Translations: Español, Português

So what does it mean for the SAA to be the Suzuki Association of the Americas, plural? When the SAA was established in 1972, it was charged with the responsibility to care for and nurture the development of the Suzuki method in all of North and South America, which includes Canada, the United States and all of the countries in Central and South America! This is a huge territory and involves people speaking four different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. What a big job!

Canada is a whole separate subject, so I’m going to limit myself to a discussion about what is going on in Latin America, where I lived for five years in the 1980s. I really enjoyed my time in Lima, Peru, and Santiago, Chile, and I have continued teaching all over Latin America since then. I have been amazed and very pleased with the growth of Suzuki programs since I first taught there in 1982. There are now so many well-established programs in at least ten Latin American countries, and courses have been taught and teachers are teaching in more countries than that. The SAA lists fifteen Latin American countries that have SAA members, with a total of 450 members in these countries. There are even more members of the various country associations. Since the SAA was founded, 997 SAA training courses have been taught in Latin America.

Several countries host yearly Suzuki Festivals. These are very comparable to the US and Canadian Summer Suzuki Institutes. They are called Festivals because in Spanish and Portuguese that is the word that better describes what is going on at that kind of event. The Festival in Peru in January of this year celebrated twenty-six years as a Suzuki Festival and attracted teachers and students from more than twelve Latin American countries.

Trainers come from the United States to teach at these Festivals, and the financial support given by the SAA enables these teachers to go, since airfares are quite expensive when traveling that far. There are now Suzuki teachers teaching all the major Suzuki instruments, including violin, viola, cello, bass, piano, guitar, recorder, flute, early childhood education, and voice.

Every three years, the Peru Festival also hosts a three-day Encuentro, or “meeting,” of Suzuki teachers. This is very much like the bi-annual SAA conference, except that it’s meant for Latin American teachers. This year we had the Fifth Encuentro and there were teachers from thirteen countries working together and helping each other solve some of the unique challenges they all face. A big accomplishment at this Encuentro was the creation of a Latin American Suzuki website, which will be linked to the SAA website. Books and other materials are being published thanks to the Suzuki Association of Mexico, and important linkages are being forged that will enable all these programs to continue to grow and spread Dr. Suzuki’s message of hope and love.

There are now three violin teacher trainers in Latin America, two in Argentina (Eduardo Luduena and Fernando Pinero) and one in Brazil (Shinobu Saito), and two piano trainers, one in Peru (Caroline Fraser) and one in Chile (Maite Daiber). There are several more teachers who are diligently working on becoming trainers, and they will probably accomplish that soon.

In June, I taught for the eleventh year in a row in Bogota, Colombia. It’s always such a joy to return and see the students and teachers! North American trainers who travel to teach in these Latin American Festivals comment about the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers and students in the courses and classes. The Suzuki method is bringing great riches to these countries and they in turn benefit all of us in the SAA, bringing fresh perspectives and a wonderful musical heritage as well.

Programas Suzuki en Latinoamérica

Por Marilyn O’Boyle, Miembro de la Directiva de la SAA

Traducido por Elizabeth Pabon

Verdaderamente, qué significa que la ASA sea la Asociación Suzuki de las Americas? Cuando la ASA se estableció en el 1972, se le encargó la responsabilidad de cuidar y promover el crecimiento del método Suzuki en todo el continente, incluyendo EE.UU., Canadá, todos los países de America Central, el Caribe y America del Sur. Esto es un ámbito enorme de culturas expresandose en cuatro idiomas: ingles, castellano, portugués y francés. Qué gran tarea!

Considerando a Canadá como un tema aparte, aquí deseo dedicarme a presentar lo que está pasando en Latinoamérica, donde residí por cinco años durante la década de los 80. Disfruté mucho el tiempo que pasé en Lima, Perú y Santiago de Chile y sigo enseñando en países en toda Latinoamérica desde entonces. Desde esos primeros cursos en el 1982, miro con asombro y admiración el crecimiento de programas Suzuki. Ya se encuentran muchos programas bien establecidos en más de diez países, además de cursos y maestros de clases particulares en otros paises. En el directorio de la ASA aparecen 450 miembros de quince paises de Latinoamérica y las distintas organizaciones Suzuki locales cuentan con más miembros aún. Desde el inicio de la ASA, se han ofrecido 997 cursos de capacitación en Latinoamérica.

Varios países organizan Festivales Suzuki cada año. Estos son el equivalente de los Institutos Suzuki de Verano que se dan en los EE.UU. y Canadá. En castellano y en portugués, se le llama a estos eventos Festivales porque representa mejor el sabor de lo que ocurre en ellos. En enero 2011 se celebró en Lima el 26 Aniversario del Festival Suzuki de Peru con la participación de maestros y estudiantes de más de doce países latinoamericanos.

Maestros Capacitadores vienen de los EE.UU. para enseñar en estos Festivales—algo hecho posible por el apoyo monetario de la ASA debido al costo de viaje—con el resultado de que ahora se encuentran maestros Suzuki para todos los instrumentos principales incluyendo violín, viola, cello, contrabajo, piano, guitarra, flauta dulce, flauta, estimulación temprana, y canto.

Cada tres años, el Festival en Perú también es sede de un Encuentro de tres días para maestros Suzuki. Este es muy parecido a la conferencia bienal de la ASA, pero con enfoque particular en los maestros Suzuki de Latinoamérica. Este año tuvimos nuestro 5 Encuentro donde maestros de trece países trabajaron juntos ayudándose mutuamente para buscar respuestas para los retos particulares enfrentados por todos. Un logro de este Encuentro es la creación de el sitio de web “Pagina Suzuki de Latinoamérica” la cual será enlazado al sitio de web de la ASA. Asimismo se están publicando libros y otros recursos gracias a la labor de la Asociación Suzuki de México, y se están construyendo vínculos que facilitan que los programas puedan seguir creciendo y esparciendo el mensaje del Dr. Suzuki de esperanza y amor.

Actualmente se encuentran tres maestros capacitadores de violín en Latinoamérica, dos en Argentina (Eduardo Ludueña y Fernando Piñero) y una en Brazil (Shinobu Saito), y dos maestros capacitadores de piano, una en Peru (Caroline Fraser) y una en Chile (Maite Daiber). Varios maestros están trabajando para pronto cumplir con los requisitos para ser maestros capacitadores.

En junio, cumplí mi undécimo año seguido enseñando en Bogotá, Colombia. Siempre es una alegría poder volver y encontrarme nuevamente con estos alumnos y maestros! Maestros capacitadores norteamericanos quienes han enseñado en los Festivales latinoamericanos siempre comentan sobre el entusiasmo y la dedicación de los maestros y estudiantes. El Método Suzuki está enriqueciendo todos estos países y al mismo tiempo ellos nos benefician a todos en la ASA, trayendo perspectivas reanimadoras además de su maravillosa cultura musical.

Programas Suzuki na América Latina

Por Marilyn O’Boyle, Membro da Directiva da SAA

Traduzido por Fabio dos Santos

Então, o que significa a SAA ser uma Associação Suzuki das Américas, no plural? Quando a SAA se estabeleceu em 1972, coube a ela a responsabilidade de cuidar e de nutrir o desenvolvimento do método Suzuki em todas Américas do Norte e do Sul, que incluem o Canadá, os Estados Unidos e todos os países da América Central e do Sul! Esse território é enorme e envolve pessoas falando em quatro línguas diferentes: Inglês, Espanhol, Português e Francês. Que trabalho complicado!

O Canadá é um assunto totalmente diferente, por isso me limitarei a uma discussão sobre o que está acontecendo na América Latina, onde vivi por cinco anos na década de 1980. Eu desfrutei muito do meu tempo em Lima, Perú, e Santiago, Chile, e continuei ensinando em toda América Latina desde então. Eu continuo impressionada e contente com o crescimento dos programas Suzuki desde que ensinei lá pela primeira vez em 1982. Hoje existem alguns programas bem estabelecidos em pelo menos dez países latino-americanos, e cursos são ministrados e professores estão lecionando em mais países que isso. A SAA lista 15 países latino-americanos que possuem membros da SAA, com um total de 450 membros nestes países. Há ainda mais membros nas diversas associações de país. Desde a fundação da SAA, 997 cursos de capacitação foram realizados na América Latina.

Vários países organizam Festivais Suzuki anualmente. Estes são muito similares aos Institutos de Verão organizados nos EUA e no Canadá. Eles são chamados de Festivais porque, em Espanhol e Português, essa palavra melhor descreve o que acontece neste tipo de evento. O Festival do Perú, em Janeiro deste ano, celebrou vinte seis anos como um Festival Suzuki e atraiu professores e alunos de mais de doze países latino-americanos.

Professores Capacitadores dos Estados Unidos lecionam nestes Festivais, e o apoio oferecido pela SAA permite que esses professores viajem, já que as passagens são bastante caras quando se vai tão longe. Existem agora professores Suzuki ensinando a maior parte dos instrumentos Suzuki, incluindo violino, viola, violoncelo, contrabaixo, piano, violão, flauta doce, flauta transversal, estimulação de bebês e voz.

A cada três anos, o Festival do Perú também recebe um “Encuentro” de professores Suzuki – “reunião” de três dias. O evento é muito parecido com a conferência bi-anual da SAA, exceto que, neste caso, é direcionado a professores latino-americanos. Este ano tivemos o Quinto “Encuentro” e estavam presentes professores de treze países trabalhando juntos e se ajudando a solucionar seus desafios particulares. Uma grande conquista neste “Encuentro” foi a criação de um website latino-americano, que será associado ao website da SAA. Livros e outros materiais estão sendo publicados graças à Associação Suzuki do México, e vínculos importantes estão se estabelecendo. Estes permitirão que todos esses programas continuem crescendo e difundindo a mensagem de esperança e amor do Dr. Suzuki.

Hoje temos três Professores Capacitadores de violino na América Latina, dois na Argentina (Eduardo Ludueña e Fernando Piñero), uma no Brasil (Shinobu Saito), e duas Capacitadoras de piano, uma no Perú (Caroline Fraser) e outra no Chile (Maite Daiber). Há outros professores que estão trabalhando diligentemente para se tornarem Professores Capacitadores, e provavelmente farão logo.

Em Junho, eu lecionei pelo 11º ano seguido em Bogotá, Colombia. É sempre muito gratificante voltar e rever estudantes e professores! Professores Capacitadores norte-americanos que viajam para participar destes Festivais latino-americanos comentam o entusiasmo e comprometimento desses professores e alunos nos cursos e nas aulas. A Educação Suzuki traz grandes riquezas para esses países que, em contrapartida, beneficiam a todos nós da SAA ao trazerem novas perspectivas e sua maravilhosa herança musical.

Practicum

Un gran medio para afilar tus herramientas de enseñanza.

Con comentarios de Etna Diemecke y Fabiola Sigala

Este extraordinario taller nos ha llevado a apreciar aún más el arte de enseñar.

Este arte involucra el instrumento, la música, el alumno y los padres de familia; cuando el instrumento está bien afinado o la altura del banco es la adecuada, cuando el cuerpo está en equilibrio, lo que resta es poner la música en las manos del alumno…y ahí es cuando comienza el arte…cuando la mente y la energía del profesor se unen, utilizando las herramientas correctas, que ayuden a llevar al alumno al desarrollo de las habilidades que le permitirán experimentar el placer de hacer música…

Hemos comprendido lo que el Dr. Suzuki decía con respecto a convertirse en maestro al cumplir los cien años de edad, ya que nos damos cuenta que, hasta que ese momento llegue, todos somos alumnos que vamos mejorando nuestra manera de tocar y que, a través de la experiencia, vamos adquiriendo y afilando nuestras herramientas y estrategias de enseñanza…

Recientemente tuvimos la oportunidad de participar en el taller de practicum para piano, impartido por la Mtra. Caroline Fraser, que se llevó a cabo en el “Instituto Suzuki Vive la Música” en la Ciudad de México.

Estamos de acuerdo en que el enseñar a tocar un instrumento musical, conlleva una gran responsabilidad, ya que es importante el transmitir, motivar, dar el mejor ejemplo, encomiar y ser específico sobre cada punto de la enseñanza.

Creemos que este taller es esencial para cada maestro y en cada libro. Es un paso imprescindible que creemos cada maestro debe dar; este nos ayuda a evaluar como va evolucionando nuestra manera de enseñar.

El taller comienza cuando la profesora entrenadora hace entrega de unas hojas que contienen los “descriptores” y explica su funcionamiento; mismos que servirán de base para las observaciones que se le hará a cada maestro en las clases que este impartirá, en vivo o bien en video, con una duración de 30min, en cualquier caso.

Estos descriptores están divididos en diferentes secciones según la manera en que el maestro se acerca al alumno, tales como: tener contacto visual, el uso del lenguaje apropiado a la edad del alumno, el dar excelentes ejemplos interpretativos, correcciones que sean comprensibles y que se enfoquen en un solo punto a mejorar, asegurarse que las instrucciones para la tarea les quedan claras a los padres de familia; y otros descriptores que tienen que ver con: asegurarse de que los instrumentos estén en perfectas condiciones y bien afinados, que el área de trabajo esté limpia, bien aireado y con buena iluminación, ya que esto sirve también como ejemplo de las condiciones que deben ser replicadas en la práctica en casa.

El procedimiento es el siguiente: los maestros en entrenamiento comparten sus observaciones acerca de la clase que acaban de presenciar, basándose únicamente en comentar cuáles de los descriptores estuvieron presentes. Sólo se permiten comentarios positivos.

Después sigue la retroalimentación dada por el profesor entrenador, en donde recalca los puntos más importantes que estuvieron presentes en la clase que se acaba de observar, así como los puntos en que se puede mejorar, seguidos por una demostración de cómo se pueden lograr estas mejoras, invitando al maestro a ir al instrumento y experimentar ahí mismo las nuevas herramientas o estrategias, asegurándose de que se ha adquirido la nueva habilidad de enseñanza.

Para finalizar el proceso de la retroalimentación, se prepara una estrategia y plan de trabajo con los comentarios y sugerencias del profesor entrenador, para que el maestro lo pueda poner en práctica en la siguiente clase con ese mismo alumno.

Siguiendo estos pasos, las herramientas de enseñanza son utilizadas de inmediato, ya sea al día siguiente o dos días después cuando regrese ese mismo alumno para recibir otra clase. De esta manera, las herramientas y estrategias de enseñanza se interiorizan y se convierten en parte de nuestras habilidades de enseñanza.

Todas aprendimos de cada clase, de cada comentario, ya que uno se vuelve más conciente de su manera de enseñar cuando uno observa a otros enseñando, precisamente de la misma manera en que los alumnos aprenden al observar las clases de otros alumnos.

Aprendemos de las estrategias que utilizan otros maestros, ya que cada quien aporta algo de su propia experiencia.

Los resultados de este taller se ven de inmediato. El taller de practicum ha hecho que disfrutemos más el enseñar y nuestros alumnos se han visto beneficiados de inmediato con nuestro aprendizaje recién adquirido.

Hemos creado un grupo de confianza en donde compartimos con las otras maestras nuestras ideas, puntos de vista, problemas o dificultades, porque, como ya dijimos, todos nos beneficiamos con los cometarios y estrategias de los demás maestros. Compartiendo y no compitiendo.

Este maravilloso taller se complementó con clases individuales para las maestras, en donde nos convertimos nuevamente en verdaderos estudiantes, con miras a estar más concientes de los ejemplos interpretativos que damos.

Queremos agradecer a la SAA por su apoyo para traer a Caroline a nuestro instituto y por promover este tipo de talleres que son de gran ayuda para nuestro desarrollo como maestros.

Las maestras quienes tomamos este entrenamiento: Etna Diemecke, Fabiola Sigala, Greta Licona y una servidora, así como los alumnos y sus padres, deseamos agradecer a Caroline Fraser por compartir su valiosa enseñanza, a través de sus vivos ejemplos de la Filosofía Suzuki, los cuales nos han sido transmitidos con amor y con verdadero interés.

With comments from Etna Diemecke and Fabiola Sigala

We recently had the wonderful opportunity to be part of an SAA Practicum Unit™ in Piano, given by Caroline Fraser at the Instituto Suzuki Vive la Música in Mexico City. This amazing workshop has brought us to appreciate the art of teaching even more.

This art involves the instrument, the music, the student and the parent. When the instrument is tuned, when it is the right size or the bench is the right height, when the correct body balance has been taken care of, what remains is placing the music in the student’s hands. That’s when the art begins—when the teacher’s state of mind and energy come together, using the correct tools—which allows the student to develop the skills that will lead him to flow through the joyful experience of music making.

We have come to understand what Dr. Suzuki said about becoming a teacher when we reach one hundred years of age. We realize that, before that time comes, we are all students, constantly improving our playing skills and through experience, acquiring and sharpening our teaching tools and strategies. We’ve realized that teaching an instrument is a great responsibility, for it is important to transmit, motivate, and give an excellent example, to praise and to be specific about every teaching step.

We believe that the Practicum is essential for every teacher at any level; it is a vital step that every teacher should take. This workshop helps us evaluate how our teaching is evolving—it gives us a way to acquire new strategies and to share experiences, which will enhance our skills and sharpen our tools. The result will be that our students’ playing will improve.

The workshop begins by the teacher trainer handing out and explaining the descriptors that will serve as a base for the observations of the trainees’ teaching, usually both an on-site lesson and a video recording. These descriptors contain different sections regarding the teacher’s approach towards the student, such as being at eye level, the use of language appropriate to the student’s age, excellent playing examples, comprehensive corrections focused on one point to be improved, making sure that homework instructions are clear to the parents. Other descriptors include making sure that the instruments are in perfect condition and well tuned and that the teaching area is clean, airy, and with good light, which also serves as an example of the studying conditions that should be replicated in the home practice.

The way to proceed is as follows: Trainees share their thoughts based on their observation of the lesson that has just been taught, following the descriptors only and mentioning the positive aspects of the teaching. No negative comments are allowed. Then, feedback from the trainer follows. That is where she points out the most important aspects that were present at the lesson and then the ones that can be improved, followed by a demonstration of how this improvement can be achieved, having the trainee go to the instrument and experience it “hands on,” making sure that the teaching skill has been acquired. To end the feedback process, a strategy for the following lesson with that student is planned with the trainer’s input. Through these steps, the teaching tools are immediately applied the following day or two days later, when we get to teach the same student again. In this way, the new tools and strategies are internalized and become part of our teaching skills.

We all learned from every lesson and from every comment because one becomes more aware of one’s own teaching abilities while watching other teachers at work, in exactly the same way as children learn from observing other children’s lessons. We learned from every teacher’s strategies, because everyone contributed something from their own teaching experience.

The results of this workshop are immediately evident. The Practicum workshop has made our teaching more enjoyable and our students have immediately benefited from our enhanced teaching abilities. We’ve created a trusting group where we can share ideas, points of view, problems, or difficulties with the other teachers, because, as we said, we all benefit from other teachers’ strategies and comments, sharing and not competing. This fantastic workshop was complemented by individual lessons for the teachers in which we became again actual students, looking to be more aware of our playing examples.

We wish to thank the SAA for its support in helping us bring Caroline to our institute and for promoting these kinds of workshops that are so helpful for our development as teachers. The trainees, Etna Diemecke, Fabiola Sigala, Greta Licona and myself, as well as the students who participated and their parents, wish to thank Caroline for sharing her valuable teachings through her vivid examples of the Suzuki philosophy, which are transmitted with love and true care.

Many thanks to our SAA Teacher Trainers: David Evenchick, Doris Koppelman, Mary McCarthy, Marilyn O’Boyle, Fernando Piñero, Mary Lou Roberts, Shinobu Saito, Ann Montzka Smelser and Kelly Williamson. In addition to Suzuki courses, workshops for teachers in Dalcroze and Kodaly were offered by Iramar Rodriques from Switzerland and Lydia Mills from California. For David and Ann it was their first time in Latin America.

David Evenchick, Canada, writes:
To know that music is the greatest of international languages is one thing, but what a powerful experience it is to eat, breath, teach and be taught under this communal umbrella. Such was my experience last January at the 26th International Suzuki Festival in Lima Peru. The Latin American way is imbued with an enthusiastic appreciation and recognition for its many countries, regions and diverse ethnic groups. Alongside this regional pride there is also an understanding of how we must also come together. In Lima I was able to witness the various ways that music can promote sharing and understanding between different cultures and economic levels.

The participants in my Teacher Development class traveled to Lima from a half dozen different countries and ranged in experience from self-taught (via YouTube) to professional-level cellists. You can imagine the challenges in starting to learn the cello over the Internet! And what about the fortitude to play alongside cellists with decades of high level training? As a first time guest in Latin America, I was very touched by this and so many other examples of their great thirst for learning and good will, not to mention the participants’ impressive philosophical conviction to the Suzuki Method. Now that I am back home I have a greater sense of the importance of spreading our community of Suzuki teachers parents and learners. It is a significant honor and privilege. Special thanks to the Suzuki Association of Peru for the inspiration!

Ann Montzka Smelser, USA, writes:
My experience in Peru
Sometimes I feel a little guilty when I return from a teaching trip when I feel I have probably learned more from the experience than anyone else. This is how I felt returning from teaching Suzuki Violin Units One and Two at the International Suzuki Festival in Peru. I have been so full of hope and inspiration ever since my return to DeKalb, Illinois. I would like to share a few impressions from my first time teaching in South America.

I was touched by how warmly everyone greets each other every single day. There is such personal connection and less technological distraction than I am used to here in the United States. Even though the classes were very large I felt like I had the space and time to connect with each teacher in the course. Maybe this was because Teacher Trainers hear the entire book played by each participant individually during the two and a half hour lunch breaks. We also connected during two days of “Teaching Strategies” at the end of each course where the participants watch and discuss each other’s live or recorded teaching. I was deeply moved by how thoroughly the teachers embraced Suzuki’s vision and philosophy at such early books. I credit both the Filosofia structure (15 hours of class time with 8 observation hours as opposed to our 6 hours of ECC and the masterful presentation of the course by Caroline Fraser. We can learn from this model!

I was speaking to the teachers in English and they were communicating to me in Spanish or Portuguese. All of our words were translated by a wonderful music student named Fiorella. When Fi lost her voice toward the end of the week the “international language of music” was understood on a deeper level! It was helpful for me to learn to use fewer words to say even more. I am implementing this “play more, talk less” approach in all of my teaching. I imagine my students young and old are thankful.

Perhaps what struck me the most is how much can be accomplished in environments where resources are very scarce. I met teachers from the jungle who have taught themselves to play violin primarily through books, musicians passing through their villages, YouTube and annual attendance at this festival. Through practicing and determination they play very well! Much like Dr. Suzuki these self-taught violinists are looking for more for the families of their communities and the world at large.

I am so thankful for this experience. The teachers and families I have met have enriched me as a person and a teacher. Grande applause to the Suzuki Association of Peru and all who connect the Americas in the name of Suzuki, there is so much we can learn from each other!

Guatemala was represented for the first time:
Rubidia Boror, Guatemala, writes:
For me, this has been an unforgettable experience, especially representing my country: this is an honour and a challenge. The truth is that I learned and grew a great deal, both in the musical and the emotional aspects. Everyone was wonderful and I consider that “my life has been changed.” This was the phrase I used when I talked with Caroline Fraser for the first time. I think this is the phrase that best expresses what this musical fiesta was for me. It changed my life and gave me a new musical perspective. Now more than ever, I have been injected with new ideas and energy in order to continue working in my beautiful country, Guatemala, with the main goal being to organize the I Suzuki Festival in Guatemala. Once again, I want to express my profound gratitude to Caroline Fraser, the Suzuki Association of Peru and the SAA for helping me attend the festival and for having faith in me.

Para mi ha sido una experiencia inolvidable, en especial cuando debo representar a todo un país. Es en realidad un honor y un reto. En verdad aprendí y crecí mucho tanto en lo musical como en lo afectivo. Todos fueron maravillosos y considero que, “me ha cambiado la vida.” Esa fue la frase que expresé al conversar con la Mta. Caroline Fraser por primera vez. Si creo que esa es la frase que mejor expresa lo que fue para mí toda esa fiesta musical. Me cambió la vida y me dio una nueva perspectiva de la enseñanza musical. Ahora más que nunca creo que me han inyectado muchas ideas y energía para continuar trabajando en mi hermoso país Guatemala para poder realizar como meta principal a Corto Plazo el I Festival Suzuki en Guatemala. Nuevamente quiero expresar mi profundo agradecimiento a la Mta. Caroline Fraser por ayudarme a asistir, a la Asociación Suzuki del Perú y la SAA, por confiar en mí y brindarme su apoyo.

For the first time, a group of participants came from a North American University to attend the festival and receive training.

Vera McCoy-Sulentic, USA, writes:
From Principia to Peru

First, let me describe our group: 14 college students, one professor of music, and one tag-along Teacher Trainer. The students attend Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, and originally come from Mexico, Canada, Washington, Colorado and Virginia; they are musicians who play violin, flute, and piano. Dr. Marie Jureit is their professor of music at Principia College, and I am Vera McCoy-Sulentic, Teacher Trainer and director of the Suzuki Program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. How did this group of people happen to travel to another continent to attend the 26th International Suzuki Festival in Lima, Peru, in the middle of January to study Suzuki Book One on violin, flute and piano?

The adventure was the brainchild of Marie Jureit, former accompanist in John Kendall’s program at SIUE. Her four children studied Suzuki method on violin and cello, and her respect for the method and the fundamental ideals that it supports led her to visit Matsumoto on a recent performing tour to Japan with her daughter. Marie was inspired by the joy and passion of Suzuki’s teaching and the lingering atmosphere of energy that remains in his home which is now a museum. As an educator, she realized the benefit that her college age music students would gain by studying Book One of the Suzuki Method. Only one place offered teacher training on violin, flute and piano at the same time during the academic school year … Peru.

Marie asked me to teach the ECC course, and I asked Marie if I could tag along with the group. Six days later we all departed for Peru. The students were eager and excited both about their international travel and the opportunity to learn about this new concept called Suzuki Method. Some of them had heard about it; some had no clue as to what it was, and some had had “sort of Suzuki” violin lessons from various teachers. With emails flying and arrangements for transportation, hotel, food, registration, passports and other preparations, finally we were ready for departure on January 14.

I interviewed the students and tried to discover what they were expecting from their first exposure to Suzuki teacher training. They expressed a desire “to learn how to communicate with young children” and they wanted to “learn games”. Another wanted to study “not so much technique but rather how to present the music in a step-by-step manner” Nicole said that she was “seeking to understand the careful structure and timeline for learning that the Suzuki Method provides.”

Day One of teacher training arrives, and we pile into four taxis for the thrill-of-a-lifetime ride through the crowded streets of Lima. Yes, there are painted lane markers, but no one seems to notice them; yes, the traffic is moving at an incredible rate of speed but vendors still walk between cars to sell gum and newspapers; and yes, we snap our eyes shut as a huge bus pulls close enough to the taxi to nearly touch a side mirror. But we safely arrive at the Newton College and register at the Festival office, a happy, hardworking place filled with volunteers, workers and the calm, cheerful presence of Roberta Centurion and Caroline Fraser. Endless questions in Spanish and English bombard Roberta [Centurion] and Caroline, but they make time to welcome our band of newcomers from the U.S.

The Principia students rehearse their pieces for the concert and are sounding terrific. Focused and polished, they run through their repertoire of piano, flute, and violin pieces that will be performed at the opening concert. That evening we meet young students and teacher training participants who have come to the festival from all over South America, the U.S. and Mexico. In spite of our different languages, the students from Principia feel the spirit of hospitality and camaraderie that permeates and enlivens the atmosphere of this Festival. They are beginning to sense that Suzuki training is going to involve much more than learning games to play with young children.

Day Two: I ask the students how their opening day went yesterday; Emily says, ”I like the energy” while Maggie confirms that she is “learning so much about my own playing and also discovering the beginning steps.” All of the students are amazed to meet teacher training participants who are taking the Book One class for the third time. They are amazed that some students and teachers have traveled 16 hours by bus from a tiny mountain town called Huancavalica to study recorder. This Suzuki community is beginning to work its magic on our young novice teachers from Illinois.

As the week progresses, the Principia College students get comfortable with the routine and the concentration of hours of instruction each day. Their brains are chock full of new ideas, new teaching styles, new ways of exploring music plus new food, new people, new language and new culture. Music is bonding this group of students to each other as well as to their newfound Suzuki community.

As the tag- a-long Violin Teacher Trainer, I am honored to be able to sit in on Book One classes for cello, guitar, flute, and piano, which I have never experienced before. What a wonderful world that was so familiar but also full of new ideas and personalities. Flute players spit grains of rice to practice the basic embouchure, pianists lift their wrists gracefully to the sky to work on tone, and guitar beginners learn how to negotiate a chair, a footrest, and an instrument. Cellists throw squishy balls in the air to embody the arc of a bow stroke. Finally, I can satisfy my curiosity about the beginning stages for other instruments and marvel at the creativity of these amazing teacher trainers who guide their students to a thorough understanding of Suzuki principles.

After their thirty-two hours of Book One instruction (four hours are added for translation time) and hours of observations, our group of young people from Illinois emerges as musicians with new understanding and appreciation for the Suzuki Method. Not all of them will go on to teach music, not all of them will go on to perform music, but they will all go forward embracing the philosophy that every child, and every college student, can be nurtured by love.

Delegations of teachers, students and parents travelled from Chile and Brazil.

Fernando Arévalo, Chile, writes:
Todos los fines de año nuestros alumnos terminan cansados después de todas sus actividades Suzuki y del Colegio y empiezan las actividades del próximo año con relativo entusiasmo. Este año al empezar nuestras actividades los primeros días de marzo, nos encontramos con nuestros alumnos con una actitud de ansias y alegría de retornar a las clases de la Academia. Fue muy emotivo e impresionante ver como tan solo en el mes de vacaciones de febrero pudieron tener tanto entusiasmo y constancia para estudiar, valorando y recordando las instrucciones que recibieron de cada uno de sus profesores. ¿Qué efecto mágico se ha producido? preguntaban los padres que los vieron el primer día de clases ¿qué les ha pasado? reflexionaban, ¿qué maravilloso ha sido este encuentro? El encuentro cautivó tan profundamente a los niños y padres que trasmitieron toda esa radiante energía que recibieron durante los días que vivieron el Festival, rodeado siempre del ambiente Suzuki.

Si esto no es un cambio extraordinario en las vidas personales de los niños que viajaron y participaron en el XVI Festival Internacional Suzuki de Perú, entonces ¿qué son los cambios de actitudes en la vida? Podríamos llenar páginas y páginas de todas nuestras vivencias, pero creo que junto con resaltar lo valioso del Festival en cuanto a su organización y participación de niños, padre y profesores de tantas partes del mundo, es de exaltar la dedicación y vocación de lo que nuestros padres con cariño han llamado misioneras del Método Suzuki: a Carolina, Roberta, y Annika, que con tanta pasión y energía han evangelizado con la belleza de la filosofía Suzuki, a niños y padres del Perú y Latinoamérica. Nosotros somos hijos de esta incansable labor. Muchas gracias a las queridas Profesoras y a toda la Comunidad de la Asociación Suzuki del Perú.

Finalmente deseo exponer el caso de dos alumnos, hoy profesores gracias a las capacitaciones que da el Festival: Claudio Arévalo y David Jacobsen de Oliveira. Deseamos y tenemos fe en Dios y haremos todos los esfuerzos para que más niños y padres convivan las maravillosas experiencias del Festival. Muchas gracias por la fraternidad, amistad y cariño con que recibieron a los jóvenes papás y mamás de esta tierra chilena.

Irving Feldens, Brazil, writes:
Férias musicais

A música já é encantadora por si só. E quando se torna possível unir atividades como aprendizado, cultura e turismo, se torna ainda mais agradável. Um grupo formado por 26 pessoas, entre professores, alunos e pais do Programa Suzuki da Associação Pró Cultura e Arte Ivoti / Instituto de Educação Ivoti, optaram por férias diferentes neste verão. Este grupo participou do 26º Festival Internacional de Música em Lima, Peru. Os alunos tiveram aulas individuais, aulas em grupo, oficinas diversas e trabalho de orquestra. Já os professores tiveram a oportunidade de participar de cursos de aperfeiçoamento certificados pela SAA. Além disso, a professora Alexa Lang e eu, que organizamos a ida do grupo de Ivoti ao Peru atuamos como professores no Festival.

A maioria dos componentes do grupo participou do primeiro módulo do Festival que encerrou dia 12 de janeiro. O Grupo, porém, permaneceu em Lima até o dia 15 para conhecer a cidade e sua cultura. Aproveitamos para conhecer pontos turísticos de Lima, visitar museus e igrejas, fazer compras nos mercados de artesanato local e fazer uma viagem de barco no oceano pacífico onde tivemos a oportunidade de nadar com leões marinhos.
Segundo Leda Kuhn, uma das mães que acompanhou o grupo: “Foi uma experiência maravilhosa pela partilha de culturas, convivência e enriquecimento pessoal. Apesar dos grandes desafios de línguas diferentes, ambientes, professores de outros países… foi surpreendente poder constatar a alegria da minha filha e o seu desejo profundo de “aprender tudo” que estava pela frente, embora tenha apenas 12 anos. Sou muito grata pela atenção e pelo carinho que recebemos dos professores e da organização do festival!”

Em resumo, a experiência foi incrível! Muitos dos alunos nunca havia participado de um festival fora do estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil) e para a maioria esta foi a primeira viagem internacional. Todos voltaram muito motivados e entusiasmado, já planejando participar de outros festivais Suzuki.

Associação Pró-Cultura e Arte Ivoti—www.ascarte.art.br
Instituto de Educação Ivoti—www.iei.org.br

Musical Holidays

Music is something very agreeable, and if you can join together learning, culture and tourism it makes it an excellent activity. Our group, composed of 26 people (teachers, students and parents from the Suzuki Program of the Association—Associação Pro-cultura e Arte-Ivoti/Instituto de Educação Ivoti), chose a different kind of holiday last summer. The group took part in the 26th International Music Festival in Lima, Peru. The students had individual and group classes, workshops and orchestra activities. The teachers have been offered the opportunity to take part in classes for their improvement. Teacher Alexa and I, the organizers of the group also acted as teachers.

Most of our students took part in the first module of the Festival, which finished on January, 12th, but the group stayed in Lima until the 15th in order to visit the city and to become acquainted with its culture. We saw interesting places in Lima, visited museums and churches, did some shopping and took a short boat trip in the Pacific where we wam with sea lions.

Leda Kuhn, one of the mothers who joined the group, said: “It is a wonderful experience learning new cultures, living together with other
people and experiencing personal enrichment, in spite of the fact that you have to deal with a strange language and environment and with teachers from many different countries. It was pleasant to see the happiness of my 12-year-old daughter and her desire to learn everything that she encountered, in spite of her youth. I am very thankful for the attention and care we got from our teachers and from the organizers of the Festival.”
In summary, it was an incredible experience! Several students had never participated in a Festival outside our State of Rio Grande do Sul, and for many of them it was their first trip abroad. All of them returned home with great motivation and have already decided to take part in future festivals.

Friends and colleagues have once more made generous donations of instruments. Thank you Kelly and Mary!

Mary Halverson Waldo, USA, writes:
Last fall, Recorder Teacher Trainer Mary Halverson Waldo was presented with a “Gift Certificate” by the Sunday school children of Grace Episcopal Church in Anderson, South Carolina, for ten soprano recorders to be purchased and presented to children in need. Coincidentally, at about the same time, seven-year-old recorder student Eli Pressman of Shorewood, MN, sent a check from his family’s charity box to buy an alto recorder for the same purpose. The excellent quality, donated instruments were presented to a deserving group—the Suzuki children and teachers of Huancavelica, Peru, during the Lima Festival in January. The donors from SC and MN had something in common: they had observed the significant adults in their family and faith community environments offering long-term help to their fellow human beings in need (in Haiti, and in the Dominican Republic).

Kelly Williamson, Canada, writes:
Friends of Suzuki flute made it possible for four previously-loved flutes to go to Latin American programs this January. The flutes were given to Ricardo Aste Li from Chiclayo, Peru; Fernanda de Castro from São Paolo, Brazil; Diana Diaz from Chihuahua, Mexico and Anibal Robles Kelly from Mexico City. (Interestingly, one of Anibal’s students from Mexico was part of the American delegation: Ashley Alarcon, who is now studying at Principia College. It was a pleasure to have both of them in the class together!)

Many thanks to Suzuki flute teacher Susan Friedlander of New York City, and Canadian flutist Christoph Kessel, for donating instruments. (Susan coordinated the donation of two of the instruments, and this is also the second flute that Christoph has donated to a participant at the Lima festival.) Christoph plays in the Guelph Symphony with cello teacher trainer David Evenchick. The fourth instrument was donated by my newest adult student, Heidi Cran. Heidi is a grade one teacher who began formal flute studies this year. She was very pleased to donate her high school instrument, to allow a young student the opportunity to get as much enjoyment from playing the flute as she does.

During the festival, 12 year old Maylin Pre Kong, performed the first movement of the Mozart A major Concerto with the orchestra. She was playing on an instrument which had been donated by the SAA and Donald Robertson of Robertson Violins, with the support of Ruth Engle Larner.

Maylin Pre Kong, Peru, writes:
To Pam Brasch, the SAA, Donald Robertson and Ruth Engle Larner:

For me is a joy to write to you and at the same time wholeheartedly thank you for giving me the violin. I really feel very happy because now I can practice with a professional violin, and it will very useful for me. I was thrilled when I was given the violin. This is the biggest gift that I have had in all my life apart from my clavinova. I always wanted a gift like that and my dream was fulfilled because now I have a good violin that allows me to continue advancing in my life as a musician. I would like to learn from you, to be able to go there and receive classes. I know that someday I will fulfill this dream and with this hope I say goodbye to you. Thank you for all the support, which motivates me every day.

Para mí es una gran alegría escribirles y a la vez agradecerles de todo corazón por regalarme el violín. En verdad me siento muy contenta porque ahora puedo practicar con un violín profesional y me servirá de mucho. Me emocioné cuando me entregaron el violín. Es el regalo más grande que tuve en toda mi vida, aparte de mí clavinova. Siempre quise un regalo así y mi sueño se cumplió porque ahora tengo un violín muy bueno que me sirve para seguir avanzando en mi vida como músico. Me gustaría aprender mucho de ustedes, poder ir allá y recibir clases. Sé que algún día se cumplirá ese sueño y con esa esperanza me despido de ustedes. Gracias por todo el apoyo que me dan; eso hace que yo me motive día a día.

5th Latin American Suzuki Teachers’ Conference,

January 14-16, 2011
“Sowing Seeds for the Future”

Eleven countries were represented at this conference: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, the USA and Canada. Each Latin American country gave a presentation with DVDs and slides showing the most recent developments in their programs and outlining their goals for the future. For the first time, a special session was also held in which the various regions of Peru shared information about their activities.

In addition, there were brainstorming workshops, presentations on specific topics and panel discussions. Concrete proposals for future projects were made: an organizing committee for the II Latin American Students’ Encuentro to be held in January 2012 was formed. Musical arrangements from each country were selected and performed. The Conference ended with a pisco sour toast. Salud!

Luciana Castillo, Peru, writes:

“Sembrando el Futuro” fue el nombre del V Encuentro de profesores Suzuki de América Latina que se llevó a cabo en Lima en enero de este año. Este encuentro generó espacios para mirar nuestras organizaciones, nuestra enseñanza y el rumbo de nuestra comunidad Suzuki Latinoamericana.

Roberta Centurión y Caroline Fraser recapitularon algunos de los logros conseguidos a raíz de los Encuentros de profesores Suzuki de América Latina: formación de una comunidad, red de comunicación, intercambios y encuentros nacionales e internacionales, publicación de libros en español, profesores de capacitación de América Latina, el I Encuentro de alumnos Suzuki de América Latina, entre otros. Acciones y resultados que han repercutido en el respeto y consideración a nivel internacional del desarrollo del método Suzuki en América Latina. Eso permitió ver que tenemos una historia, un cimiento, una raíz de dónde partir. Pero además, Pam Brasch dijo que el crecimiento de la comunidad Suzuki en América Latina robusto a nivel internacional y que una de las cosas por compartir es nuestro entusiasmo y vitalidad, recordando que para seguir teniendo éxito en nuestras metas a largo plazo debemos mantener la firmeza y la paciencia.

Sin embargo, no sólo podemos ofrecer el entusiasmo desde América Latina; también ofrecemos ideas innovadoras, la música de nuestros pueblos, respeto por culturas diferentes, ánimo y continuación en la educación musical a pesar de las adversidades. A veces, en el ir y venir, olvidamos lo mucho que podemos entregar a la comunidad Suzuki global. Gracias Doris Koppleman y Kelly Williamson por recordárnoslo.

Más allá de lo que geográficamente nos une en América Latina y lo que nos vincula a una comunidad mayor es que compartimos una forma de enseñar específica. Así Terry Einfeldt nos recordó oportunamente que no sólo educamos en la música, sino también al niño, a la persona y al espíritu, y que cumplimos un papel importante en la formación tanto de alumnos como de la familia. Así pues, nuestro compromiso con la educación continua y la coherencia entre lo que decimos y hacemos resultan de vital importancia para que nuestra “práctica” Suzuki tenga éxito. Por otro lado, Shinobu Saito, de Brasil, mencionó que debemos tener presente que lo más importante son los alumnos tristes, los que tienen problemas de aprendizaje, o de conducta, porque Suzuki no sólo está tratando de dar cualidades musicales, si no sobre todo mejores personas. Esta enseñanza conlleva a la posibilidad de colaborar en dar identidad y significado a una comunidad, tal como expuso Gabriel Pliego, de México.

Natalia Grima, de Argentina, habló sobre la importancia de empezar temprano en pos del desarrollo del potencial humano y musical. Esta experiencia ha generado un nivel de motivación alto que se refleja en niveles de concentración también elevados, así como el desarrollo continuo de habilidades sociales, desarrollo de autoestima y un gran amor a la música. Por otro lado, Marcelino Pratts, de Colombia, nos presentó la idea de ser ruiseñores: profesores que paso a paso se desarrollan y lo hacen así con sus alumnos, a diferencia de los profesores “filtros” que seleccionan a los alumnos según su avance. Ellos son profesores que participan e interactúan, siendo independientes, pero ligados a la interdependencia. Ante ello, Marcelino reconoció que el gran obstáculo es el enojo que es innecesario en la vida humana. Enojo que a veces surge al creer que uno tiene la razón frente a la opinión del resto y que genera la actitud violenta. Sin embargo, y con una constante práctica de “no estar enojado”, el reconocimiento del diálogo y las diferencias se abre como respuesta a la opinión diferente. Ello pues, lleva al consenso, al reconocimiento de la diversidad, y un aprendizaje de cómo expresar los desacuerdos, y de este modo generar un mejor ambiente entre padres, profesores y alumnos.

Gabriel Pliego mencionó que “la mejor manera de sembrar el futuro es trabajando apasionadamente en el presente.” Así pues, pudimos planificar y coordinar desde ya lo referente al II Encuentro de Alumnos de América Latina en 2012. Coordinadores por país y una Comisión Directiva, así como el aporte de los involucrados en el Encuentro anterior generaron las bases para empezar a trabajar, volver a nuestros países y poner la organización del Encuentro de 2012 en marcha. Como un buen comienzo, los profesores formaron una orquesta y practicaron juntos los arreglos representativos de cada país.

Finalmente, a partir del camino ya recorrido, de retos que se nos presentan pero potencialidades que podemos ofrecer, y un espíritu Suzuki que nos une e impulsa, nos detuvimos a “pensar hacia el futuro.” Fernando Piñero, de Argentina, nos animó a ver esos sueños, utopías que como comunidad tenemos. Ello llevó a darnos cuenta que nuestra comunidad es ahora diferente. Hablamos de una comunidad dispuesta a involucrarse mucho más en la toma de decisiones a nivel internacional, consolidar nuestra comunicación y organizarnos en pos de una mejor educación y beneficios para nuestra comunidad.

Así, algunas de las propuestas a partir del Encuentro fueron:
- Mejorar la comunicación con la SAA
- Mejorar la comunicación en América Latina
- Crear una página web para Suzuki en América Latina (la Asociación Mexicana del Método Suzuki de México aceptó el encargo).
- Reforzar los cursos de capacitación con trabajo de filosofía Suzuki
- Facilitar el acceso a los materiales Suzuki y de repertorio Latinoamericano
- Implementar proyectos que permitan el acceso a la música de la mayor cantidad de niños

Definitivamente, un espacio como este Encuentro de profesores permite por un lado, compartir y aprender de las experiencias de nuestros colegas y organizaciones, reconocer que tenemos problemas similares y que juntos podemos trabajar para mejorarlos, y por otro lado, nos hace parte de la toma de decisiones, proyectos y rumbo que la comunidad de América Latina quiere tener. Somos pues, agentes del crecimiento de una comunidad que siembra en este momento para luego recoger juntos los frutos.

Although Pam Brasch and Teri Einfeldt were not able to attend the Conference in person, their messages were heard, thanks to our excellent interpreter, Betsy Pavon. Thank you, Pam and Teri, for your inspirational thoughts. Following are extracts from their presentations.

Pam Brasch:
The growth of Suzuki in Latin America is among the strongest anywhere in the world. There is much that Latin America can offer the rest of the world!
Something very important that you are already doing very, very well is sharing your enthusiasm for the Suzuki method … . The rest of the world, where Suzuki has long been established, needs to be invigorated by your excitement and enthusiasm for Suzuki’s successful, positive and timeless approach to educating children.

El crecimiento de Suzuki en Sudamérica es entre los más robustos en todo el mundo. Latinoamérica tiene mucho para ofrecer al mundo! Algo que ya están haciendo muy bien es compartir su entusiasmo para el método Suzuki … . El resto del mundo, los sitios donde Suzuki ya ha sido establecido, necesitan ser vigorizados por tu entusiasmo por este método exitoso y positivo de educar a niños.

Teri Einfeldt:
No matter where we call home, all of us who belong to the Suzuki Association of the Americas are working towards the same goals. Together, we are walking from different roads to reach the same destination. Keeping the children focused in the forefront of our journey defines our mission.

No importa de dónde somos, todos nosotros quienes pertenecemos a la Asociacion Suzuki de las Americas estamos trabando hacia las mismas metas. Juntos, caminamos de distintos sitios hacia la misma destinación. Manteniendo a los niños como el enfoque final de nuestro camino define nuestra misión.

The Suzuki Association of Peru thanks the SAA for the generous support. Thanks also to the American Embassy in Peru, Newton College, the Escuela Superior de Folklore, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, contributors to the Latin American Scholarship Fund, and to everyone who gave time and energy to help make this festival possible. As Dr Suzuki said, “Working together, we can change the world”. “Trabajando juntos, podemos cambiar el mundo.” Muchas gracias!

Compiled by Caroline Fraser

Translations by Irving Feldens, Caroline Fraser, Betsy Pavon, Maylin Pre Kong

Entre todas las canciones que encontramos en Libro 1, “Estudio” tiene la forma más complicada. Frases irregulares, y notas repetidas que van en direcciones diferentes presentan un puesto que constituye un reto. Algunos alumnos están aprisionados en un circuito cerrado, desperadamente buscando el fin.

Mirando el diagrama abajo, se puede entender la forma de la canción. Corto-corto-largo (primera terminación), repita con la segunda terminación, dos frases largas, repita la primera línea con otra terminación. También podemos ver claramente la “Regla de Tres” (Idea, repita la idea, cambie la idea). La primera línea de Moto Perpetua” y “Estudio” tiene la misma forma. Vale la pena repasar este punto en “Moto Perpetuo” antes de empezar con Estudio.

A todos mis alumnos les gusta jugar con cubos. Cada uno de las protuberancias en el diagrama abajo, representa una nota de la canción. Enseño “Estudio” a mis alumnos, presentando las notas cubo a cubo. A ellos les gusta pintar cada cubo cuando ya lo saben. Es fácil dispensar tareas usando los cubos (por ejemplo: “Por favor, repase el cubo morado diez veces por día”) Escribir los números de los dedos en el diagrama le ayuda a los padres.

Podrían darles tres copias del diagrama, una copia para notar el progreso (pintando cada cubo cuando ya lo sepa), una copia que pueden pintar al principio (el alumno puede seguir el diagrama mientras escucha al disco) y otra copia que puede pintar, cortar en cubos y usar como rompecabezas-juntando en la forma correcta. El maestro puede tocar la canción, dejando un cubo, mientras el alumno sigue el diagrama, tratando de adivinar que pasó.

Espero que he ayudado a sus alumnos a aprender “Estudio” más fácilmente.

No solo en la música, sino en todas las áreas, el éxito o el fracaso de la educación dependen de si cumples o no el “principio de la fomentación de la habilidad”.

Después de que un estudiante aprendió a tocar una pieza, le digo durante la lección, “Ahora que tu preparación está completa, vamos a practicar para poder desarrollar tu habilidad. La lección recién comienza.” Lo dejo practicar comparando su interpretación con la grabación, o tocando junto con ella. Esto sirve para, gradualmente, fomentar el ritmo musical, un sonido refinado, una bonita postura. Este es el punto principal de mi enfoque a la educación de excelentes estudiantes. Únicamente después de que el estudiante ha aprendido la pieza, el profesor puede empezar a demostrar su destreza para fomentar la habilidad. Aún así, algunas madres que no conocen este punto clave de la educación Suzuki piensan que “ir a la siguiente pieza significa convertirse en un alumno más avanzado.” Todo lo que quieren es avanzar a una pieza de mayor nivel. Apuntando a la fomentación de una excelente habilidad, el profesor debe tratar de instruir entusiastamente de acuerdo con el principio de la fomentación de la habilidad con una pieza familiar que el estudiante ya pueda tocar, pero a algunas madres no les gusta que el profesor “no los deje avanzar.”

Crea una buena habilidad con una pieza vieja—si este método se lleva a cabo correctamente, cualquier niño crecerá de manera espléndida. Me gustaría mucho que las madres de los miembros de la educación del talento entiendan esto. Es como aprender una lengua materna. Un niño pequeño repite todos los días las palabras que es capaz de decir. Podría parecer lento al comienzo, pero para cuando tiene cinco a seis aumenta su vocabulario rápidamente y empieza a farfullar. De la misma manera, mientras se trabaja diligentemente para enriquecer su habilidad usando piezas viejas, un estudiante comienza pronto a mostrar una buena habilidad para avanzar velozmente. El método Suzuki es el método de la lengua materna. Estamos utilizando el mismo metodo que se usa en la educación de la lengua materna, la cual nunca le falla a ningún niño.

Por favor permite que to hijo escuche bien las grabaciones, y que trabaje en la creación de la habilidad interior en casa. Si un niño no escucha Japonés hablado, lo hablará mal. “Escucha y practica, escucha y practica”—esto es lo mismo que “mira el modelo y practica, mira el modelo y practica” en caligrafía. En cualquier caso, por favor piensa esto por to hijo, para que su excelente habilidad crezca.

Extracto de Where Love is Deep, Talent Education Journal Press.

It has become the custom in Mexico that wherever a Suzuki philosophy course is taught, piano students travel to participate in demonstration lessons, sometimes within the same city and at other times to a different state. Etna Diemecke has brought students from her city, Guanajuato, all the way to Xalapa, Guadalajara, and Mexico City, sometimes driving up to 11 hours to attend the course.

In the Mexican Suzuki Association, we have made it a point that one of us members of the board of directors should attend each Suzuki course given in the country, to assure that both the teacher trainer and the trainees have the best possible conditions. We also try to have students attend whenever possible, for it is an excellent experience for them and a great opportunity for the trainees to observe the teaching process.

In the colorful and beautiful city of Puebla in Mexico, at the Autonomous University of Puebla School of Arts, 54 music teachers were ready to discover Shinichi Suzuki’s philosophy. Seven piano students ages ranging from 4 through 10, their parents, and their Suzuki piano teacher all left Mexico City from the Eton School where they study and drove two-and-a-half hours to Puebla to be part of this very important three day workshop taught by Caroline Fraser, our Latin American Suzuki Piano Teacher Trainer.

The auditorium was all set with two beautiful grand pianos, and everyone was ready to start. Members of the board of directors of the university welcomed everyone for the opening of what would come to be a life changing experience for many of us, an adventure that would take us to experience Shinichi Suzuki’s vision and mission through Caroline’s experience and her own mission in life. The workshop began.

Group lesson with Caroline Fraser, using body parts to find pitch

After a two hour introduction to the philosophy, the piano students arrived, a little bit nervous, a little bit excited, ready to show what they have learned and ready to learn much more; lots of people were watching them, expectant, with judging eyes and minds as the observations started. One by one the students received their individual lessons from Caroline, completely wrapped up by this charismatic, angelical teacher. The audience was soon forgotten as the students were completely immersed in the music, inside this special student-teacher bubble. First were the little ones, four of them, who ended their performance with a group lesson in which they used all their skills in a fun activity. Then, the three more advanced students who were patiently waiting had their turn for individual and group lessons.

All of the students got their homework for the next day. Their parents were attentive, taking notes and lots of pictures, with me, their piano teacher, recording every moment of every class, receiving my own master class through my students’ lessons and afterwards receiving important feedback from Caroline, my beloved teacher.

The audience was full of questions, not quite understanding that these children had encountered Caroline for the first time in their lives. Nevertheless, it was evident that they shared a common language. They learned quickly, absorbing every sound and movement.

The second day, the students went to the auditorium for their morning practice, taking turns, helping each other, sharing, having a good time while doing their homework.

Patricio highly concentrated, learning from Caroline Fraser

The afternoon session started and the lessons went fantastically; there was a lot of improvement in every student’s playing. They had group lessons again, and Caroline was focused in taking them to a higher level of achievement. Everyone witnessed the magic of the method: learning music following the same steps that are taken when learning your mother tongue. We could see the capacity of the previously trained ear to perceive the most subtle sounds and play them back and reproduce the technique; the students were aware of how music is made, all in a natural way. The students were enjoying every moment of it, displaying big smiles, finding pleasure in their music making.

The parents had the opportunity to answer questions about their role in the piano practice at home and their view of the Suzuki method.

The third day, the audience had mixed feelings about this method, somehow wanting to see the traditional way of learning in which music theory is taught in an intellectual way, the way they had been taught. That afternoon, very clear examples of music theory concepts were shown through two outstanding group lessons. The beginners used stick notation for the Twinkle variations and theme, singing the musical form, then playing it and clapping the rhythm and beat; for the students all of these activities were fun games to play. We saw the advanced students ages 6, 7 and 10, all at the end of Book One, transposing through the circle of fifths, changing from major to minor mode. Suddenly, from the audiences came lots of oohs! and aahs! and then, tears of astonishment, of disbelief. It was magical.

Emilia and María giving out their autographs

This marvelous experience concluded with a recital where students played their pieces with the newly acquired skills. The audience asked the children for their autographs; it was a big moment for them. They left that evening to go back home, highly motivated to continue with their piano learning.

The last morning, the president of the Mexican Suzuki Association, Gabriel Pliego, taught a couple of individual violin lessons and a very fun violin group lesson.

Caroline showed us the outstanding work that has been done in Peru in taking this philosophy to the most remote places, to children who live in poverty, children that have been abandoned and are now trained teachers volunteering their time to teach at the same institutions they grew up in. We were all very moved by the outreach that the Suzuki Method can have, and we were also motivated to do something in our own country. We felt an impulse to get started and touch children’s lives with music and through music.

The members of the board of directors of the university led the closing ceremony and Gabriel Pliego gave out the diplomas to all the participants, wrapping up what came to be a marvelous workshop.

Thank you to Gabriel for bringing Caroline to Mexico; thank you Porfiria for adventuring in bringing Caroline to the university in Puebla; and thank you to Caroline for your warmth, your love of your work, and for openly sharing with us all of your experience.

En México se ha hecho costumbre que, en donde sea que se de un curso de Filosofía, hay alumnos de piano que viajan para participar en clases de demostración; algunas veces dentro de la misma ciudad y algunos otras a otros Estados de la República. Etna Diemecke ha llevado alumnos desde Guanajuato hasta Guadalajara, Monterrey, Ciudad de México e incluso a Xalapa, manejando hasta 11 horas en algunas ocasiones.

En la Asociación Mexicana del Método Suzuki (AMMS) nos hemos puesto como meta el que alguno de los miembros de la mesa directiva siempre sea partícipe en todos los cursos de filosofía que se hagan en el país, para asegurarnos que tanto la maestra que dará el entrenamiento como los maestros que tomen el curso cuenten con óptimas condiciones. También tratamos de que siempre estén presentes alumnos, dentro de lo posible, ya que esto representa una excelente experiencia para ellos y una gran oportunidad para quienes toman los cursos de observar el proceso de enseñanza.

En la bellísima y colorida Ciudad de Puebla, en México, en la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), Escuela de las Artes, 54 maestros de música se encontraban listos para descubrir la filosofía de Sinichi Suzuki, 7 alumnos de piano de edades que iban de entre 4 y 10 años, junto con sus padres y su maestra de piano, salieron de México del Colegio Eton en donde estudian, para viajar durante 2 horas y media ala Ciudad de Puebla para formar parte, durante tres días, de este importante taller a ser impartido por la Mtra. Caroline Fraser, nuestra entrenadora latinoamericana de piano Suzuki…

El auditorio estaba listo con dos pianos de cola bellísimos, todos listos para comenzar…Algunos miembros de la mesa directiva de la universidad nos dieron la bienvenida a todos y dieron por iniciada oficialmente a lo que sería una experiencia de vida para muchos de nosotros, una aventura que nos llevaría a experimentar la misión y la visión de Sinichi Suzuki a través de la experiencia de Caroline y su propia misión en la vida…el curso comenzó…

Group lesson with Caroline Fraser, using body parts to find pitch

Después de una introducción de dos horas de la filosofía, llegaron los alumnos de piano, un poco nerviosos, un poco emocionados, listos para mostrar lo que hasta el momento habían aprendido y listos para aprender mucho más; mucha gente los observaba expectante, con ojos y mentes juiciosas…las observaciones comenzaron, uno a uno los estudiantes recibieron su clase individual por parte de Caroline; cada uno de los alumnos se encontraba completamente envuelto por el esta maestra carismática y angelical, y muy pronto se les olvidó que había un público, ya que estaban completamente inmersos en la música, dentro de la burbuja especial que se forma entre el alumno y la maestra.

Primero pasaron los más pequeños, que eran 4, terminando con una clase grupal en la que usaron todos sus conocimientos de una forma divertida. Después los alumnos más avanzados tuvieron su turno para recibir su clase individual y grupal.

Todos los alumnos recibieron su tarea para el día siguiente y sus padres tomaron notas durante las clases, y tomaron muchas fotos; en cuanto a mi, su maestra de piano, estuve filmando cada instante de cada una de las clases y a la vez recibiendo mi propia clase maestra a través de las clases de cada uno de mis alumnos, y después recibiendo también importante retroalimentación por parte de Caroline, mi querida maestra.

El público estaba lleno de preguntas, no logrando entender que realmente estos niños acababan de conocer a Caroline por primera vez y sin embargo era evidente que compartían un lenguaje en común, aprendían rápidamente, absorbiendo cada sonido y cada movimiento.

El segundo día, los niños fueron al auditorio para practicar, tomaron turnos y se ayudaron unos a otros, compartiendo y realmente divirtiéndose al hacer su tarea.

Patricio highly concentrated, learning from Caroline Fraser

La sesión de la tarde comenzó y las clases fluyeron maravillosamente; se notó una mejoría en la manera de tocar de cada uno de los alumnos. Todos recibieron nuevamente clases grupales y Caroline decidió llevarlos a un nivel más alto. Todos fuimos testigos de la magia del método: cómo aprender a hacer música siguiendo los mismos pasos que se utilizan para el aprendizaje de la lengua materna. Pudimos presenciar la capacidad que tiene el oído que ha sido previamente entrenado, al percibir los sonidos más sutiles y ser capaces de tocarlos del mismo modo, de reproducir la técnica, estando completamente concientes de cómo se hace la música, de una manera completamente natural, pudimos observar que los alumnos disfrutaron cada momento; en sus rostros se dibujaban amplias sonrisas, realmente se veía que disfrutaban el hacer música.

Los padres tuvieron la oportunidad de responder preguntas acerca de su papel en la práctica del piano en la casa, así como de su visión del Método Suzuki.

El tercer día, se percibía que el público tenía sentimientos encontrados acerca del método Suzuki, ya que deseaban ver, de alguna manera, la manera tradicional del aprendizaje de la música, de forma teórica, con un enfoque intelectual; querían ver la misma manera en que ellos aprendieron.

Esa misma tarde, se dieron ejemplos muy claros de cómo se enseña la teoría musical en este método, a través de dos clases grupales, una para los principiantes, en la cual utilizaron una notación musical simple para escribir las variaciones de Estrellita y el tema de Estrellita, también cantaron y tocaron la forma musical, aplaudieron el pulso y el ritmo de esas piezas; todas estas actividades eran juegos divertidos para los alumnos. Después vimos a los alumnos avanzados de edades de 6,7 y 10 años quienes se encuentran ya al final del libro 1, haciendo trasposición alrededor de todo el círculo de quintas, cambiaron de modo mayor a modo menor y de pronto desde el auditorio se escucharon expresiones de asombro y de incredulidad y rodaron lágrimas de reconocimiento…fue realmente mágico.

Emilia and María giving out their autographs

Esta fantástica experiencia terminó con un recital en que los niños tocaron una pieza que fue seleccionada por Caroline y en la cual estuvieron trabajando durante el curso, mostrando sus habilidades recién adquiridas.

Al término del mismo, el público les pidió sus autógrafos a los niños, fue un momento grandioso para ellos. Los niños volvieron a casa esa noche completamente motivados para continuar con su estudio del piano.

La última mañana, Gabriel Pliego, presidente de la AMMS dio un par de clases individuales de violín y una clase grupal muy divertida.

Para finalizar el curso Caroline nos mostró el extraordinario trabajo que se está realizando en Perú al llevar esta filosofía a los lugares más remotos, llegando a niños que viven en la pobreza, a niños abandonados que ahora son maestros Suzuki y prestan sus servicios gratuitamente a niños de la misma institución en donde ellos crecieron…

A todos nos llegó al corazón el gran alcance que este método puede tener, nos sentimos motivados para hacer algo dentro de nuestro país y sentimos un impulso de comenzar de inmediato y tocar las vidas de nuestros niños con la música y a través de la música…una vez más, fue algo mágico.

Los miembros de la mesa directiva de la universidad hicieron la clausura del curso y Gabriel Pliego entregó los diplomas a cada uno de los participantes, dando por terminado lo que resultó ser un curso maravilloso…

Quiero agradecer a Gabriel por haber traído a Caroline a México, quiero dar las gracias Porfiria por haberse aventurado a llevar a Caroline a la BUAP y también quiero agradecerle a Caroline por tu calidez, por el amor a tu trabajo y por compartir abiertamente con nosotros toda tu experiencia.

Iquitos is a city in the Amazon jungle. It is accessible only by plane or by river. This was the first Suzuki event ever held in the jungle region of Peru.

Everything began in July 2009 in California, when Gretchen Klein, a participant in the Holy Names University Teacher Training Institute expressed interest in helping the Suzuki program in Peru. She was particularly interested in Iquitos as she had been there. Gretchen made a donation to our Latin American Scholarship Fund, earmarking it for a participant from the jungle city of Iquitos.

Thanks to an agreement between the Suzuki Association of Peru (SAP) and the Peruvian Youth Orchestra System, I had already met some of the self taught teachers in Iquitos. They are self taught because there simply aren’t any qualified music teachers living there. When I asked them how they had learned to play their instruments, they had told me “Thanks to YouTube and to tourists who occasionally stay for a few months at a time.”

Violin teacher Daniel Manrique, who has a vision for forming music programs in Iquitos and in the surrounding jungle areas, was awarded a full tuition scholarship and airfare to attend the 25th International Festival held in Lima in January 2010. After completing all available courses, Daniel enthusiastically agreed to host the 10th National Workshop of the SAP in Iquitos.

Daniel was able to get sponsorship from local schools, a local university and the regional branch of the National Institute for Culture. In Lima, our SAP secretary Deisy Cotrera and Workshop Coordinator Roberta Centurion worked on the details of the program. The Workshop consisted of three courses for teachers, all offered with official credit from the Peruvian Ministry of Education: philosophy, talent education and early childhood music. There were also classes for children in recorder, piano, cello and violin.

Thanks to support from the U.S. Embassy in Peru, seven teachers and one student travelled from Lima: teachers Roberta Centurion, Luciana Castillo, Paola Espejo, Caroline Fraser, Rosario Kong, Maria Luisa Labarthe, and Annika Petrozzi, and student Maylin Pre Kong.

More than two hundred participants attended the workshop: enthusiastic children, eager parents and dedicated teachers. They arrived each day on motor bikes (sometimes entire families sharing a “moto”) and in “mototaxis.” The heat in the middle of the day made it obligatory to take a three-hour lunch break and hence enjoy a wonderful siesta. An impressive final concert marked the end of this historic event in the Peruvian Jungle.

As I left, the words of Sergio, a participant in my philosophy class were ringing in my ears. At the end of the course he had told me:

“To be honest, I had not wanted to come and take this course. Why would I be interested in philosophy? However, my friends persuaded me to come. The course has changed my way of thinking. I used to think that the poor children in the street, the children going through garbage… I used to think they were different. Now I know that all children have wonderful potential and all children can learn. This course has changed my life.”

The excellent quality and affordability of Di Zhao flutes have made dreams come true for a number of students in Latin America, and they are inspiring many others to see their own dreams as a real possibility.

In the fall of 2009, a group of Suzuki flute teachers and students in Canada, the US, and Taiwan contributed to the purchase of a Di Zhao alto and bass flute for the Orquesta de Flauta Traversas de San Martin de los Andes in Patagonia, Argentina.

In September 2010, members of the ensemble traveled to Paraguay to give demonstration concerts in local schools, and participate in master classes in Suzuki pedagogy for twelve teacher workshop participants. The twenty-seven-member tour group included flutists from the ages of seven to adult, and they performed Argentinean folk music as well as standards like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the concerto for two flutes in C major by Vivaldi, and Passacaglia by Handel. They made big waves: the teachers who heard them play in Asunción immediately set the goal of founding a flute orchestra in Paraguay over the next few years.

Nicolas Piracún, with Diana Bettin Mujica and Leidy

An even greater dream was realized last Saturday, October 9, 2010, when a flute was donated to a blind child in Bogotá, Colombia. Thanks to the efforts of his teacher, Diana Bettin Mujica, and the generosity of a group of donors, student Nicolas Piracún received the gift of a Di Zhao flute with a solid silver head joint. Nicolas lives at the Fundación Juan Antonio Pardes Para Niños Ciegos in Bogotá. The children who live at the institute are all blind from birth or have very limited vision, and they come from poor families. Many are orphans; for these, the other children at the institute are their only family. They are taught by three teachers who are also blind: the director of the school, Tarcicio Andrade, plays the flute, and Pablo and Betty play the violin and recorder, and sing. All three teachers have taken Suzuki teacher training to assist them in providing a musical education for the children at the institute, to give them the means to improve their lives in the future, as well as happiness in the present. The teachers are assisted by volunteer teachers such as Diana, from the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.

Nicolas playing his new flute

The children at the institute have very little besides a roof over their heads and food to eat, the support of their teachers, and each other. They learn on instruments that have been donated to the foundation—to own an instrument would be unimaginable for most. It was a particular pleasure for me to assist in obtaining the flute for Nicolas. I taught him in master classes in Bogotá in 2007 at the annual Suzuki Festival. It was the first time that flute classes had been offered at the festival, and fourteen children from the institute were invited to attend free of charge. (Even then, one of the children did not attend class one day because her family could not afford the bus fare…they did not have money to buy food that week, let alone pay the fare.) Nicolas impressed me right away with his courage: none of the children had ever been in such a setting before. They had only been learning the flute for a short while. To travel to the campus and play their flutes for a visiting teacher from Canada, who didn’t speak Spanish, and receive instruction from her via a translator, was all very new and they were very shy.

Nicolas was the first to volunteer to play for me. In his master class, he demonstrated poor physical posture and balance of the flute, and during the ten minutes that he played for me, our entire attention was focused on correcting the position of his hands and body. When he stood up to play again the following day, I was astounded to see the change in his posture: he had corrected everything that had been pointed out, as though he had never played any other way. I asked him how hard he had worked to effect such a great change so quickly, and he bashfully admitted that he had practiced for well over two hours the night before—his teachers had finally insisted that he stop at ten thirty so that everyone could go to bed! He was very pleased with my commendation, and also with the admiration of his friends, who all cheered him loudly.

Chamber flute ensemble of the Javeriana University Programa Infantil y Juvenil with Diana Bettin

At fourteen, he showed himself to be a leader within the group. When a little stuffed pig temporarily disappeared, having been misplaced by a little girl to whom it was lent overnight, Nicolas was one of the teenagers who assured me that it would be recovered—and sure enough, it was presented to me the next day, a little grubby, but otherwise none the worse for wear!

I have another memory of Nicolas from that workshop, which is one of the best of my teaching career. Leidy, another student from the institute, had worked so well on the articulations in her assigned piece (The Moon Over the Ruined Castle) that I played a lovely counter-melody along with her as a treat at the end of her master class. Nicolas was sitting quite close to us, with his head leaning on his hand. As we played, he was so moved that he couldn’t help murmuring out loud, “Tan bonita! Tan bonita! (So beautiful!)” I will never forget the expression on his face as he listened, nor the shy surprise of Leidy when the other children all burst into enthusiastic applause at the end. Their sensitivity, and the openness and love between the children, formed an indelible impression on me.

Diana with Nicolas and his grandmother and the new flute

We do not have many chances in our lives to make a dream come true for another person. So when I had the opportunity to share from a distance in Nicolas’ joy at receiving a new flute of his own, my heart was very full. It is wonderful to see the inspiration that is spreading outwards to many other people, just from these three instruments. The flute students at the Fundación Juan Antonio Pardes Para Niños Ciegos and the Programa Infantil of the Javeriana University all shared in the satisfaction as Nicolas received his flute in a public concert on Saturday. The audience and donors who were present also shared the joy of that moment. I am very grateful to Mr. Di Zhao for making the alto and bass flutes available at the dealer price for the Orquesta de Flautas de San Martin de los Andes: aside from the forty-five flutists in San Martin, flute attendees at the 2010 Festival Internacional Suzuki in Lima, Perú were also able to try the instruments, and the teachers performed on them in concert. It was the first time that any of them had the opportunity to play on a low flute. Even in the capital city of Lima, these instruments are not available for trial or for rent. Ten-year-old Diego Dalmao from Arequipa, Perú was thrilled to have his picture taken playing the bass flute. Diego is a gifted young musician: as he continues along his musical journey, this will be one of the experiences that he will never forget.

—Kelly Williamson, MMus
Teacher Trainer in flute, Suzuki Association of the Americas
For further information, please write: kelly@amaryllis.ca

Di Zhao Flutes website: www.dizhaoflutes.com

Student group in Bogota, with teacher Diana Bettin, performing at the concert where Nicolas was presented with his flute

Concurso

Este evento reúne a todos los niños de la escuela en la sala de conciertos. Cada alumno va pasando en el orden de llegada y saca de una bolsa la canción que debe tocar, mientras que los profesores toman apuntes acerca de su desempeño. Cuando el niño termina, saluda, sus padres y profesores los aplauden y reciben una bolsa con dulces. De esta manera, todos los niños son ganadores.

En una ocasión, una de las alumnas de piano, Juliana Peñalosa, le explicaba a una niña pequeña de qué se trataba el concurso de la siguiente manera: “Tú pasas y sacas una canción, la tocas y después te dan dulces”. La idea principal del concurso es repasar las canciones dominadas de libros anteriores, debido a que puede salir cualquier canción. Además, los niños se divierten haciendo música.

Esta actividad está basada en los conciertos en que el Dr. Suzuki sacaba cartulinas con los nombres de las canciones que iban a ser tocadas por los niños.

Periódico

A partir de febrero del 2006, comenzamos a editar un pequeño periódico llamado “La Flauta Mágica”. Allí escribimos artículos sobre la Filosofía Suzuki, consejos acerca de la práctica diaria, reseñas de obras clásicas, reseñas de libros, caricaturas musicales, etc. Aunque la mayoría de los artículos los escribimos los profesores, también hemos recibido artículos de los padres e incluso de los niños.

Talleres de padres

Consientes de que los padres son absolutamente necesarios para el éxito del método, normalmente programamos talleres de padres el último domingo de cada mes. Para motivar a los padres a asistir al taller, al mismo tiempo jugamos un partido de futbol con los niños. Mientras los padres comparten sus experiencias y profundizan en la filosofía del método, los niños juegan entre ellos y con los profesores que no participan en el taller.

Ciclo de conciertos

Un sábado de cada mes, tenemos conciertos temáticos bajo el nombre “ciclo de conciertos”. Algunos de los temas han sido mi canción favorita, danzas, la canción favorita de mi mamá, entre otros. Esto le da la oportunidad a los niños de tocar como solistas una pieza de su elección e ir mejorando su repertorio y confianza en el escenario a lo largo del semestre.

Fiesta de los niños

El 31 de octubre de cada año, o el domingo más cercano, celebramos “La Fiesta De Los Niños”. Nuestros estudiantes y profesores van disfrazados a la escuela y tenemos una gran fiesta con varias actividades, algunas de ellas relacionadas con música, por ejemplo, armar rompecabezas de las canciones, sopa de letras con términos musicales, dominó con figuras rítmicas, entre otras. De este modo, pasamos una tarde divertida con los niños en su día.

Orquesta

Hace 3 años empezamos a formar una orquesta de cámara que llamamos “Camerata Iuventutis Ars Suzuki”. Al comienzo solo teníamos violines y chelo, pero ahora contamos con dos flautas: un estudiante y una mamá de dos niños de la escuela. También, cada semestre, escogemos algunos niños que tocan como solistas acompañados por la orquesta. Hemos sido invitados a varios eventos tales como el concierto de apertura del XI Festival Suzuki de Colombia y hemos tocado en salas como Auditorio Virginia Gutiérrez del Edificio de Posgrados de Ciencias Humanas de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

A través de estos seis años hemos disfrutado mucho compartiendo con nuestro alumnos. Además de las actividades mencionadas antes, hemos compartido cenas, cumpleaños, hemos jugado bolos, futbol, ping pong, hemos ido de campamento…..Gracias al Dr. Suzuki tenemos la oportunidad de conocer a nuestros alumnos y sus familias muy profundamente. No nos quedamos solo en enseñar a tocar canciones sino que gracias a que conocemos a los niños y padres en diferentes actividades podemos contribuir en la formación integral de los niños. Nuestra escuela es una gran familia con la que trabajamos a través de la música para hacer mejores seres humanos y tratamos de hacer de éste un mundo mejor.

REFERENCIAS

• Fotos del Archivo de Musicalis Ars Suzuki (2004-2010).
• Concierto del Instituto de Educación del Talento, Tokio, Japón, 1984.
• Suzuki, Shinichi. Nurtured by Love. Summy Birchard Inc,Miami, 1983.

AGRADECIMIENTOS

• Profesor Eider Fabián Sánchez Mejía

There we have individual and group lessons of several instruments (violin, piano, guitar, cello and flute) and since we began, we have always carried out additional activities to the lessons, so that children enjoy their experience with the instrument more deeply. These activities are the contest, the newspaper, parents’ workshops, concerts season, the Halloween party and the orchestra.

The Contest

This event reunites all the children of the school in the concert hall. The students pass in order of arrival and take the song they must play from a box; meanwhile, the teachers take notes about their performance. When they finish, they bow, their parents and teachers applaud them and they receive a bag full with candies. This way, all the children are winners.
Once, one of the piano students, Juliana Peñalosa, explained a small girl what the contest was about the following way: “You pass in front and take a song, then you play it and later you are given candies.” The main idea of the contest is to review the dominated songs from previous books, as any song may pop up. In addition, the children have fun while making music.
This activity is based on the concerts where Dr. Suzuki took charts with the names of the songs the children were going to play.

Newspaper

Since February 2006, we started publishing a small newspaper called “The Magical Flute.” There, we write articles about Suzuki’s philosophy, advice about the daily practice, classical music reviews, musical book reviews, musical cartoons, etc. Although most of the articles are written by teachers, we have also received articles from the parents and even from the children.

Parent’s Workshop

Being aware of how parents are absolutely necessary for the success of the method, we normally schedule parents’ workshops on the last Sunday of every month. In order to motivate parents to attend the workshop, we schedule and play a soccer match with the children, at the same time. While parents share their experiences and deepen in the philosophy of the method, the children play with the teachers who do not participate in the workshop.

Concert Season

One Saturday of every month, we have thematic concerts under the name “ciclo de conciertos” (concert season). Some of the subjects have been my favorite song, dances, my mother’s favorite song, among others. This gives children the opportunity to play as soloists a piece of their choice, and improve their repertoire while developing confidence in the stage throughout the semester.

Halloween Party

On October 31st of every year, or on the closer Sunday, we celebrate the “Halloween Party.” Our students and teachers wear a costume, and we have a great celebration with several activities, some of them related to music, for example, to unscramble song puzzles or musical terms puzzles, dominoes with rhythmical figures, among others. This way, we have fun with the children on their day.

Orchestra

Three years ago we created a chamber orchestra that we called “Camerata Iuventutis Ars Suzuki.” In the beginning, we only had violins and cello, but now we have two flutes—a student and a mother of two children of the school. Also, each semester, we choose some children to play as soloists with orchestra accompaniment. We have been invited to several events such as the XI the Suzuki Festival of Colombia Opening Concert and we have played in the Virginia Gutiérrez auditorium in the Graduate Social Studies Building of Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Through these six years we have enjoyed sharing with our students a lot. In addition to the activities mentioned before, we have shared suppers and birthdays; we have bowled, played soccer and ping pong; we have gone of camping…. . Thanks to Dr. Suzuki we have the opportunity to know our students and their families very deeply. We do not only teach how to play songs, but due to the fact we know the children and parents in different activities, we can also contribute to their whole formation as people. Our school is a great family with whom we work through music in order to develop better human beings and try to turn this world into a better place.

REFERENCES

• Pictures taken from Musicalis Ars Suzuki archive (2004-2010).
• Talent Education Institute Concert, Tokio, Japón, 1984.
• Suzuki, Shinichi. Nurtured by Love. Summy Birchard Inc,Miami, 1983.

ACKNOWLEMENTS

• Teacher Eider Fabián Sánchez Mejía

Back in August, I accepted an invitation from Caroline Frazer to come to the 25th International Festival in Lima, Peru. Caroline Fraser, the director of the conference, had invited me to do a solo piano recital at the end of the second week of the festival and to participate in the orchestra as a violinist. The next five months were spent retrieving some piano repertoire and learning a few new pieces. I planned several small recitals here in San Diego in order to help me raise the money needed, primarily for travel (which was quite a lot). My repertoire was to consist of a Haydn sonata, two selections from a Bach French suite, a prelude and fugue, the piano part to the first movement of a Beethoven piano trio, a Chopin etude and nocturne, three Spanish pieces, a Debussy prelude and a Joplin rag. I was also to include a composition of my own, which was a structured improvisation including many elements of jazz and blues. That took a lot of time to get together, and, as fate has a special sense of humor when it comes to me, the thirteen pieces of orchestral music I was to memorize before I even went to Peru did not arrive by email until two days before I was scheduled to leave. It was at this point that our printer chose to bite the dust, so of course, we couldn’t print any of it out.

So it was that on the first day of the year at four a.m., I woke up after two hours of sleep and was rushed to the airport with my piano teacher, Doris Koppelman, my mother, my father, my uncle Bob, and no orchestra music. I felt really nauseous for no apparent reason, so, before we left, Dad threw together some white rice to settle my stomach—which it didn’t really. When we said goodbye to my dad at the baggage check-in, he said that he’d miss us, and that I shouldn’t worry about being sick—it was probably just nerves, and it would most likely get better once I was on the plane. Honestly, I didn’t believe him, because my mind had gone into automatic pilot, in accordance with my stomach. He turned out to be right, of course.

As it was New Year’s Day, the security at the airport was even more stringent than usual. It’s actually quite an interesting sensation to be frisked, especially if you’re hoping against hope that you don’t throw up on the security guard. My piano teacher likes to do things ahead of time, so we had a lovely two-hour relaxation period in the terminal of the airport, in which my mom and Mrs. Koppelman visited merrily, and I crouched over my paper bag, white-faced and sweating, waiting to deploy. Thankfully, I didn’t, because the moment we boarded, and the plane took off, I felt completely well again. When I finally got comfortable in my seat, I started to enjoy the flight, and at one point, about five and a half hours in, I realized that this was probably the farthest I’d ever been away from home.

After an eight-and-a-half hour flight, we arrived. It was a cloudy night and was actually raining, which it never would normally do in the middle of a January summer. It wasn’t really all that different from any other city, except that almost every sign was in Spanish. But there was a certain vibrant energy about the place—it always seemed to be moving, even when we were driving through an empty street (it was two in the morning in Lima).

A mother and daughter, Haydee and Luciana, picked us up at the airport. They were the kindest people—they drove all the way across Lima at 1 a.m. to pick us up at the airport in a VW bus that was on the verge of dying. It actually “kicked the bucket” halfway to the hotel. So we waited for another two hours in the rain at a gas station while Haydee called two cabs for us, and Luciana called her boyfriend to help fix the bus. When we finally got to the hotel at four in the morning and said our goodbyes for the night, we were laughing fit to burst.

The Yeyas Hotel where we stayed is decorated with beautiful paintings of Indian lifestyle. It’s very homey, has two dining rooms of moderate size, and one pretty big one, with a small stage for musicians who performed every Saturday and Sunday. Over the next couple of days, dozens of kids, parent and teachers from Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Bolivia began to arrive at the Yeyas to participate in the festival. The small children practiced on their instruments all day, morning till night, (the Yeyas also had very thin walls) and ran up and down the stairs with their violins and violas, shouting and yelling in a fervor of ecstatic happiness. In short, it was a kind of wonderful, glorious madness.

Our first day in Peru was almost entirely spent sleeping. We eventually got up, got acquainted with the neighborhood outside, which was filled with little shops that fitted our every need, exchanged our money for Peruvian money (great for us as the exchange rate was unbelievable) and met the taxi that was to pick us up and bring us to a welcoming party at Caroline Fraser’s house.

The party was fantastic. There were musicians of every sort—jazz, classical—wind, percussion, keyboard, strings—and we played and played late into the night. I played a lot of jazz violin with an unbelievable pianist. I also played a Spanish piece by Ernesto Halffter, while my Mom danced flamenco to it. The food and the company were also great. I was struck by how open Latin people are. People whom you’re being introduced to for the first time would hug you and sometimes kiss you on the cheek, and it would be totally normal behavior. (You can imagine my face turning bright red.) All of the musicians at the party, whom I had never met before, were quite happy to play with me, even before they’d heard me play a note. I was definitely on a different, strange, wonderful continent.

I spent the next day getting to know the teacher trainers of the conference (really wonderful people, and great players) as we all walked around the neighborhood of Miraflores. We walked a lot. We walked through the park, which was decorated with statues and trees, and many young Latin couples. We walked among the shops, forever full and bustling. We walked down to the beach, where the rocks were large, smooth, and round and the water is a kind of silver color, reflecting the clouds above. These clouds actually did have a silver lining—the sun shone around the edges of them everywhere, brighter than someone from California would expect. It was a kind of white light.

The rhythm of the city is interesting; it’s a quick tempo. The drivers are very skilled, go very fast, and are forever honking at each other. This honking is different. In California, when you honk at someone, it’s personal. You aren’t saying, “Now let’s please move along, shall we?” You’re saying something more along the lines of, “MOVE, JERK!” In Peru, it’s a kind of friendly, pushy cacophony. The horns on the cars aren’t loud—they’re musical and comic. There are different pitches, and the drivers don’t lean on them; they tap them lightly, like they’re playing little bells.

The next day, I went to Newton College, the venue for the conference. One of the great things about it was that it was a five-minute drive from the Yeyas Hotel. The arts section of the school (where the conference was) was built around a big courtyard with lunch tables and a food booth. On one side of the courtyard was the theater in which all the major performances would take place. The buildings surrounding the courtyard were three stories high and were made up of many classrooms. The bottom floor classrooms of these buildings were the ones with the pianos in them, and all of them were taken by someone-or-other all the time. This presented a problem, as I really needed to practice for my recital. Caroline Fraser came up with a brilliant solution. She proposed that I use three hours in the morning to practice in the theater on the best piano in the campus since it was not being used for classes or rehearsals at that time. Not only did I get three hours to myself for quiet, uninterrupted practice, I got to really feel the piano out and get accustomed to the acoustics of the hall and of the piano itself. After about two hours, the janitors started cleaning and listened to me play. This was not distracting; on the contrary, it was helpful, as I was playing for an audience every morning and got used to it. The staff at Newton was always polite, friendly and very helpful. This was the routine for nearly all my mornings: wake up, go to a bakery called Karlita’s for breakfast, get to Newton College via taxi, practice piano in the theater from 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., have lunch in the cafeteria, attend a three-hour orchestra rehearsal starting at 1:00 p.m., hang out around the school for a while, maybe watch Mrs. Koppelman teach her class, and then attend the nightly recitals, which started at 7:00 p.m.

I began studying violin back in San Diego four years ago with a wonderful veteran teacher named Nick Stamon. At first, I only wanted to familiarize myself with another branch of classical music, while always acknowledging the piano as my first instrument, but eventually the violin became the other focus of my life. On this trip, all the study and practice I had put into my relatively new instrument absolutely paid off.

The orchestra rehearsals were great. I got the music for the first violin parts my first day in Lima … and it was unbelievable music. We weren’t playing Beethoven or Mozart. We were playing South American songs arranged for orchestra—one piece from each country represented at the festival (eleven in all), and two pieces from Peru. The pieces are full of gorgeous melodies and very complex rhythms. I had played Latino music before (I actually have a little Mexican and Honduran blood), and the music I’ve played in San Diego is no less beautiful, but it is different to play it in a Latin American country because everyone identifies with the music you are playing immediately. Playing this beautiful music for and with the people who love and relate to it is a priceless experience.

The kids in the orchestra were all great to hang around. Most were younger than me—9-13 years old on average—and they all had buoyant, bright personalities. Even the older kids seemed to emanate happiness, and they all loved the music, a nice change from regular youth orchestra, where there is at least a little bickering among the ranks about the piece. These kids had come from all over South America. To see all these cultures get together and play music around me, to be a part of that, was unbelievable.

The sectionals that sometimes took place in the allotted time for orchestra rehearsal were equally great. Most of the first violins were from Bolivia, and all of them were staying at the Yeyas. So, I got to hang out with them at the hotel as well, and made many friends. In fact, we got to like each other so much that sometimes we could not stop talking, which caused some problems for the conductor, an Argentinean named Dario Dominguez, but he was always on top of the situation. He had an intensity about his conducting that always kept us focused while we were playing. When we started to talk or lose attention during rehearsal, he never lost his temper. He simply explained the situation to all of us, and told us that it is useless to divert time from the orchestra, when we have the opportunity to play such beautiful music. We still never did quite shut up, but we got the point. Though I spoke relatively little Spanish, I could be friendly and effectively communicate with him, in spite of the fact that he spoke only a little English. He won all of our respect.

Another wonderful experience I had in relation to the orchestra was being directed in Spanish. Spanish was one of my first languages when I was very, very young; however, it was drummed out of me in elementary school where it was never spoken. I have never spoken Spanish in the last ten years as well as when I spoke it when I was five. Having all the directions given to me in Spanish by a conductor who could not translate it into English put my mind to work and made me learn it all the faster.

In fact, it was my lack of proficiency in Spanish that earned me many laughs from many people—in particular, from Sara, Mayra, and Cesar, some of my best friends in the whole festival. They were from Columbia, and Sara and Mayra understood about as much English as I understood Swahili—none, that is. Many a time I would forget and start speaking quickly in English. The looks on their faces were priceless! When I would say something really incorrectly in Spanish, it was first a look of confusion, and then they would glance at each other, and burst out screaming laughing—not ridiculing, but with a kind of jubilant ecstasy, marveling at my stupidity. And, at this point, Cesar would look at me with a hopeless expression on his face, and say, quite simply, “womens.” We would hang out in the big patio at lunch and during break times, and visit, laugh and play violin together. It was wonderful. I made many other friends during this trip, but those three kids emanated light and inspiration with every smile and every word they spoke, and it made me feel lucky to be around them.

Thursday was the first day of the really long orchestral rehearsals. I mean six hours. They were really long. These rehearsals, which went from Friday to Sunday, were quite fun, even though we were all pretty tired by the end of the day. The children’s chorus, the sikuri (panpipes) players, and the Latin percussionists were included in these last rehearsals, and the sound was unbelievable! There were sections in some pieces that didn’t quite make sense with strings and winds alone, but when everyone else came in, it became fantastic. When the big native drum played, it was like giants clapping in time to the music.

On Sunday, the orchestra had half of a rehearsal, because it was the day of our first performance. In the two hours or so between the rehearsal and when we all had to rendezvous at the bus for the ride to the concert hall, my mother and I went back to the Yeyas to have lunch, and take a little catnap. To my absolute delight, two professional Peruvian musicians were performing during the lunch hours—a guitarist and a cajon (a type of Latin drum) player, who both sang and played beautifully. After about the second number, I asked if I could play violin with them. I had never played Afro-Peruvian music before, and it sounded so good. It was so much fun to improvise with them, and after the first number, each of them stood up and actually hugged me. After about the third number, one of the Bolivian parents started dancing, the rest of the kids, parents and teachers were our audience. I was in heaven. I played with them for about half an hour, to the cheers of everyone else in the room. We eventually had to leave for the school, but before I left, they both got up and hugged me again and told me how well I played, and how much they enjoyed it. I’ll never forget how good it felt.

Soon after, we all left for Newton College in order to meet the bus that was going to take us to our performance venue. It was a church in the neighborhood of Comas. Comas is a very poor neighborhood. On the way there, we saw shacks, lots of graffiti, and lots of stray dogs in the streets. The trip there was over an hour long by bus. Luckily, I was able to go with the Columbian kids and teachers, so Sara, Mayra, Cesar, and many of their friends were on the trip with me. We spent the whole bus ride telling stories and jokes—most of which were completely lost in translation for them, but were fun anyway.

When we arrived at the church (a big building which was not very fancy), we spent about two hours waiting for the audience to arrive. We waited in a basketball court behind the church, warming up on our instruments and visiting. When we finally were called to perform, we walked into the church from the side door, in front of the seats, which were packed. I walked up to my seat with everyone else, got myself set up, and looked to my left, at which point I realized that there were at least two hundred people packed into that church, waiting for us to play. They had crammed the seats, and there still wasn’t enough room, so they just filled up the center and side aisles. When we got to our second piece, I glanced at the audience again, and realized that there were also about a hundred people standing outside, listening to us through the open church doors. It was at this point that I realized that they probably didn’t get too many orchestras playing in their neighborhood—certainly not for free. They were excited. Why else would so many people have shown up and stood outside to hear a bunch of young kids, albeit talented ones, play a bunch of songs? It was their music, their culture, presented grandly and proudly by an orchestra. I realized it was important to them.

They clapped riotously after every number. And with the church’s acoustics, the noise was unbelievable. They simply loved us. The real killer was when they all started clapping and singing along with our last number, a Peruvian song called “La Veguera.” They knew all the words. After that we got an encore. We hadn’t prepared any, so we just repeated a piece. They went crazy anyway. We got another one … and another. We ended up doing four encores that night, all repetitions of pieces we already had performed. They still loved us. All of the kids, including me, were on an extreme mental high after that performance. We had not seen that experience coming. At least, I didn’t. It was one of the most magical performances I’ve ever been a part of. We spent the entire bus ride home singing.

The next day, we performed in another part of town, in a lovely hall and where two important things happened. One was the flag presentation. This was a ceremony before the concert in which every student in the orchestra would come in delegations from their countries, present their flag to the audience, wait for applause, and then take their seats in the orchestra. Since I was technically the only student from the U.S. participating in the orchestra, I got to go up with only my mom and present our flag. Since the cultural attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Peru was in the front row, this actually was quite an important thing for me to do. At one point in the performance, he nodded in acknowledgement to me.

The other important thing that happened was that I met Martin Cappi, the most advanced flute player in the festival. I had heard him play a flute concerto in one of the nightly performances at Newton College, and he really impressed me with his gorgeous tone, beautiful vibrato and soaring sound. When I had the chance to visit with him as we waited for the second performance of the orchestra to begin, we became instant friends. I played for him on piano and violin, wanting like crazy to impress him. After I played he laughed and declared me “loco.” My head swelled to twice its usual size. The next day, before our third and final performance at Newton College, I asked Martin if he felt like playing together, and he said “absolutely.” It was at this moment that I realized that I didn’t know any piano/flute repertoire, so I asked him if he knew how to improvise, and he said no.

“Would you like to learn?”

“Ah . . . sí, okay.”

“Great!”

I showed him the chord sequence to a twelve-bar blues, and played a really slow backup for it. He then started to play, not too well at first, but eventually, after only about two minutes, he really began to get the feel of improvising. And what a pleasure to hear his magnificent ideas and incredible tone, as I played alongside on piano! To see him come alive and to help awaken that possibility of improvising inside him made me feel most strongly that there was a reason I was there. We would have continued for a long time, but we had to prepare for the performance. This was one of the more wonderful experiences I had in Peru, and it helped forge the friendship between Martin and me. Tuesday was the day that most of the students from the orchestra, including Mayra, Sara, left for their hometowns. It was very hard to say goodbye, but we promised to keep in touch, (email, facebook, thank you!)

On Thursday night of this second week of the festival I performed the 45-minute piano program for which I had been preparing for the past several months. I also began to rehearse the first movement of the Beethoven trio with two very talented musicians and alumni of the Lima festival, a cellist from Lima and a violinist from Cusco. The performance featured “Invited Guests and Alunmi” and it was a blistering success. After the trio, I continued with my solos starting with the Haydn sonata, and then the rest of my repertoire. I think I performed with good technique, I made hardly any mistakes in the more difficult compositions, but the reason I think that the recital was a success was that, from what people told me, it seemed to make the audience feel real emotion. One teacher told me that she had been feeling quite sick that day, and had almost not come to the recital, and that from the first note I played, she felt immediately better. That made me very happy. For an encore, I played a composition of my father’s and mine, a Mexican love song without words.

The next day one of the teachers, Diogenes Gomez, wanted me to play violin in his tango group, which consisted of teachers from different Latin American countries—four violins, two cellos, a piano, guitar, and two singers. We were preparing to perform that same evening in the recital of Latin American music performed by the teachers attending the conference. I quickly learned the first violin part of a Piazzola tango, Adios Nonino, and a folk song from Paraguay, which was Diogenes’ home country. I asked him if I could improvise on the Paraguayan folk song, and once he heard me try it, he added five repeats to the part I was to improvise on, just so I could do it more!

Sunday, our last night in Lima, was spent hanging out with Cesar, his family and new friends in the downtown sector. We were in an enormous town square, surrounded by countless buildings of 16th century colonial Spanish architecture, which included Peru’s presidential palace. It was the anniversary of the founding of the city, and there was a famous musical group playing Peruvian music on an outdoor stage. The crowd was enormous. The noise was unbelievable, and it was a great night to hang out with friends for the last time.

Monday, the last day of our trip to Lima I spent saying goodbyes at Newton College, taking photos and making sure to share emails. Later we went to a souvenir shop, and I got a hand woven jacket which I love to wear. It was a peaceful day, even if I was sorry to leave.

By the time we left for the airport, most of the teachers had left Peru already. We went through the old routine—long lines, water bottles confiscated, check-in, and security—although I didn’t get frisked this time, nor was I feeling sick. On the plane flight home, I asked myself, “Well, David, what have you learned from this?” I thought about it for a while. It took me a while to decide what I had really gone away with now that I had officially traveled the world.

After about an hour, I realized that it was that music, what I’m dedicating my life to, is a connector, a link between all people. I spoke limited Spanish, and yet I got along fine with so many people after they heard me play. The communication was in the notes, in the phrasing, in the dynamics. All I had to do was to play a piece for them, and they immediately knew who I was. My first impression of the Latinos in Latin America was that they were more inspired and open than those of us who live in the U.S. Certainly they were more open . . . but when I thought about it, I came to the realization that no-one could not be inspired in such a charged atmosphere, so full of music. Music . . . I suppose the best way of defining it is that it’s a way of communicating, a language which expresses all that cannot be expressed through speech. It is universal inspiration, and it brought out the best in all of us. And then, I thought if we have something so large in common, if it can affect all of us so profoundly and so similarly, then perhaps all the different peoples of the world are not so different after all. On the outside, oh yes, definitely, we are different . . . but not in what inspires us. And I think that’s what counts.

Last summer Caroline Fraser, the director of the Lima Festival invited David to the upcoming 25th annual festival of January, 2010. She suggested he perform a piano recital as an invited guest for one of the many evening concerts during the three-week festival. David also was scheduled to demonstrate as a student of advanced piano repertoire being coached by Doris Koppelman in her teacher training classes which were attended by many teachers from all over Latin America. I had the unique opportunity to translate for Doris’ classes, and I found that what really helped me were my 10 years of observing and taking notes at David’s weekly piano lessons back home in San Diego, California. Being a teacher myself, I truly appreciate the complex and subtle issues involved in communicating teaching ideas and experiences. The teachers were eager learners, asking intelligent and thoughtful questions. I quickly became aware that this was an extremely important time—these teachers were gaining new skills and perspectives from a master teacher on how to approach the training of their own piano students back in their home countries, and I was assisting in this process in a very direct way. Doris was extremely sensitive to their concerns, and along with succinct explanations, many answers were clarified after my translation as she sat at the piano and demonstrated her points in movement and making music. Several teachers also expressed to me how much they appreciated and learned by observing Doris coach David, her advanced student who has benefited from 10 years of her Suzuki piano training.

On another note, back to last summer when Caroline found out that David also has been studying violin for the past four years, (from a wonderful teacher in San Diego, Nick Stamon), she invited him to participate in the First Latin American Suzuki Students’ Orchestra in the Lima Festival made up of Suzuki students from eleven different countries from Latin America. Music parts were emailed a month in advance so David had a chance to familiarize himself with the first violin parts of this beautifully unique repertoire—one piece representing each Latin American country that was represented. Needless to say, these particular activities were planned before leaving to Peru, but several other wonderful, spontaneous opportunities for making music presented themselves during our 2 1/2 week stay.

Week one was filled with rehearsals and a few wonderful spontaneous jam sessions with professional Peruvian musicians. For three hours each morning, David had access to the grand piano in the large auditorium on campus to practice and prepare for his solo recital which was scheduled for the second week. Then came lunch, where David had lots of fun communicating in Spanish while his new friends practiced their English, all the while laughing at each other’s mistakes and helping with translations. Lots of laughter and fun!

Each afternoon three hours were spent in orchestra rehearsals, whole group and sectionals. The coaches were magnificent! Teachers came from all the different countries and David had the marvelous opportunity to work with violin teachers from Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico, and most all of the coaching of course was in Spanish. The wonderful, inspiring yet patient conductor was from Argentina, Dario Dominguez. He only had six rehearsals before the first performance, which was at a church in a very poor district of Lima. The audience was very appreciative, and the kids playing in the orchestra were inspired and worked hard to sound their best. They played five encores! It was a very moving evening.

The next two orchestral performances were in bigger halls, with a lot of pageantry and celebration. Before the performances, the delegations from each country were announced, paraded in the front part of the stage with the students in native dress and holding their instruments, and the teachers holding the flag of their country. Because David was the only student from the United States, I had to help him hold up the flag of our country. What a moment! And after this incredibly colorful and moving presentation of flags and delegations, the students played a wonderful program of 11 Latin American pieces, some orchestrated with children’s choir, and/or exotic Latin American percussion instruments. One piece was played by a large guitar ensemble, and the performances ended with a very young Peruvian boy and girl dancing as a pair in front of the orchestra. All the musicians enthusiastically accompanied them as the audience sang and clapped along to this popular Peruvian song.

During week two, David performed a different piece from his repertoire during the afternoon piano recitals where all the piano students attending had an opportunity to perform. This was the week the pianists attended the conference and had master classes. David was also able to attend a teen Music Appreciation course and a Peruvian panpipe class. The week ended with two special concerts, first his solo piano recital as part of the evening concert of “Alumni and Invited Guests,” in which he also performed the first movement of a Beethoven piano trio with two alumni of the Festival, a violinist from Cuzco, Peru, and a cellist from Lima. The last evening David was invited by a teacher from Paraguay to perform as a lead violinist with an ensemble of teachers from many different Latin American countries. They performed a tango by A. Piazzola and a traditional Peruvian folk song where David had the opportunity to take off on his improvising, fully supported by the generous teachers performing with him. This concert featured the many talented teachers that attended the festival playing music from their country on a variety of instruments.

There are so many wonderful memories from this adventure—I’m only able to mention a few. I met some incredible teachers and parents and kids, all so generous and genuinely enthusiastic about being involved in making music, sharing and being involved in the arts. Caroline Fraser, along with her hard working and dedicated team, has put together an amazing annual event, historic and wide-reaching. The generous and dedicated teacher-trainers I met, alongside Doris Koppelman are all inspiring and a lot of fun! Both David and I made friends that we are keeping in contact with. This adventure was filled with love and lots of good times and was an amazing opportunity for my son David to share his love of music, learn about our beautiful neighbors to the south and to meet great people. I truly believe it has been a life-changing experience for both of us in a very good way. As I look back a month later I see this event in our lives as an adventure acknowledging our family’s love and commitment to music and the arts, celebrating David’s commitment to music and his spirit of sharing and honoring the dedication and generosity of his teachers.

From the Suzuki Association of Peru: Caroline Fraser and Roberta Centurion

I Encuentro de Alumnos Suzuki de América Latina
(The First Latin American Suzuki students “Get-together”)
January 9th through the 12th, 2010, Lima, Peru

This was a historic occasion for Suzuki programs in the Americas and the result of a long-time dream of the Latin American Suzuki teachers. An “Encuentro” is literally a “meeting together.” Children from 11 Latin American countries from diverse cultures and backgrounds traveled to Lima, Peru, to share their music and experiences and to form the First Latin American Suzuki Students’ Orchestra.

The idea of having an all Latin American Suzuki Orchestra was born during our Latin American Teachers’ Conferences and was further motivated by the success of the Latin American Ensemble at the 2008 SAA Minneapolis Conference. During the 2009 Suzuki Association of Peru annual festival representatives from each participating country enthusiastically proposed the project as a way to help celebrate the 25th International Festival to be held by the Suzuki Association of Peru.

Without any idea of how much work it would entail, what it would cost and all that would be involved, we charged ahead. Each country sent us an arrangement of their traditional music, which was then sent out to the country representatives. Each country devised a process for selecting the children who would attend, rehearsed the children and helped make the travel and accommodation arrangements. There were several false starts as some music had to be transposed and some parts, including the conductor’s score, were missing! Pianists would either play on multiple electric pianos, or sing in the choir and play percussion instruments. Each country would provide the pianists for their piece. The music was scored for string orchestra, recorders, flutes, guitars and percussion; the Peruvian piece included the children playing the traditional panpipes.

Flor Canelo from Cusco and Caroline Fraser in Lima coordinated these initial stages throughout the year, with unconditional support from a local team of teachers (including Charo Kong, Lindsey Pre, Maria Luisa Labarthe, Ximena Marky, Luciana Castillo, Cristina Pinto) and our invaluable Association secretary, Deisy Cortera. They helped take care of the logistics: arranging a concert in a public place requires endless paperwork in Latin America. “Almost frantic” phone calls were made across the continent (thank you, SKYPE): “How many first violins do you have? Can you confirm how many children are coming?”

Children in participating countries rehearsed their parts, sometimes on their own, sometimes in ensemble. Teachers volunteered their time to help. We had asked that the music be memorized. Parents made the commitment to travel, and each country decided on a traditional dress for the Gala Concerts. In Peru it was decided that the children would wear the traditional dress of the three main regions of the country: the jungle, the mountains and the coast.

Many of the children also registered to participate in the festivals surrounding the Encuentro. The decision was made to start rehearsing these children in a special workshop during the festival. Dario Dominguez from Buenos Aires, Argentina, agreed to conduct and teachers were asked to lead the sectionals, including a vocal teacher to work with the choir, and Kike Pinto from Cusco to work with the children on panpipes.

We were anxious to see how this orchestra of 170 children, including some young book two students, would sound. The youngest participant was four-year-old Catalina who had traveled with her mother from Patagonia, Argentina! At the first rehearsal, Dario was surprised at how well the children were prepared. Many had come with all eleven pieces memorized! The children rehearsed with discipline and perseverance.

After only one day of full rehearsal with all children present, we took the children to perform in Comas, an economically disadvantaged district in Lima where the public does not have access to concerts and music lessons. This was an emotional experience for everyone. The church was packed with people standing around the sides and at the back. The doors at the entrance were left open so that the public standing outside could also hear. The audience clapped with the music, sang and wouldn’t let us go. They cheered when Dario dipped into his briefcase to search for a score for yet another encore. The performers were moved to be received with such warmth and passion.

The following day was the Gala Concert in the Auditorium Santa Ursula in San Isidro. The children looked radiant and colorful as they came on-stage by country in their national dress accompanied by their flag. The sole representative of the United States, David Morales Boroff, borrowed a flag from the U.S. Embassy and took a bow with his mother, Silvia. The orchestra delighted the audience and the Suzuki Association of Peru received an award from the Peruvian Ministry of Education.

The Encuentro was far more than children coming together to play in an orchestra: for many children it was their first time in a foreign country; for many Peruvians it was their first time in the capital city, and for all children it was their first time to be with so many children from so many different countries. Music brought everyone together. As the children bade each other goodbye, exchanging parts of their traditional dress, we were made aware of the friendships and bonds which had been formed. The children demonstrated a pride in their national and regional identities and yet were united through music. Surely this was Dr Suzuki’s dream: universal understanding through music.

XXV Festival International, Lima, Peru, January 4-30, 2009
Celebrating 25 Suzuki International Festivals!

- Courses with official recognition from the Peruvian Ministry of Education:

Peruvian educators have to continue their professional enrichment accumulating “credits.” The courses offered through the Suzuki Association of Peru can now count for this official credit.

- Participation from the Peruvian jungle for the first time:

Thanks in part to a scholarship agreement with the Ministry of Education, and an agreement with the National System of Youth Orchestras, four teachers from the jungle city of Iquitos were able to travel and take teacher training courses. The only way to travel to Lima from Iquitos is by river and road, which takes a few days, or by plane which is expensive for local people. The participants took courses in Early Childhood Education, recorder, violin and double bass. Thanks to a generous donation from a Suzuki piano teacher in California, Gretchen Klein, Daniel Manrique attended on a full scholarship with his airfare paid. He was so enthusiastic about his courses that he returned to Iquitos determined to host the Suzuki Association of Peru’s next National Workshop in his city. This would be the first such workshop in the jungle region of the country.

- Dalcroze workshop for teachers and students for the first time:

Clises Mulatti from Brazil taught an introductory course to more than 60 teachers. This demonstrates the level of interest in music education in Latin America and the scarcity of opportunities to learn.

- Participation from the USA, Canada, Europe, 12 Latin American countries and many parts of Peru:

Participants travelled from Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, México, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, Scotland and Canada. In Perú the regions of Ancash, Apurímac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Ica, Junín, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Loreto, Piura, Puno, Tacna and Lima were represented.

- Of the 300 teacher participants more than a third attended on scholarships thanks to our donors.

The Suzuki Association of Peru believes that its events must be accessible to all. In a country where 50% of the population lives in poverty this necessitates a viable scholarship program.

- Of the 400 student participants more than a quarter attended on scholarships.

The British Peruvian Cultural Association made a generous donation to our scholarship fund in order to help disadvantaged families attend the festival.

Many teachers were enrolled in general education courses such as Early Childhood Education, Talent Education, Kodaly and Dalcroze.

These courses are for teachers who do not necessarily have a musical background but who want to enrich their own experiences and those of the children they teach.

- Kodaly 2 workshop was offered in addition to Kodaly 1.

More than 60 teachers were enrolled in each course. The teacher trainer Lydia Mills from California delighted the participants with an ample repertoire of songs and games in Spanish, demonstrating how to introduce music literacy in the classroom.

- More than 80 participants were enrolled in philosophy.

The Suzuki philosophy is for everyone!

- Guitar Book 9 and flute Book 12 were taught.

Eugenia Aizaga travelled from Ecuador to study Flute Book 12 with Kelly, and MaryLou offered Guitar Book 9 to participants from Argentina and Peru.

- Tanya Carey traveled with her daughter Trina and grandchildren Tatum and Logan.

They gave an inspiring family concert (3 generations of cellists!) and Logan performed a Bk 7 Graduation Concert.
Doris Kopelman traveled with her student David and his mother Sylvia.

David gave a wonderful solo concert, played solos on all the daily student recitals and played with the Latin American students’ orchestra.

- Amongst the participants were self taught musicians from remote areas of Peru.

If you live in a place where there are no music teachers and you want to learn, what can you do? Participants from Huancavelica in the Andes and the city of Iquitos in the jungle told me that they had learnt to play their instruments with the help of the internet and occasional tourists. They are now determined to share their knowledge with their local communities and build music programs.

- Practice teaching component continues to be an obligatory part of every unit beyond Book One.
Every participant beyond bk1 has welcomed the opportunity to give a lesson and receive feedback on her teaching from the teacher trainer.

- Check our videos and photos on:

• Facebook: Asociación Suzuki del Perú
• YouTube: AsociacionSuzukiPeru

- Thanks to our dedicated SAA Teacher Trainers:

Tanya Carey, Virginia Dixon, Caroline Fraser, Doris Koppelman, Nancy Lokken, Eduardo Ludueña, Marilyn O’Boyle, Fernando Piñero, MaryLou Roberts, Mary Halverson Waldo and Kelly Williamson for their professional expertise and generosity of spirit.

- Thanks to our main sponsors:

This festival would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Thanks also to Newton College, the US Embassy in Peru, the British Peruvian Cultural Association and Latin American Scholarship Fund donors from the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany and Norway. In addition, a special thank you to our dedicated teachers, office staff, Suzuki friends and families in Peru who continue to support our festival. As Dr Suzuki always emphasized, working together we can help create a better world!

Anunciamos el XXVI Festival Internacional, Lima, Peru, Enero 7-31, 201I,
y
El V Encuentro para Profesores Suzuki de América Latina
Nos vemos allá!
www.suzukimusica.com.pe

David with Peruvian musicians at XXV Festival International, Lima, Peru.

Both my sister and I followed our hearts. Mine led to the violin, and I have made a living from it ever since. I have 40 Suzuki students and play regularly with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. I also have two young children. My sister ended up in Guatemala. She has a particular sensitivity towards young children, and after listening to their problems she was inspired to set up a project in Quebec to help the poorest of children in Guatemala.

This year, for the first time since those early violin lessons, my sister and I found a project in common that brought our two passions together.

Her cause was an inspiring one. In collaboration with a Quebec NGO, Reequilibre, Surconsommation, Pauvreté (Overconsumption and Poverty: Redressing the Balance), she gives practical help to some of the poorest people in Guatemala. The idea is simple: sending things that we have in abundance but that are desperately needed there, such as medical equipment, children’s clothes, shoes, educational toys and sleeping mats. These are taken to Guatemala in containers and redistributed to hospitals, orphanages and people living in remote rural areas. In one case the goods are sold at a very low price by an orphanage so that it can benefit while buyers can maintain the basic dignity of paying for what they need.

Many of my students’ families helped in the wrapping of the goods and loading of the container. Later they saw pictures of the things they had sent being distributed and learned a lot about life on the other side of the world. But the biggest cost involved in this project is the $8000 to $10,000 needed to send the container – so we decided to put on a benefit concert.

May 2, 2009 was an evening that neither of us will ever forget—nor will anyone else who was involved: professional musicians, Suzuki students, Suzuki teachers, the organizing committee, parents of young violinists and cellists as well as the audience. The curtain opened to a full house in one of Quebec’s best concert halls, recently renovated to house the internationally renowned Violons du Roy. The acoustics and audio-visuals couldn’t have been of higher quality.

The stage was shared by 50 young musicians, ten professionals and 70 singers. The programme (partly from the Suzuki repertoire) was varied: classical, semi-classical, folk, film tracks and even pop music. The groupings were also very varied: an orchestra with soloist Darren Lowe, concert master of the OSQ; our own group, the Jeux d’Archets Suzuki, in various configurations; the choir Les Rhapsodes alone and also with Jeux d’Archets; the Trio Frontenac, one of Quebec City’s top trios. Performing with us also were soprano Luce Vachon, a young gymnast performing to Cirque de Soleil music, a drummer, and a bass guitarist. We opened the concert with some tangos to put us in a Latin-American mood—some by composer and Suzuki teacher Michael McLean.

This project brought a multitude of benefits, not just to Guatemala but to members of the Suzuki triangle. The students raised their level of performance; they learned to prepare a large-scale performance with everything that involves; they learned to work hard for a cause they believed in. They threw themselves into the process as they had never done before, and gave the very best of themselves. In the practices and during the concert itself there were times when they were deeply touched and found new relationships with the music and with their instruments. They had to develop a musical stage presence, performing in a concert hall with world class acoustics and with top-notch musicians. They rose to the challenge, persevering and working tirelessly to reach a common goal.

The parents learned to work more effectively with their children at home as well as being involved in preparing the concert. They helped promote it, giving generously of their time and energy and many helped out with the show on the day itself. Parents who were themselves professional musicians became stage managers, while other parents made sure that everyone was fed properly. Everyone had something to contribute.

As a teacher, the eight months that it took to work on the 20 pieces in the program with each of my groups was an invaluable learning experience. Some of the pieces they had already played; others were new to them. I had to make recordings of all of them. I had to make sure we played pieces that included the youngest students (some had only been learning for eight months). These must not sound too amateurish, but nor must they be unreasonably demanding for the youngest players. We had to organize practices, both with the various Jeux d’Archets groups as well as the guest musicians, so that everything would be ready in time. Nothing could be left until the last minute – almost every piece was to be played by heart, including accompaniments.

The choice of program was made a year in advance. Fingerings, bowings and other musical notations on nearly every piece had to be revised at least eight months before the performance.

I had to organize transportation for all the musicians, as well as all the logistics of stage entries, how and where to position the various configurations of musicians on stage and how to move them off again. By the end of the show there were 130 people on stage, the youngest of whom were only just four years old! We had to work with stage technicians, sound and light technicians. I had to make decisions about everything ahead of time so that nothing would be left to chance or to the last minute.

I worked with a committee of 12 parents. None of us had any experience in organizing a benefit concert, let alone one of this scale. We had 1000 seats to fill, we had to find sponsors, decide who should receive special invitations, organize the whole day’s activities, decide on and prepare costumes, decide how to promote and advertise the concert, in addition to all the musical aspects. I learned once again how important it is to respect the personality, strengths and weaknesses of each person. I continue to be astonished at the commitment of Suzuki parents, with each person having a completely different area of expertise and complementing one another.

We carried everything off, down to the last detail. But the biggest achievement of all was musical. One of my objectives was that my students would master the repertoire they presented better than ever before. The public was blown away by the musical quality of each performance, each piece having been worked on down to the last detail. The atmosphere that night was magical! The young musicians were justifiably proud, and so were their parents.

We managed to raise nearly $13,000, so the equivalent of one and a half containers can be sent to Guatemala. But our concert didn’t just raise money for my sister’s project—we also publicized it, and described it during the concert. Thanks to the concert, the media took an interest and many different people asked my sister how they could help.

As organizer of the benefit concert, one of my most cherished beliefs was confirmed: aim high, be courageous in planning projects with my students, give them opportunities to live a variety of memorable experiences. Parents, students and teachers all come out ahead. It was a huge amount of work spread out over a year, but an enriching, stimulating and community-building year. So much so that we’re going to do it again in spring 2011— the concert hall is already booked!

And finally, as my sister and I appeared on stage together with our respective hearts on our sleeves, I realized that I’d also learned a lot about her and saw her now from a totally new perspective. We had put our hearts and minds together, crossed over many boundaries and drawn a whole lot of people into a new, common project: Making great music in Quebec to help people in great need in Guatemala.

You can see a few excerpts of this concert on the Jeux d’Archets Suzuki website at www.jeuxdarchetssuzuki.com.

Me gustaría en estas pequeñas líneas poder plasmar, aunque resulte muy difícil, la experiencia vivida en el Festival Internacional de Flauta Traversa Método Suzuki de la Patagonia Argentina, realizado en octubre pasado.

Ante todo quiero dejar expresado mi agradecimiento a la Prof. Kelly Williamson (Canadá) y al Prof. Fernando Formigo (Argentina), ya que han dado su mayor esfuerzo para realizar tan importante evento, logrando que el Método Suzuki de Flauta Traversa llegue cada vez más cerca de la comunidad y se afiance con mayor fuerza a nuestra querida tierra Argentina.

El Festival fue muy enriquecedor desde muchos aspectos. Enmarcado en una naturaleza exquisita, los asistentes no sólo pudimos tomar las clases de capacitación en Libro 1, sino que también pudimos disfrutar del concierto que brindaron la Prof. Kelly Williamson y el Prof. Fernando Formigo y de las presentaciones realizadas por los alumnos, sino que también fuimos invitados a participar del concierto de profesores asistentes y de los ensayos de la orquesta de flautas, la cual cuenta con 40 integrantes aproximadamente. De esta manera logramos conocernos y compartir vivencias, experiencias y material lo cual ha hecho que las distancias entre nosotros se acorten y los lazos de nuestra “Vida Suzuki” se unan cada vez más entre las distintas provincias y países.

Mariana Capponi and Kelly Williamson.

Personalmente, quiero agradecer la ayuda brindada respecto al alojamiento, ya que esto posibilitó que pudiera asistir al Festival con dos de mis alumnas Victoria y Patricia, y de esta forma ellas también pudieron obtener los beneficios resultantes del recibir enseñanzas y compartir experiencias y música con otros profesores y alumnos.

A todos los organizadores y a todos los que ayudaron a que esta Festival fuera posible desde la ciudad de La Plata sólo me queda decirles: Muchas Gracias!

Prof. Mariana E. CAPPONI
Prof. Flauta Traversa Suzuki
La Plata – Buenos Aires
Argentina

Compilado por Caroline Fraser
Asociación Suzuki del Perú
VIII Taller Nacional en Huancavelica, Mayo 20-24, 2009.
Traducido por Ximena Marky

Todos los años, la Asociación Suzuki del Perú (ASP) organiza un taller fuera de la ciudad de Lima. El propósito del evento es brindar apoyo a profesores y alumnos del Perú que se encuentran geográfica y económicamente marginados. Este año, el taller se realizó en la región menos accesible del Perú: Huancavelica. La provincia de Huancavelica se sitúa al centro del país, en lo alto de las montañas. No hay un aeropuerto cerca. Desde Lima, hay que viajar 7 hasta la ciudad de Huancayo, pasando por Ticlio, a 5000 metros sobre el nivel del mar (donde funcionaba la vía férrea más alta del mundo). Desde el terminal en Huancayo, tomamos un taxi que nos lleva a otro taxi que nos transportará las 3 horas restantes por un camino recientemente asfaltado hasta el pueblo de Huancavelica. La última parte del camino la compartimos con burros, vacas, ovejas, cabras y sus criadores, en muchos casos niños. El camino está cerrado durante ciertas horas del día debido a derrumbes y huaycos ocasionados por la lluvia, y a pesar de eso, el panorama es escalofriantemente hermoso: un lugar totalmente aislado, de terreno accidentado e interminable.

Gracias al Padre William Lopez, a nuestra asistente Maria Nuñez, que viajó antes que nosotros para tener todo listo a nuestra llegada, y a las maravillas del Internet; el taller fue anunciado localmente y se corrió la voz. Una delegación de 20 personas viajó desde Lima, incluyendo a 6 alumnos y sus papás. El taller se realizó en el Seminario para Niños, un oasis en medio del desierto: instalaciones adecuadas, un gran auditorio y amplias aulas. El frio era lo único perturbante, ya que no hay calefacción.

Algunos aspectos del taller fueron imposibles de planear: la cantidad de alumnos y profesores participantes fue todo un misterio hasta el día que comenzaron las clases. Tuvimos que decidir, una vez ahí, entre cobrar $6 o $3 por persona para la inscripción de alumnos y profesores.

En la ceremonia de apertura, el auditorio estaba lleno, en su mayoría por alumnos ansiosos por empezar sus clases. Mientras esperábamos que comenzara el evento, puse un DVD de alumnos tocando. De repente hubo silencio y los niños observaron y escucharon con mucha atención. Miré alrededor y fue increíble ver la cantidad de niños que quieren aprender música en un lugar donde prácticamente no hay profesores! Los únicos profesores Suzuki en el área son el Padre William, que no tiene mucho tiempo, y dos de sus ex-alumnos, Reuben y Roosevelt, quienes aún no han podido completar su capacitación como profesores.

El primer día de clases la gran sorpresa fue la llegada de 120 alumnos de Flauta Dulce! Teníamos sólo dos profesores para trabajar con ellos: Luciana Castillo y Sandra Tello, que viajaron la noche anterior desde Lima. Más de 50 alumnos se presentaron para clases de piano. Roberta Centurión recibió a 12 alumnos por hora el primer día solamente. Qué harán estos alumnos una vez que nos vayamos? Hay tanto interés por aprender y nadie que les enseñe. En piano habían niños que tuvieron que lidiar solos con temas como “Fur Elise” o “El Condor Pasa”. Le pregunté a una mamá con quién estudiaba su hijo y me respondió muy orgullosa: “su profesor es Cristian”. Cristian tiene 10 años y es el hermano mayor.

En el curso de Educación del Talento hubo más de 50 participantes, entre alumnos del Seminario y jóvenes que también están en la carrera para ser curas. Estos chicos están aprendiendo música y sus profesores son ex alumnos del Seminario que estudiaron Flauta Dulce cuando eran pequeños. Una vez convertidos en curas, irán a regiones aisladas de Huancavelica y entenderán la importancia de empezar y apoyar programas de música para niños, gracias a la visión del Monseñor Mulloy y al arduo trabajo y dedicación constante del joven Padre William.

En el curso de Estimulación Temprana, Maria Luisa Labarthe estuvo en un salón lleno de papás, mamás y profesores interesados en la introducción de niños pequeños a la música. Como escribe ella misma en su artículo: lo más impactante fue la habilidad de los bebés para “captar” todo.

Un joven se me acercó a preguntarme si podía tocar algo en violín para que lo escuche y le de una clase. El era autodidacta. No hay profesores de violín en Huancavelica.

Todos los niños tocaron en el Concierto Final, adornados con lindas chalinas de colores, hechas en Huancavelica. El taller terminó con un grupo bailando la tradicional Danza de las Tijeras, también de Huancavelica. Fue muy emocionante para mí ver a tantos niños alineados en las calles para despedirnos, mientras la orquesta del colegio tocaba “Scotland the Brave”, en lo alto de los Andes Peruanos!

La música es capaz de sobrevivir incluso bajo las condiciones más difíciles. Me pregunté qué hubiera hecho el Dr. Suzuki si se hubiera enfrentado a una situación como esta, con tantos niños y tan pocos profesores en un solo lugar. Me respondí a mí misma que simplemente hubiese empezado a enseñar. Y eso es lo que hicimos. Plantamos algunas semillas.

El Milagro de Huancavelica

De Maria Luisa Labarthe

Hace como 18 años, un día de diciembre, tal vez cuando hacíamos los preparativos para uno de nuestros primeros festivales tuve una llamada en mi casa,“la llamó el obispo de Huancavelica,” dijo mi empleada, “¿quién?” pregunté. “Yo no lo conozco, debe ser una broma.” Unas horas más tarde, casi a las once de la noche sonó el teléfono y oí una voz que me dijo, “Profesora, yo soy el obispo de Huancavelica, el padre Mulloy; me ha hablado de usted el gerente del Banco donde tengo mis cuentas y me dice que hay un método para enseñar música y que usted me puede informar” (en ese momento yo era la profesora de piano del hijo del gerente). ”Sí,” le contesté. “Es el método Suzuki. Justamente vamos a tener nuestro festival y sería bueno que usted viniera,” le dije. Él me contestó que sólo quería los libros del método, puesto que él ya sabía música. Sólo necesitaba un buen método para enseñar. Yo le dije que no sólo se trataba de un método sino de una filosofía y que los libros no le iban a decir nada, que él tenía que asistir al festival para aprender. “O sea, ¿como alumno?” me preguntó. “Sí Monseñor, como alumno”. “Bueno, si tengo que ser alumno, seré un alumno Suzuki”.

Le di los informes y las fechas y no volví a saber de él hasta que el primer día del festival cual sería mi sorpresa cuando vi a lo lejos a un sacerdote altísimo con dos religiosas, una profesora y un niño de unos 12 años. Me sorprendió ver a un niño tan joven. El monseñor me dijo que este niño también se iba a preparar para ser profesor. Ellos siguieron los cursos y durante el festival el Monseñor se me acercó y me dijo que estaba impresionado con las ideas del Doctor Suzuki: “todos los niños pueden aprender”, y que él las iba a aplicar en Huancavelica con sus niños.

Lo más sorprendente fue lo que sucedió al año siguiente en el festival. Ellos regresaron con alumnos tocando las canciones del Libro Uno en piano. Los niños tocaban con mucha musicalidad y muy felices. El monseñor y las personas que vinieron habían trabajado todo el año con los niños, contando con un solo piano de la parroquia y un profesor que era casi un niño. Y la profesora que solo sabía tocar con una mano cantaba para ayudar a los niños a memorizar las melodías. Un cartón con teclas dibujadas estaba colocado en la mesa de las casas de estos niños y ahí hacían sus prácticas. Solo podían usar el piano por momentos. Con todas estas dificultades ellos lograron lo que la Asociación Suzuki llamaría: “El Milagro de Huancavelica.”

Mientras los profesores de EE.UU. nos aconsejaban tener dos pianos para escuchar, ver mejor al alumno y tener un buen equipo de música, estos niñitos habían llegado a un nivel de musicalidad y destreza sin tener nada: simplemente con el deseo de aprender y con unos profesores con fe en si mismos y en sus alumnos. Y así es como sigue hasta hoy el programa Suzuki en Huancavelica.

Acabamos de regresar del VIII Taller Nacional Suzuki, que esta vez ha tocado ser en Huancavelica. Viajamos Caroline Fraser (piano), Roberta Centurión (Educación del Talento), Luciana Castillo y Sandra Tello (flauta dulce), y yo para Estimulación Temprana. Huancavelica es uno de los pueblos más pobres del Perú, con un clima muy frío y mucha altura. El Padre William, el mismo niño que asistió al festival años atrás, es hoy el que dirige el programa Suzuki en Huancavelica, y él organizó el taller para nosotras.

Hemos tenido 260 niños en total. Todos querían tocar, todos querían tener una flauta: las flautas no alcanzan, ellos las usan por turnos. La musicalidad de estos niños es increíble. Tuvimos un concierto y un “pasacalle” donde participaron todos. En Estimulación Temprana tuvimos más de treinta bebes y treinta profesoras. Los bebes me sorprendieron por su capacidad de captar todo tan rápidamente. Mucho más rápido que mis bebes de la ciudad. Pienso que es porque estos bebes desde que nacen escuchan dos idiomas: su idioma nativo, el quechua, y el español. Además están muy cerca de sus padres y de la naturaleza.

Todas mis canciones tenían sentido cuando hablaba de las estrellas, de los animales, de la nieve y de la lluvia: ellos están muy cerca de todo eso. Al final se presentaron con sus mamás en el concierto acompañados por niños tocando “Allegro” en flauta mientras ellos bailaban con sus mamás. Fue muy emocionante. Nos despedimos entre niños agitando pañuelos blancos y una banda tocando el Himno Escocés en honor a nuestra querida Caroline.

Mi felicitación especial a mis queridas colegas y amigas de siempre: Roberta Centurión de USA y a Caroline Fraser de Escocia, por su dedicación y entrega a los niños de mi país.

Festival in Huancavelica
Compiled by Caroline Fraser
The Suzuki Association of Peru
VIII National Workshop, Huancavelica May 22-24, 2009

Every year the Suzuki Association of Peru (ASP) organizes a workshop outside the capital city of Lima. The purpose of the event is to support the teachers and students living in geographically and economically isolated areas of the country. This year the VII National Workshop was held in the most disadvantaged region of Peru, Huancavelica. Huancavelica lies in the centre of the country, high in the Andean mountains. There is no airport nearby. By road from Lima it takes seven hours to travel first to the city of Huancayo, passing through Ticlio, which at nearly 5,000 metres used to boast the highest railway junction in the world. At the bus terminal in Huancayo, a taxi takes the passengers to find another taxi which will undertake the additional three-hour journey on a recently paved road which winds its way to the town of Huancavelica. The final stretch of road is shared with donkeys, cows, sheep, goats and their tenders, who at times are just children. The road is closed for a certain time each day due to the mud slides caused by the torrential rainstorms in the mountains. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful: remote, rugged and expansive.

Thanks to Padre William Lopez, to our assistant, Maria Nunez, who traveled ahead of time, and to the wonders of the Internet, the Workshop was advertised locally and the word was spread. A delegation of twenty traveled from Lima, including 6 students and their parents. The Huancavelica Workshop was held in the Seminary for young boys, which is like an oasis in a desert; adequate installations which include a spacious auditorium and ample classrooms. The bitter cold is all the more penetrating as there is no heating in the buildings.

There were certain aspects of the Workshop which were not possible to plan: how many children and teacher participants would attend was a mystery until the first classes began. There was some discussion as to whether the tuition should be $6 or $3 per person for both teachers and students.
At the Opening Ceremony, the auditorium was packed full, mostly with school children anxious to receive their classes. As we waited for the event to begin I put on a DVD of children playing. The audience was hushed and the children watched and listened with great attention. I looked around and was astonished at the number of children wanting to learn music in a place where there are practically no music teachers! The only teachers are Padre William, who has little time to devote to music instruction these days, and two of his ex-students, teachers Ruben and Roosevelt, who have not yet had the opportunity to complete recorder teacher training courses.

On the first day of classes, what a surprise when 120 recorder students turned up! And there were only two teachers to work with them: Luciana Castillo and Sandra Tello, who had traveled overnight from Lima. More than 50 students appeared for piano lessons. Roberta Centurion had 12 students each hour during the first day. What would these children do when we left? There was so much interest and no one to teach them. In piano there were children who were self taught, struggling through Für Elise, or the Condor Pasa. When I asked one mother who her child was studying with, she proudly told me “Cristian is his teacher.” Cristian was his 10-year-old brother.

In the Talent Education course there were over 50 participants, including young men who were training to be priests, and many young students from the Seminary school! These young men are all learning music, being taught by their fellow student who had studied recorder as a child in the seminary. These priests-to-be will eventually go to work in remote regions of Huancavelica and will understand the importance of starting and supporting music programs for the children, thanks to the vision of one Monsignor Mulloy and the hard work and dedication of the young Padre William. In the ECE course, Maria Luisa Labarthe had a class full of parents and teachers interested in learning how to introduce music to young children. As she writes below, she was delighted with the babies’ abilities to “catch” everything. A young man came to me asking if he could play something for me on the violin and could I give him a lesson. He was self taught. There are no violin teachers in Huancavelica.

All the children performed in the Final Concert adorned with their beautiful brightly coloured, made-in-Huancavelica woolen scarves. The Workshop ended with a dance group performing the traditional rich and colorful Huancavelican scissors’ dance. How moving for me when the children lined the streets to wave goodbye, and the local school band played Scotland the Brave, high in the Peruvian Andes.

Music survives in the harshest conditions. I wondered what Dr Suzuki would have done when faced with so many children and so few teachers. I decided he would have just started to teach. So that is what we did. We planted some seeds.
informes@suzukimusica.com.pe www.suzukimusica.com.pe

A Miracle in Huancavelica

by Maria Luisa Labarthe
Translated by Caroline Fraser

About 18 years ago on a December day, perhaps when we were preparing for one of our first festivals, I received a phone call. “The Bishop of Huancavelica called you,” said my assistant. “Who?” I asked. “I don’t know him. It must be a practical joke.” A few hours later, at almost 11 o´clock at night, the telephone rang again and I heard a voice saying, “I am the bishop of Huncavelica, Father Mulloy. My bank manager spoke to me about you, and he said that there is a method for teaching music and that you could tell me about it.” At that time I taught the bank manager’s son. “Yes,” I answered. “It is the Suzuki Method. We’re actually going to have our festival soon and it would be good if you could attend”. He answered that he only wanted to buy the books as he already knew about music. He only needed a good method book so that he could teach. I told him that it wasn’t only about a method, but it was based on a philosophy, and that the books would not tell him anything. He would have to come to the festival to learn about it. “You mean, as a student?” he asked. “Yes, Father, as a student.” “Well, if I have to be a student, I will be a Suzuki student”.

I gave him the information about the festival, including the dates, and I didn’t hear anything more from him until the first day of the festival, when to my surprise I saw in the distance a very tall priest with two nuns, a teacher and a child of about 12 years of age. I was surprised to see a boy so young. Monsignor Mulloy told me that this boy too would be preparing to be a teacher. They took the courses and during the festival Monsignor approached me and said how impressed he was by Dr Suzuki’s ideas: “All children can learn.” He was going to apply these concepts with the children in Huancavelica.

The most surprising thing is what happened a year later at the next festival. The original delegation returned with children playing Book One pieces on the piano. The children played with a lot of musicality and joy. Monsignor and his delegation had worked all year with the children with only one piano, one teacher who was really a child himself and a teacher who only knew how to play with one hand at a time, and who had sung to the children to help them memorize the melodies. The children had cardboard keyboards in their houses so that they could practice. They could only use the piano for a few moments each. With all these difficulties they achieved what our Suzuki Association would call “The Miracle in Huancavelica.”

While U.S. teachers told us that we must have two pianos to be able to listen and see our students better, and that we should have good sound equipment; these children had achieved a level of musicality and skill without anything—just with the desire to learn and with teachers who had faith in themselves and in their students. And that is how the Suzuki program has continued in Huancavelica.

We have just returned from our VIII National Workshop, which this year was held in Huancavelica. Caroline Fraser (piano), Roberta Centurion (Talent Education), Luciana Castillo and Sandra Tello (recorder), and Maria Luisa Labarthe (Early Childhood Education) traveled from Lima to teach. Huancavelica is the poorest region of Peru with a very cold climate and high altitude. Padre William, the same 12-year-old boy who attended the festival so many years ago, is now the person directing the Suzuki program, and he organized the workshop for us.

There were 260 participants in total. Everyone wanted to play, and everyone wanted a recorder. There were not enough recorders to go around. The children had to take turns with them. The children demonstrated excellent musicality. We had a concert and a “pasacalle” (concerts in the streets) in which everyone participated. In Early Childhood Education we had more than 30 babies and 30 teachers. The babies surprised me by their ability to “catch” everything so quickly—much more quickly than my babies in the city. I think it is because these babies hear two languages from birth: their native Quechua and Spanish. Also they are very close to their parents and to nature. All my songs had immediate meaning to them as we sang about the stars, the animals, the snow and the rain; they are very close to all of this. At the end of the Workshop the babies and mothers made a presentation, dancing accompanied by recorder students playing Allegro. It was very moving. The children bade us farewell lining the streets, waving white handkerchiefs while a school band played “Scotland the Brave” for our dear Caroline.

My special congratulations to my colleagues and friends for ever: Roberta Centurion from the United States and Caroline Fraser from Scotland, for their dedication and devotion to the children of my country, Peru.

Estamos muy felices porque el Séptimo Encuentro Internacional de Voz Suzuki “Canciones para compartir” se realizó en Argentina del 2 al 8 de Enero de 2009.

Ha sido maravilloso compartir la música, el canto y el amor como parte de un mismo espíritu; el del Método Suzuki. Los participantes fueron profesores capacitadores, profesores en entrenamiento y alumnos de Finlandia, Autralia, Argentina, Perú, México, Chile y Paraguay. Las profesoras capacitadoras fueron la Dra. Päivi Kukkamäki, que es la fundadora de este Programa (Finlandia) y Katrina Pezzimenti (Australia).

El Programa de Voz Suzuki está creciendo cada vez más alrededor del mundo. Esta ha sido una excelente oportunidad para los profesores latinoamericanos interesados en el Programa de Voz Suzuki, para participar en el primer “Short term Suzuki Voice Teacher training course”realizado en Latinoamérica. Se ha formado un maravilloso equipo de profesores latinoamericanos. Ahora a trabajar juntos por el bien de los niños através de la música y el canto!

En el Encuentro hemos compartido muchas actividades. Se realizaron todos los días clases grupales e individuales para los alumnos; bebés, niños y adultos -principiantes y avanzados. Los alumnos que participaron tenían entre 1 y 26 años. Se realizaron dos grandes conciertos; “Canciones para compartir” y “ Concierto de Cierre” en los que se presentaron obras solistas y grupales.

El repertorio de los recitales fue muy amplio; hubo canciones del libro 1 pero también repertorio perteneciente a los niveles avanzados (niveles 4 y 5) que incluye arias de ópera de Mozart, Verdi, Humperdink, Montsalvatge, otras obras artísticas de compositores famosos y música de cámara.

Cada tarde, se realizaron “actividades especiales” como por ejemplo conferencias y exhibiciones; “Qué es el Programa de Voz Suzuki?” y “Memorias del Programa de Voz Suzuki”. También se realizaron “Presentaciones culturales de los países” (Australia, Argentina, Chile, Perú, México, Finlandia y Paraguay). Esta fue una forma maravillosa de conocer más sobre la cultura y la música de otros paises.

Los profesores latinoamericanos que vinieron a capacitarse, recibieron un entrenamiento muy intensivo. Observaron clases grupales e individuales con bebés, niños de diferentes edades y adultos y también hicieron sus propias prácticas docentes que fueron muy buenas. Los tópicos centrales de este“Short term Course” se basaron en las ideas principales del Método Suzuki y del Programa de Voz Suzuki; escuchar, imitar y repetir, relación padres-profesor y alumno, orientación de los padres, rol de los padres y del profesor con alumnos de diferentes edades, practica en el hogar, ideas para favorecer la motivación y aportes e importancia de la “devolución” o feedback, el desarrollo y la practica de habilidades (proceso del “paso a paso”) entre otras. El trabajo se focalizó también en el estudio de las fases del desarrollo del niño -estadio 0 a 6 años de edad, el progreso del alumno en el canto y la aceptación del propio cuerpo como instrumento, el análisis del repertorio del Programa de Voz Suzuki; el texto y la melodía, la forma, la dinámica, el ritmo, las frases y también los ejercicios para relajación, respiración, postura y uso del cuerpo, articulación, fonética, resonancia y entonación.

Se realizaron también otras actividades durante el Encuentro como por ejemplo; charla sobre “La música académica Argentina de Carlos Guastavino” y conferencia sobre “Cognición Musical y Método Suzuki” y los talleres teórico-prácticos de música de “Candombe” y “Tango”.

Alumnos y profesores en entrenamiento han comentado:

“He comprendido que el proceso de convertirse en profesor de Voz Suzuki debe ser abordado con paciencia y perseverancia y que esto le da a uno la alegría de ver los resultados y los frutos que uno mismo sembró”
—Gabriel Huaroc (Perú)

“Realmente he podido sentir el Espíritu Suzuki que es compartido entre todas las personas que practican el Método. El Espíritu Suzuki es un sentimiento muy especial de amistad y compañerismo que no es común encontrar en otros lugares o grupos”
—Julián Molinero (Argentina)

Los grupos mas grandes de alumnos fueron los de Finlandia y Argentina. El grupo de Finlandia que estuvo en el Encuentro era el grupo “original” de alumnos, es decir, quienes iniciaron este Programa. Ellos comenzaron Voz Suzuki en Finlandia en el año 1986 con la Dra. Kukkamäki. Cuando comenzaron eran bebés o incluso estaban en la etapa de gestación y ahora son jóvenes de alrededor de 20 años. Participaron además alumnos nuevos que se sumaron mas tarde a este Programa.

Ha sido conmovedor ver cómo los alumnos argentinos y finlandeses y sus familias se encontraron, compartieron su cultura y cantaron juntos con tanta alegría.

Desde el año 2001 los alumnos argentinos han aprendido canto siguiendo el Programa de Voz Suzuki. Durante todos estos años, ellos han percibido nuestro “trabajo de equipo” y se han sentido parte de este grupo. Por ese motivo se sentieron tan unidos; se podía percibir un ambiente muy especial que surgió desde el primer momento que se encontraron.

Fue maravilloso cuando tuvimos el primer ensayo con el pianista… Eramos muchos, viniendo de diferentes partes del mundo, pero cantamos todos juntos y fue perfecto! En mi opinión, este pequeño detalle representa el estilo de “trabajar juntos” al que estamos acostumbrados en el Programa de Voz Suzuki. Al estar permanentemente en contacto, apoyarnos mutuamente, mantenernos abiertos a aprender cosas nuevas cada día, a aprender de la cultura del otro, y trabajando en un constante “paso a paso”, compartimos la música y la vida de una manera natural; es decir, trabajando juntos como amigos Suzuki a pesar de tener lugares de residencia tan diferentes.

Durante este Encuentro hemos compartido experiencias que nunca vamos a olvidar! Sentimos que estamos unidos por el presente, el pasado y para el futuro. Pudimos compartir las actividades de los últimos años a través de videos y fotos y encontramos las conexiones que hemos tenido todos estos años gracias al trabajo de equipo creado y sostenido por la Dr. Kukkamäki. El repertorio que cantamos proviene de diferentes países; cantamos en diferentes idiomas y lo más importante es que sentimos la conexión con la cutura desde la que provienen la obras.

Los recuerdo de este Encuentro estarán en los corazones de los alumnos y profesores para siempre. Esta experiencia fue especial y única para todos nosotros. Y como les dije a los alumnos en el final del Encuentro, no debemos estar tristes porque este Encuentro termina; debemos sentirnos felices porque este es un nuevo “comenzar” en el proceso de crecimiento de la familia de Voz Suzuki. Debemos conocer y amar nuestra historia y seguir mirando hacia el futuro.

Gracias a las profesoras capacitadoras por viajar hasta Argentina y hacer realidad este Encuentro. Sin su ayuda nada de esto hubiera sido posible. Los Sponsors de este Encuentro fueron la Municipalidad de La Plata, la Embajada de Finlandia en Buenos Aires, la Asociación Suzuki families-Finland y la Asociación Suzuki de La Plata.

Gracias al grupo organizador y colaborador del Encuentro; familias Garganta, Terracciano, Molinero, Paoli, Soto, Vides, Caceres, Barbero, Capponi, Savolainen.