Kelly Williamson

Fernando Formigo and flute group from Patagonia, Argentina in front of a billboard advertising their public concert in Asuncion, Paraguay

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.

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I am really looking forward to the Virtual Leadership Retreat, and hope that many of my colleagues will participate. Given the high costs of traveling to conferences, the possibility of using technology in this way is a real boost to our community. To be able to virtually “attend” conferences for a nominal fee, from home and at a time that is convenient for each person, must be practical as well as cost-effective for everyone. Could there be an easier way to recharge our collective batteries?!

The main drawback to a virtual conference is the lack of face-to-face interaction and sharing of…

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For the first time, flute training courses were offered at the Bogota Suzuki Festival this past June. Ten participants, all from Bogota, attended the Book 1 class. For the Book 2 class, three of these participants continued into the second week of the festival, and they were joined by Laura Nino and Tarcicio Andrade, who studied Book 1 at the Lima Suzuki Festival in January 2007 and 2008, respectively. Gloria Millan and Diana Bettin had previously taken Book 2 training in Lima (with David Gerry and with Kelly Williamson), and chose to attend the class for a second time in Bogota. And finally, three teachers, Gloria Millan, Diana Bettin, and Juan Manuel Acosta Salazar, participated in the Book 4 class, all for the first time. It was fantastic to have such a large group of teachers, all with excellent playing skills and diverse experiences, come to share with the Suzuki flute community.

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Flute Books 2 and 3 were offered for returning teachers, including participants from Peru, Colombia, and Chile, and Book 1 was offered for new Suzuki flute teachers from Peru and Colombia. A new course, Introduction to Flute, was also offered for one teacher who is interested in taking Book 1 next year, but who needed to acquire basic skills on the instrument. As is usual at the Peru festival, all courses save Book 1 and the new introductory course include ten additional hours of “teaching strategies”, in which teachers have the opportunity to give lessons to children participating in the festival, and explore opportunities to develop their skills using the teaching descriptors developed by the SAA.

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The 5th Suzuki Music Festival of Buenos Aires took place from September 14th to 23rd, 2007. For the first time at the Buenos Aires festival, there were teacher workshops in flute, thanks in great part to the efforts of Fernando Formigo, who brought a large group of his students to the festival two years ago to give a workshop. Two teacher classes for flute were offered: the Book 2 class had six participants, and the Book 1 class had seven. Teacher participants came from all over Argentina (Patagonia, Bahia Blanca, La Plata, Cordoba, Rosario, and Jujuy as well as Buenos Aires). Two teachers from the January 2007 Book 1 class in Lima also came to Buenos Aires for Book 2, from Colombia and Chile.

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Karibu means “welcome” in Kiswahili, the official language of Tanzania.

Suzuki music in Arusha

Kimbra Dixon is the woman behind the Suzuki violin program in Arusha, Tanzania, which now numbers 65 students in the international program, and 15 in the outreach program. She started the program by encouraging other parents to take interest in the Suzuki method, then by inviting clinicians to give workshops in Arusha as regularly as the group was able to. Over the last seven years, workshop clinicians have included Michele George, Dominick and Linda Fiore, Michelle Denning-James, and Laura Nerenberg. When the program grew large…

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The very first Suzuki flute workshop was held in Arusha, Tanzania this March. The workshop was held over two weeks and included a flute care clinic and a final celebration concert. Eleven flutists of varying ages participated, four of whom began with Kelly at the workshop. The focus was on exploring group class possibilities with a group of flutists diverse ages and levels; the Arusha group ranged in age from 10 years to 50-odd, and in level from beginner (no experience) to intermediate players. Kimbra Dixon, who has spearheaded the establishment of a Suzuki violin school in Arusha as well as the flute workshop, has dreams of one day having an international Suzuki institute in Tanzania.

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Lima, Peru, January 8-27, 2007

One of our most inspiring participants was Cecilia Zarate, a former Suzuki piano and violin student from Cordoba, Argentina, home to one of the oldest Suzuki programs in Latin America. Now a professional violinist and teacher, she had studied as a child with Eduardo Ludueña, now Latin America’s newest violin teacher trainer. Cecilia had come to Peru for Nancy Lokken’s course on “How to Teach Musicality,” and for Roxana del Barco’s and Lucha del Rio’s course on “Early Childhood Music.” At the Festival, Cecilia offered to play in the Teachers’ Orchestra that would accompany the student soloists. She asked me to give her the program a little early, a day before the first rehearsal. I had to tell her that it hadn’t yet been set. The program was announced on the morning of the first rehearsal. As she sat in the orchestra that afternoon, during the rests she lightly ran her fingers over her Braille transcriptions of the music. Afterwards, she apologized for occasionally confusing the bowings. A few days later, Cecilia played the entire orchestral concert repertoire from memory. Her serenity and joy was an example for us all.

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