This month’s SAA Volunteer Spotlight features Patricia and Michael Brown, Suzuki parents and active volunteers at the Blue Lake Suzuki Family Camp.
Tell us about yourselves—where you’re from, how you became involved with Suzuki, anything else you’d like to share.
We are from Haslett, Michigan. We became involved with Suzuki when our oldest two children began taking lessons twelve years ago. We had a wonderful teacher, Clarke Bonton, who truly embodied the philosophy of Suzuki. All five of our children have and still are involved with our local Suzuki program. Our oldest daughter, Hannah, is now a freshman at Michigan State University majoring in music education.
I started taking violin lessons at the age of five. Since I played my first piece of sight reading, I knew that it was not going to be easy for me.
Sight reading has always been a challenge for me because when I make a mistake, I naturally pause or go back and try to fix it. This is a problem, especially when I audition for orchestras. Sometimes, there are high notes, odd key signatures, and tricky rhythms in the short sight reading selections for orchestra auditions. These are usually the reasons for my mistakes.…
My mama plays violin and my papa plays violin and piano, and my sister plays piano and violin. But my family is bigger than that!
In piano I have Mrs. Lee as a teacher. She is like a Music Aunt. Her teacher was Mr. Thompson, who studied at Dr. Suzuki’s Matsumoto institute in Japan. My violin teacher is Mrs. Payton, and she is like another Music Aunt. She studied with Mrs. Schrieber who also studied in Matsumoto with Dr. Suzuki. And my third Music Aunt is…
When I was eight, my mom asked me and my little sister if we wanted to learn how to play the violin. I was a little nervous, but at the same time I was extremely excited because I had wanted to learn the violin. Even though I started out with a great interest and excitement, there were a few times when I felt frustration.
The year 2009 was the most traumatic but the most thankful year in my ten-year life and will be unforgettable for the rest of my life. My family had a terrible…
One of my most memorable Suzuki moments happened at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Suzuki Institute. On a sunny afternoon during repertoire class in the Pavane, we had a very special visitor. The Pavane is a rustic rehearsal building with a cement floor, and no windows or doors. As we were playing on of our pieces, a medium-sized brown snake slithered right into the building! We all stopped playing because we were really excited! Some frightened people got up on their chairs, and parents were frantically taking pictures.
It’s August. All my students know what that means—it’s time to plan for the Halloween group recital. It wasn’t always this way—my violin teacher friend, Danielle Charboneau, deserves all the credit. When…
Growing up in the rural Kithoka community in central Kenya, Bishop Lawi Imathiu didn’t have the opportunity to go to high school. There were no secondary day schools in this rural area outside the town of Meru, just prohibitively costly boarding schools. He sought his own education and went on to attain several degrees, but back in Kithoka, educational opportunities were still thin on the ground.…
This new column will feature a variety of brief tips for Suzuki teachers. To submit your own tip of 150 or fewer words, please email [javascript protected email address] with “Grace Notes” in the subject line.
The following tips were presented during the session “Great Ideas for Your Studio: Mini-Presentations” at the 9th SAA Leadership Retreat in May 2011.
Correct posture is a key element of playing with ease and producing a beautiful tone. At the first lesson, after you have shown the child and parent the best posture, ask them to take a picture of the student during home practice and bring it to…
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…
The title of Kay Collier Sloan’s fantastic book They’re Rarely Too Young and Never Too Old to Twinkle was put to the test in January 2009. I was working as an administrative assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Science, which houses…
When I arrived at St. Joseph’s National School in the north of Dublin, Ireland, early one morning about five years ago, I had very little idea what to expect. Dorothy Conaghan, whom I had met a few years earlier while teaching at a Suzuki workshop in France, had invited me to visit this school in the economically challenged district of Ballymun. By the end of an unforgettable day of music, I knew that I definitely wanted to find a way to return, again and again.
At eight in the morning, Dorothy and Brian Clarke, the charismatic principal of St. Joseph’s, introduced…
The Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) is celebrating its fortieth anniversary, a time to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of Suzuki education in the Americas. Hundreds of thousands of students and families have been touched by the teachings of Shinichi Suzuki. Moreover, instrumental music education has seen a radical shift in philosophy.
Forty years ago, music educators had low expectations for most children, with special attention reserved for the so-called gifted or talented students. Today, largely because of the influence of Suzuki teachers, it is widely recognized that with excellent teaching and support, all children can play in tune, make…
It’s been a long time coming. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that I might be one until relatively recently. And to actually take on the role and don the mantel, to embrace the responsibility was like diving into the ocean—breathtaking and frightening at first, but finally invigorating and refreshing. A leader was emerging.
I wasn’t drawn to leadership. In fact, I spent most of my elementary years observing, only participating when called upon to do so. Perhaps it stems from growing up in a large family of mostly older siblings. I loved school, though, and thrived in an environment where I was constantly challenged to learn new things. Shortly before high school graduation, I inadvertently stumbled upon a college recommendation letter that my principal had written for me, one which I was not supposed to see. I did not resist the temptation to read it. He spoke highly of me except to say that I did not exhibit leadership capabilities. The slight stung at first, but over time, I reconciled myself to my perceived lot in life as the perennial support person. It was a comfortable place, and I relished the ease of it.
In celebration of its 40th anniversary and over 50 years of Suzuki education in the Americas, the SAA proudly announces a very special event, the Kaleidoscope Concert. A unique feature of the 15th SAA Conference in Minneapolis, the concert will take place on Friday evening, May 25, 2012.
The Kaleidoscope Concert will showcase student performers from all Suzuki instrument areas who have achieved a high level of development at a young age. In addition to outstanding musical performances, the program will feature a special guest host and interviews with the students. The event will be presented to conference attendees, aired through various media and recorded for future use by the SAA.
The SAA is setting up a library of excellent student performances in all instruments/levels. Audition materials submitted for the Kaleidoscope Concert may also be considered as additions to the archival library.
Plans are underway to make the SAA 2012 Conference a high point in a year of celebration, marking the 40th anniversary of SAA. Building on reverence for the past and delight with the present, we hope to lay the groundwork for an inspiring future.
The 2012 Conference will take place May 24-28, in Minneapolis, MN.
Save the dates—SAA biennial Conferences are not to be missed!
With sadness we are sharing the news that Louise Behrend passed away August 3, 2011.
In the fall a memorial concert will be planned by the 40-year-old music school Miss Behrend founded, The School for Strings in New York. We will post information about that event on the website when it becomes available.
Miss Behrend was an early Suzuki method pioneer who will be greatly missed by colleagues and former students throughout the Americas.
Cellos will be available for use at the conference for a small fee. Please contact Marilyn George if you need one. Deadline for cello requests: March 31, 2012. [javascript protected email address]
