn studied with Ivan Galamian. In the early 1960's, Mr. Washburn created the Dallas Junior Honors Orchestra, as well as teaching the violin privately for more than 40 years. Maestro Certain studied with Mr. Washburn for 19 years, prior to attending the Hurley School of Music at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. on a full violin performance scholarship.
• Laura Crawford - Mrs. Crawford is the founder and director of the Centenary Suzuki School. She is also on the faculty of Centenary College where she teaches violin, chamber music, string methods, and string pedagogy.
• Samuel Applebaum - Mr. Applebaum was a noted and enthusiastic teacher of the violin. He wrote a number of respected books on violin instruction.
• Yehudi Menuhin - Baron Menuhin was an American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. Yehudi Menuhin had one of the longest and most distinguished careers of any violinist of the twentieth century. By the age of seven his performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto had found him instant fame. As a teenager he toured throughout the world and was considered one of the greats long before his twentieth birthday.
• Ivan Galamian- Ivan Galamian was one of the most influential violin teachers of the Twentieth Century. He was born in Tabriz, Persia on February 5, 1903. His parents were Armenians from Russia, but his family emigrated to Moscow, Russia soon after his birth. Galamian studied violin at the School of the Philharmonic Society there with Konstantin Mostras (a student of Leopold Auer) until his graduation in 1919. He moved to Paris, France, during the Bolshevik Revolution and studied under Lucien Capet in 1922 and 1923. In 1924 he debuted in Paris. Due to a combination of nerves, health, and a fondness for teaching, Galamian eventually gave up the stage in order to teach full-time. He became a faculty member of the Russian Conservatory in Paris, where he taught from 1925 until 1929. His earliest pupils in Paris include Vida Reynolds, the first woman in the Philadelphia Orchestra's first violin section, and Paul Makanowitzky. In 1937 Galamian moved permanently to the United States of America. In 1941 he married Judith Johnson in New York City. He taught violin at the Curtis Institute of Music beginning in 1944, and became the head of the violin department at the Juilliard School in 1946. He wrote two violin method books, Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching (1962) and Contemporary Violin Technique (1962). Galamian incorporated aspects of both the Russian and French schools of violin technique in his approach. Galamian founded the summer program Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, NY. Some of his most well known pupils are Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Kyung-Wha Chung, and Michael Rabin. His most notable teaching assistants — later distinguished teachers in their own right — were Dorothy Delay, Sally Thomas, Pauline Scott, Robert Lipsett, Margaret Pardee, Lewis Kaplan and David Cerone. Galamian held honorary degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin College, and the Cleveland College of Music. He also was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Dr. Certain attended the following:

• Centenary College-Hurley School of Music-BA/MA-Violin Performance/Minor-Piano
• University of North Texas-PhD-Musicology
• Interlochen Michigan

Dr. Certain has performed with the following orchestras:

• Dallas Symphony
• Richardson Symphony
• East Texas Symphony
• Marshall Symphony
• Shreveport Symphony

Dr. Certain has performed with:

• Violinist Itzaak Perlman
• Violinist *Sir Yehudi Menuhin
• Violinist Eugene Fodor
• Pianist Dave Brubeck
• Fiddlin' Frenchie Burk
• Chubby Wise
• Randy Travis

Dr. Certain is a member of the following associations:

• Grayson County Music Teachers Association
• Plano Music Teachers Association
• National Music Teachers Association
• American String Teachers Association
• National Association of Schools of Music