Hearts That Sing in Every Language

Dr. Suzuki encouraged us to devote our efforts to educating children to have beautiful hearts and noble souls. Is there any greater calling than this?

Latin American Suzuki Ensemble in rehearsal.

The connections within our Suzuki community give us the resources to make this task easier. The SAA is a community representing great social, economic, and cultural diversity, and yet we all share the common language and love of music. We all have the potential to reach a level of proficiency to be able to share the gift of music with others. It is important to provide children with many opportunities to share these gifts in order to instill within them a nobleness of spirit.

Suzuki Americas 2014 will provide an excellent vehicle for bringing children together to share the beauty in their hearts. At the 2014 SAA Conference, children from all over Latin America will converge in Minneapolis to share their music in a Latin American Ensemble Concert. In addition, they will join forces with children from all over North America to perform music from many cultures. It will be recorded as a webcast so that children from all over the world will be able to play along in a gesture of global solidarity through music. Together, we will illustrate that talent has no national or cultural boundaries.

Every teacher can help orchestrate this development by providing a venue whereby our students can actively work to bring a Latin American student to the conference. There are many ways to accomplish this: organize a practice-a-thon or review-a-thon, play a benefit concert, or play for service clubs and share the message of your mission.

This will be an unparalleled experience for the participants. You may have read in the last journal or newsletter about the powerful and inspiring memories recounted by children who participated in the 2008 Conference Latin American Ensemble. Unfortunately, many of the children from Latin America, while they have worked very hard to develop their abilities, do not have the resources to afford the travel expenses to participate in the conference. Here’s where we come in. What a wonderful opportunity to develop the beautiful hearts and noble souls of our own students! Every teacher can help orchestrate this development by providing a venue whereby our students can actively work to bring a Latin American student to the conference. There are many ways to accomplish this: organize a practice-a-thon or review-a-thon, play a benefit concert, or play for service clubs and share the message of your mission. Think of the satisfaction it will bring to young hearts to know that they helped to provide an opportunity for their Latin American peers simply by sharing their musical gifts. Think of the joy and gratitude that will be experienced by the young musicians who have the opportunity to join together with their northern friends to live what otherwise could only have been a dream.

As we teach children to play in tune, let’s not forget to teach them to sing of peace, of kindness to one another, of generosity, and of gratitude. We are forging the hearts of the future.

Please send stories about your fundraising event and what it meant to your students to [javascript protected email address].

Susan Baer is a freelance violinist and violin teacher residing on Whidbey Island in Washington State. In her four decades of experience with the Suzuki method, Susan has run a thriving private studio, co-founded a Suzuki school, organized workshops, taught in a long-term training program, and served on the board of directors of her local foundation. Susan is in high demand as a Suzuki clinician and registered SAA violin teacher trainer. She has served as area coordinator for six SAA conferences, has been published in the SAA journal, and has served two terms on the SAA Board of Directors. Dr. Baer holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree, a Master of Music degree in violin performance, and a PhD in fine arts.

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