Joanne Melvin

It’s hard to believe that my two years as Chair are almost over and that it will soon be time to hand over the torch to my successor. The time has flown by so fast!

It’s even harder to believe that at the end of July I will be retiring from the SAA board after nine years of service. I have filled every office and served on every board committee I’m allowed to serve. It has been a wonderful nine years of fun and fellowship, hard work, problem solving, learning, giving and receiving, all with an amazing group of talented…

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It’s an exciting time to be involved with the SAA! So much is happening on so many fronts! CEO Pam Brasch and Board Secretary Dee Martz just returned from Peru, where they participated along with several SAA teachers and Teacher Trainers in the Peru association’s wildly successful Enceuntro and Festival. The Peru events touched many lives from all over Latin America and from as far away as western Canada. From right here in my home-town of Calgary, local teacher Carmen Wise traveled to Peru to take Bill Preucil’s viola teachers’ class and to teach Festival violin and viola classes as…

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Canadian violinist, conductor, teacher and pioneer in music education, Tom Rolston, was recently presented with The Orpheus Award, Music Alberta’s highest award, at the Alberta Music Conference. At a dinner held in his honour several guests thanked Tom publicly for his work at the University of Alberta, the Edmonton Symphony, the Society for Talent Education and the Banff Centre for the Arts.

SAA Board Chair Joanne Melvin thanked Tom on behalf of the SAA for his pioneering work in bringing Suzuki education to Canada nearly forty years ago. As a result of his efforts a number of Suzuki programs were started…

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The Suzuki Association of the Americas is responsible for the development of Suzuki education in the all the Americas, from Alaska and Arctic Canada to Patagonia. It’s a huge geographic area with enormous economic and cultural diversity. SAA recognizes and uses four official languages—English, French, Portuguese and Spanish—within its region.

The SAA board recently had the opportunity to experience one facet of that diversity when it held its fall 2004 meeting in Montreal, Quebec. Board members had heard for some time about the need to produce Suzuki materials in SAA’s other official languages besides English. The…

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Recently I had the honor of being invited to participate in a Summit on the future of string teaching and playing in America. The Summit was hosted by ASTA and took place in Dallas during the ASTA with NSOA National String Forum and Festival.

I went a couple of days early so I could take part in some of the Forum sessions. When I arrived a lively Alternative Styles Forum was in full swing and I sat in on several “hands-on” sessions on jazz, fiddling and improvisation. The next day a Studio Teachers’ Forum opened with sessions on aspects of string…

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There was much excitement following our most recent board meeting, held in Hartford, Connecticut. The Board had just completed reworking its “Ends” policies, the statements that define the global, long-term vision of the Association. These statements define benefits and recipients, answering the questions “What good?” exists and “For whom?” as a result of our organisation’s efforts. Because “Ends” statements describe a state of being, rather than list the things we do, they look much more generic than, say, a list of membership benefits. “Ends” policies are not expected to look glamorous or sexy, or sound snappy or catchy. They simply…

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I am happy to be writing to you from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, as your new Chair of the SAA Board of Directors. I have been a Suzuki violin teacher for 24 years and a “Suzuki Mum” for five years. My son Baussman is a Grade-One French Immersion student (Canadians can choose their schooling in either English or French). He is also a terrific little cellist (proud Mum speaking!) and a budding gymnast. Baussman has taught me many things. Since the time my husband and I adopted him at seven months of age, he has turned many of my notions about…

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