I have had the good fortune to live for two extended periods in Italy, my ancestral homeland. Along side the joys one commonly associates with Italy—beautiful landscape, great food, amazing art, etc.—I was most affected by Italy’s penchant for maximizing human contact. Italian cities are designed to funnel their inhabitants to a central meeting place, and Italians are simply in the habit of gathering regularly in those centers to meet and converse with their friends. I had much more success reaching my Italian friends by simply going out for a walk than I did by making a phone call.

This inherited taste for in-your-face personal contact may account for my great attraction to the Suzuki method. What a brilliant stroke it was for Dr. Suzuki to add one more element to the teaching model! Including the parent in the teacher-student relationship significantly increases the possibilities for close educational and personal interaction. In addition to the traditional teacher-student and student-teacher vectors, he made five more vectors possible—teacher-parent, parent-teacher, parent-student, student-parent, teacher-parent-student. Other practices that have grown from the Suzuki philosophy—group classes, play-ins, institutes, conferences, etc.—are also great human interaction maximizers. The realization of Dr. Suzuki’s inspired vision of an entire world brought together by music would represent a pinnacle of human connection.

Since becoming an SAA Board officer, I have had several glimpses into the growing reach of that Suzuki connection. A few days ago, my composition class received a quickly arranged visit from a group of 17 Danish music students who were spending a few weeks in the United States studying jazz education in the American university system. As we conversed, I discovered that their professor, a prominent Danish jazz musician, had started his musical life as a Suzuki violinist and that his sister was also a Suzuki-trained professional orchestral violinist. This Suzuki bond helped ease and warm the conversation, and I discovered, much to my satisfaction, that the Danish musical community held Suzuki training in high esteem.

As Dr. Suzuki predicted, connecting people through music helps them develop beautiful human hearts. That generous Suzuki heart was much in evidence this fall. In response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, SAA set up a relief fund for Suzuki families and programs affected by the hurricane. Individual and programs from all over the Americas designed and executed various events (concerts, play-a-thons, practice-a-thons, etc.) to raise money for the fund. To date, over $29,000 has been donated. An SAA committee will be charged with determining the most effective way to distribute that support.

SAA also conducted its Annual Fund drive during November and December. With the help of a beautiful incentive CD featuring performances by world-class Suzuki-trained performers and a series of personal phone calls from SAA volunteers, the Association raised over $28,000 by early January. Donations continue to come in at a brisk pace, and we hope that your continued generosity will help us reach our goal of raising $40,000 through this fund drive. So, if you haven’t already donated, please consider a pledge of at least $75 so that you can help realize the SAA vision of excellent and accessible Suzuki education and also receive our marvelous incentive CD.

One final plea for contact and generosity: Every other year, the entire Suzuki family of the Americas (students, teachers, parents) is invited to come together for a Conference. This year, as has been the case in for the last two Conferences, we are meeting in Minneapolis. Please come to Minneapolis and enjoy the concerts, lectures, talks, master classes, dinners, etc., but most of all, come to Minneapolis to make musical and social contact with many of your fellow beautiful Suzuki hearts. If you are a school or program director, please encourage your young teachers to attend, and if you see that it would be a financial burden for them, find them a scholarship. I am looking forward to seeing you there.