Conference

SAA 40th Anniversary Celebration
Bach & Suzuki Outreach

Every two years you have the opportunity to attend an SAA Conference. If you let it slip by, you will have to wait two more years for such a privilege. In the meantime, you will have taught two years of lessons without the vision, inspiration, knowledge, and connections you would have experienced at the conference.

How many times have you had a parent ask, “What did my child miss at group lesson?” A paragraph of instruction could not remotely explain the on-site learning the child would have absorbed if he/she had attended the group. It takes “being there!”

Now is the time to make every effort to attend the 15th Biennial SAA Conference, May 24-28, 2012, in Minneapolis!

Online Auction

A pre-conference online auction fund-raiser, organized by the SAA Board of Directors, has just opened for bidding!

Bidding for general membership ends Friday, May 25 at midnight Pacific time.

Bidding will continue for conference registrants until Sunday, May 27 at noon Minneapolis (Central) time.

Items include jewelry, workshops and teacher training, instruments, pedagogical material, and vacation packages.

See all auction items and beginning bidding

Arriving a bit early?

Pre-Conference events on Thursday to consider registering for are:

• Every Child Can!, 9:30 am

• 11th International Research Symposium on Talent Education, 3 pm

• Carey Beth Hockett’s Group Class Techniques Workshop for string teachers, 3pm. Enrollment closed—workshop full.

Check-In Starts 5 pm on Thursday

This year, several events on Thursday evening will be open to all.

You won’t want to miss “American Dreams,” a classical guitar recital featuring performer, recording artist, and Teacher Trainer Joseph Pecoraro.

You may also want to join an active participation session: Emily Bowman and Stacey Brady will conduct a Baroque Ornamentation and Improvisation Workshop.

Alice Kanack will lead participants in “Improvisation Without Inhibition.”

A full schedule of sessions and activities starts up at 8:30 am on Friday, May 25.

In addition to a full schedule of sessions—more than 150 sessions to choose from!—here are some highlights of 2012, 40 and Forward:

Friday Focus on Bach

Keynote concert violinist Kate Lansdale will explore the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in a lecture/performance followed by breakout sessions of Bach master classes and Bach in the Suzuki repertoire.

Renowned concert cellist Julie Albers will perform selections from the Unaccompanied Bach Cello Suites.

As Friday afternoon progresses, pianist, violists, guitarists, cellists, violinist, and others will benefit from fabulous instrument-specific explorations of the music of Bach as found in the Suzuki repertoire and beyond.

Outreach

Captivating soloist and teacher Brian Lewis will speak to us about audience and community engagement. Quoting Brian, “Performance should be fused with music education, and I try to show how music study is relevant to other disciplines.” Whatever the instrument, every teacher will benefit from Brian’s communication and outreach skills, as he instructs the violin and chamber master classes on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday Morning Opening Keynote

Dr. Laurel Trainor from McMaster University in Ontario will present “Neural Plasticity and the Effects of Musical Experience on the Brain“, the International Reasearch Symposium on Talent Education keynote on Friday morning, may 25. She is director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. From her keynote and a Suzuki Early Childhood Education session co-presented with David Gerry, we will gain insights into the positive results being gathered from studies of Suzuki baby classes.

And, speaking of Suzuki Early Childhood, we have a total of 13 sessions this year—an all time high!

Heritage

Wise and wonderful Bill Starr will present a keynote on Sunday afternoon, “SAA is 40! Visiting the Past—Vitalizing the Future.”

Expanding on the SAA’s 40th Anniversary theme, heritage sessions throughout the weekend will include:

• Judy Bossuat-Gallic will offer “Shinichi Suzuki: Environment Shapes the Man, His Methods, and His Teaching.”

• Sanford Reuning, “Give My Regards to Kreisler: Shinichi Suzuki’s Thirty Years of Zen Meditation on Tone.”

• A panel for teachers—Carol Smith, Christie Felsing, Vera McCoy-Sulentic, Kimberly Meier-Sims, Allen Lieb, Margaret Shimizu, and Susan Kempter—will present “A Few Ideas from John Kendall’s Teaching Legacy: Revisiting some of the ideas and principles that have shaped our teaching.”

Six Stupendous Concerts!

All the way from Texas, Parker Elementary Performing Strings will open the Friday afternoon Opening Reception. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear what’s happening in one of our well-established Suzuki in the Schools programs. Plus: seven sessions on Suzuki in the Schools during the course of the weekend.

On Friday evening the Kaleidoscope Concert will celebrate our 40th anniversary at Minneapolis Orchestra Hall, featuring Suzuki student soloists from seven of our Suzuki instruments. We will hear students of different ages and stages of development representing our diverse Suzuki community. Bill McGlaughlin, host of the popular public radio programs St. Paul Sunday and Exploring Music, will be Master of Ceremonies for the concert. Special thanks to Don Robertson and Robertson and Sons Violin Shop for their sponsorship of the Kaleidoscope Concert at the Diamond level!

The much-loved Gala Clinicians’ Concert will feature Brian Lewis, Connie Sheu, Renata Pereira, Ann Schein, Nicholas Walker, and Julie Albers!

The Saturday evening concert includes the International Ensembles Concert. The Ensembles this year are Buffalo Suzuki Strings Friendship Touring Ensemble, Concorde Strings Performing Ensemble, and Harpeth Suzuki Strings.

With Marilyn Kesler on the podium, the Blue Lake Suzuki Institute Orchestra will accompany our piano concerto winner Gavin George on Sunday afternoon. Gavin will perform Beethoven Concerto No. 3 in c minor, 1st movement.

A traditional favorite, the Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas will be featured Sunday afternoon. Also joining that concert will be this year’s Flute Performing Ensemble.

Sunday eventing features our 40th Anniversary Banquet Celebration and Benefit Concert. Time for Three will take over the stage, our hearts, and pulse! This groundbreaking, category-shattering trio Time for Three will continue the outreach theme—we’ll learn more about their first music video, “Stronger,” which is bringing a positive anti-bullying message to thousands of viewers.

So Much More!

As always, Monday morning will be chock-full of great sessions. A short address by Board Chair-Elect Marilyn Kesler will bring the weekend to a close by noon.

As a dedicated Suzuki music teacher, you deserve this incredible experience. Reward yourself.

 

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