Flute

Plans are well underway for the SAA 15th Biennial Conference, May 24-28, 2012, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mark your calendar! Don’t miss our 40th anniversary!

SAA Conferences are sentinel events for teachers, parents, and students. Expect enlightening sessions on Suzuki philosophy and pedagogy in general and for each instrument. Learn to run your studio and work with parents. Become adept in new technologies. Enjoy special topics of Bach and outreach. Share and learn from colleagues. Listen to master classes, performing ensembles, the 40th anniversary Kaleidoscope Concert, Suzuki Youth Orchestras, and professional artists. Connect with the Suzuki community. See old friends, and…

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Sponsored by Robertson & Sons Violins

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.

Read more of Kaleidoscope Concert »

Photo by Michiko Yurko

2008 Conference attendees. Front row: Dee Martz, and Joanne Martin. Back row: Delaine Fedson, Mary Kay Waddington, and Michiko Yurko.

Plan now to attend the 2012 SAA 15th Biennial Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota!

The conference will be held May 25-28, 2012, and will feature valuable sessions for teachers, teacher trainers, and parents—not to mention Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas (SYOA) and other exciting events for your students!

Read on for many more reasons to save the dates in 2012.

Read more of 2012 Plans »

Dear Suzuki Flute colleagues,

We have work to do! Many of us have longed for updated recordings… some of us for a very long time. We would like to be able to make that happen, but there is a preliminary step that needs to be taken care of to ensure that our recordings reflect our real expectations for our students. For this preliminary step, the Suzuki flute community needs YOUR help.

*Our printed materials have many errors which need to be corrected, including missing dots or accidentals as well as wrong notes. If you are frustrated by articulations…

Read more of Suzuki Flute Update »

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.

Read more of Flute Dreams Take Flight »

Previously, I was living in NYC and teaching at the Greenwich Suzuki Academy in Greenwich, CT. This school has an amazing community and I had some really special families and students that I had become very attached to…

Then I met the man of my dreams, who happens to be German. So in June of 2008, I moved to Berlin hoping that I’d be able to have great students again one day but was nervous about the language and the logistics of getting a new studio together. There is a German-American public school…

Read more of German-American Suzuki Flute »

In addition to master classes and a session “Good Vibrations” by Flute Clinician, Bart Feller, Flute Teachers will be able to take part in sessions by Sasha Garver, Jane Lenoir, Stephanie Pedretti, Noelle Perrin, Kelly Williamson and Mary Halverson Waldo. Teachers will have opportunities to observe Flute Choir rehearsals with Sasha Garver and participate in round-table discussions and a lunch get-together.

–Susan Friedlander, Coordinator

Teachers of violin, viola, guitar, flute, and recorder are encouraged to bring instruments. If possible, bring cellos and basses too. (We’ll try to borrow extras cellos.) Some informal chamber music playing opportunities are possible on Saturday evening.

The Edmonton Suzuki Flute and Recorder Society used their annual Winter Recital in January 2010 as a fundraiser for earthquake relief in Haiti.

They raised $226.50 with a silver collection at the door, but with the matching grant for donations from the Canadian government, that means $453 will be going to the Red Cross.

Kathleen Schoen
Music Director, ESFRS

Dear Suzuki Flute Colleagues,

We are inquiring if you have any students who might qualify for the Flute Masterclass at the upcoming 14th biennial SAA Conference, May 28-31 in Minneapolis. We had a recent cancellation and need a student at the Book 6 (or equivalent) or above. If so, complete the online application and mail the DVD audition video of their masterclass piece to the SAA office. Applications and DVDs must be received by February 28.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Susan Friedlander, Flute Coordinator, at [javascript protected email address] .

Thank you in advance for your…

Read more of Flute Masterclass Student Needed for Conference »

Me gustaría en estas pequeñas líneas poder plasmar, aunque resulte muy difícil, la experiencia vivida en el Festival Internacional de Flauta Traversa Método Suzuki de la Patagonia Argentina, realizado en octubre pasado.

Ante todo quiero dejar expresado mi agradecimiento a la Prof. Kelly Williamson (Canadá) y al Prof. Fernando Formigo (Argentina), ya que han dado su mayor esfuerzo para realizar tan importante evento, logrando que el Método Suzuki de Flauta Traversa llegue cada vez más cerca de la comunidad y se afiance con mayor fuerza…

Read more of Festival Internacional de Flauta Traversa Suzuki, Patagonia Argentina, Octubre 2009 »

Student participants are still needed for the following events at the 2010 SAA Conference next May:

• Bass: SYOA 1, SYOA 2, Bass Choir
• Flute: Masterclass, Performing Ensemble
• Guitar: Masterclass, Non-Preformed Chamber
• Recorder: Masterclass, Recorder Consort, Non-Preformed Chamber

Applications are being accepted until November 30.

See the student participation criteria and online student application.

Student participants are still needed for the following events at the 2010 SAA Conference next May.

• Bass: SYOA 1, SYOA 2, Bass Choir
• Flute: Masterclass, Performing Ensemble
• Guitar: Masterclass, Non-Preformed Chamber
• Recorder: Masterclass, Recorder Consort, Non-Preformed Chamber
• Piano: Concerto performance (due December 15)

Applications are being accepted until November 30.

See the student participation criteria and online student application.

The 14th biennial SAA Conference will “feature our own” distinguished SAA members, friends, and former Suzuki students who are now young artist-teacher professionals as our special clinicians for the instrument master classes. True to the theme of the Conference, the format of these master classes will include both team teaching and solo instruction. The young artist clinicians will also be involved in side-by-side chamber music coachings and perform a selection on the Young Artist Recital. Read further about the impressive list being showcased for 2010!

Bass: Paul Sharpe, Nicole Castleberry
Cello: Gilda Barston, Amy Barston
Flute: Bart Feller, Sara Traficante
Guitar: William Kossler,…

Read more of Conference Master Class Clinicians »

Check out this great article about the Great Lakes Institute in Hamilton, Ontario:

Soothing Sidewalk Serenade

JEFF MAHONEY
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Jul 14, 2009

For a magical hour every July, pedestrians and motorists along King Street West in Hamilton feel a breeze of flute, recorder and violin to pacify jangled urban nerves.

Call it an annual flute shot. The music is a charm against the daily hustle, deadlines and idling engines at stoplights, with smiles conjured onto the faces of passersby.

This is a tradition of the Great Lakes Suzuki Flute and Recorder…

Read more of Sidewalk Serenade: Great Lakes Suzuki Flute & Recorder Institute »

Last February the NIOK Quartet, a flute quartet of the Suzuki studio of Sibylle Marquardt at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, won at the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto and went on to perform at the provincial level in Peterborough, Ontario. The flutists, Nicoli Dos Santos, Isabela Dos Santos, Oona Nadler, and Katrina Hueniken, who have played together in Sibylle’s Suzuki group for 6 to 10 years, had a great time performing together and enjoyed the new experience at the Festival.

Jeanne Baxtresser had been Principal Flute with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for three seasons when I was chosen to be in her first class of students at McGill University. Even though she was only a few years older than us, we were all in awe of her! And although I now consider her my friend and colleague, I have never lost the wonder I first felt listening to her beautiful tone and expressive playing.

I learned many things from Jeanne, both tangible and intangible. She played a lot in my lessons, and I can still hear…

Read more of Interview with Jeanne Baxtresser »

I would like to publicly thank Prof. Laurel Ann Maurer for sharing—with me and my Suzuki flute students—a wonderful day of teaching and music in Argentina.

Prof. Laurel Ann Maurer has shared generously with us her broad experience as a flutist and as a Suzuki Flute teacher in a workshop called “Jornada de Flauta Traversa Suzuki”. The meeting was held in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday 28th of March. Participants were the Suzuki flute Students from La Plata, level 1…

Read more of Jornada de Flauta Traversa Suzuki in Argentina »

Thirty-one flute students from five studios in the Denver area performed on the February 7, 2009 program with Denver Pops Orchestra. Accompanied by the orchestra, the students performed two J.S. Bach Minuets, #15 G major from Suzuki Flute Book 1 and G minor Minuet from Suzuki Flute Book 2; the A minor Minuet by Telemann from the Suite in A minor; portions of the Carnival of Venice by P.A. Genin as found in Suzuki Flute Books 2 & 7; and then joined the orchestra in an arrangement of Ravel’s Bolero for the closing number. The students ranged in age from…

Read more of Suzuki Flute students perform with Denver Pops Orchestra »

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.

Read more of Bogota Suzuki Festival – June/July 2008 »