Interview

Articles 1–14 of 14

SAA Volunteer Spotlight: Patricia & Michael Brown

September 14, 2011 / Topics: Interview, Volunteer Spotlight / by Michael Brown, Patricia Brown

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.

SAA Volunteer Spotlight: Gabriel Villasurda

July 14, 2011 / Topics: Interview, Volunteer Spotlight / by Gabriel Villasurda

This new Suzuki E-News feature will spotlight a different SAA volunteer or group of volunteers each month. We’re grateful for their contributions to the organization, and they deserve recognition!

This month’s SAA Volunteer Spotlight features Gabriel Villasurda, a moderator of the SAA Discussion Forum, along with May’s featured volunteer, Jennifer Visick.

Gabriel Villasurda is a retired school orchestra director of forty-two years and has a private studio of eight students.

He got involved with Suzuki and began training in the 1970s, and completed his training in England in the ‘80s. He also travelled to Japan to observe Dr. Suzuki teach in Matsumoto.

Mr. Villasurda volunteers for the SAA “for the common good,” he said. “The world runs on volunteer labor. It’s important to do one’s part.”

To nominate a volunteer to be featured in the SAA Volunteer Spotlight, email [javascript protected email address].

SAA Volunteer Spotlight: Susan Gagnon

June 14, 2011 / Topics: Interview, Volunteer Spotlight / by Susan Gagnon

This new Suzuki E-News feature will spotlight a different SAA volunteer or group of volunteers each month. We’re grateful for their contributions to the organization, and they deserve recognition! To nominate a volunteer to be featured in the SAA Volunteer Spotlight, email [javascript protected email address].

This month’s SAA Volunteer Spotlight features Susan Gagnon, chamber music coordinator for the 2010 SAA Conference.

Tell us about yourself—your studio, your background, and how you became involved with Suzuki.

I have been teaching using the Suzuki method since 1983. I took my first teacher training course at the Guelph Suzuki Institute in 1983. At that time they only offered violin training, but three cellists had enrolled for the course, so they had Annette Costanzi teach us. I have since taken training with Gilda Barston, Tanya Carey, Carey Beth Hockett, Rick Mooney, Carol Tarr, Jean Dexter and Catherine Walker. I became a teacher trainer in 2001. I am the Suzuki program department head at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the current Chair of the Suzuki Association of Ontario.

SAA Volunteer Spotlight: Jennifer Visick

May 20, 2011 / Topics: Interview, Volunteer Spotlight / by Jennifer Visick

This month’s SAA Volunteer Spotlight features Jennifer Visick, a moderator of the Suzuki Xchange, the SAA’s chat community.

Tell us about yourself—your studio, your background, and how you became involved with Suzuki.

I grew up taking Suzuki violin lessons because a friend of my mother’s convinced her to enroll me at age three and a half. I made the switch to study viola when I was in high school, ended up as a BM viola performance major in college and started teaching music at that time. Soon after graduating, I took a Suzuki teacher training course, which really opened my eyes to all the “behind-the-scenes” planning and work that went into the Suzuki lessons I had taken as a child. I got a lot out of the part of Suzuki teacher training that involved observing other teachers, and I continued taking Suzuki training courses whenever I could.

Interview with Jeanne Baxtresser

June 16, 2009 / ASJ 37.3 / Topics: Flute, Honorary Board, Interview / by Jeanne Baxtresser, Vicki Blechta

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…

Interview with Martin Beaver

May 10, 2009 / ASJ 37.2 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview / by Martin Beaver, Gail Lange

*Martin Beaver, one of the more recent additions to the SAA Honorary Board, is a Canadian, who studied violin with Victor Danchenko in Toronto and later with Josef Gingold in Indiana and also Henryk Szeryng. After winning many awards and distinctions, including a Silver Medal (1993) at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, Martin served on the faculties of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the University of British Columbia before joining the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.…

Interview with Senator Robert F. Bennett

December 10, 2008 / ASJ 37.1 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview / by Robert Bennett, Julie Newton

The Honorable Senator Robert F. Bennet with his daughter, Julie Newton, and Joyce, his wife.

What projects are you involved with at the moment?

As a U.S. Senator I am currently involved in health care, issues of free trade, and other matters in the political arena. I have no current music projects with which I am involved; however I am a member of the National Council of the Arts, appointed as a result of my activities on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts. I am a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and as such have been involved in funding the National Endowment for the Arts ever since I came to the Senate in 1993.

Interview with William Preucil, Jr.

October 8, 2008 / ASJ 36.4 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview, Violin / by Domenic Salerni

Photo by Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra

At the time that the new Suzuki violin recordings appeared on our Suzuki stage, Domenic Salerni, a student of William Preucil, Jr. at the Cleveland Institute of Music, was asked by the SAA Board to interview Mr. Preucil, the recording artist. Mr. Preucil, Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchesta, is also a member of the SAA Honorary Board, which in fact was the original reason to conduct the interview. SAA has been conducting interviews with all members of the Honorary Board; our readers have no doubt enjoyed coming to know these extraordinary individuals who support Dr. Suzuki’s legacy.

Meet the Cavani Quartet

July 10, 2008 / ASJ 36.3 / Topics: Chamber Music, Honorary Board, Interview / by Kirsten Docter, Annie Fullard, Kimberly Meier-Sims, Merry Peckham, Mari Sato

Photo by Christian Steiner

Annie Fullard, Violin
Mari Sato, Violin
Kirsten Docter, Viola
Merry Peckham, Cello

It was a pleasure to interview the Cavani String Quartet for the SAA Board’s series “Meet Our Honorary Board Members.” We had an engaging hour filled with intellectual conversation, passion towards music and music education, as well as tons of laughter. This is a quartet that lives its craft in all aspects of life. The Sato Center for Suzuki Studies at CIM is proud to have their children enrolled in our program. Their enthusiasm for music and its impact on the world energizes all of us as we continue our daily routines of changing the world through music. I feel a renewed energy for my mission as I write this interview. I hope that you will feel the same.

Benjamin Verdery: Master Guitarist, Teacher, and Composer

March 5, 2008 / ASJ 36.2 / Topics: Guitar, Honorary Board, Interview / by Andrea Cannon, Benjamin Verdery

Photo by Katie Coneary

What is your background with guitar? How old were you when you started and what attracted you to it?

It was the Beatles! I remember when I first heard “I Saw Her Standing There” it just hit me like a bolt of lightening! Love at first sight, once I saw a guitar, I just knew I had to have one. I was nine years old, and I started out playing a steel string guitar made of plywood. The action was really high, and I remember playing ‘til my fingers were bleeding.

Introducing Joseph Silverstein

March 5, 2008 / ASJ 36.2 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview, Violin / by Teri Einfeldt, Joseph Silverstein

What projects are you involved with at the moment?

At the moment I am actively involved guest conducting, soloing, playing chamber music, teaching, and just enjoying music as much as ever being an amateur in the very best sense of the word.

Introducing Entertainer Shoji Tabuchi

December 31, 2007 / ASJ 36.1 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview, Violin / by Shoji Tabuchi, Beth Titterington

What projects are you involved with at the moment?

I am currently recording two new CDs. The target date for the release of the first one is the first of September with, hopefully, the second one to follow soon thereafter. I am very excited about the music on both CDs and have been planning for both for quite some time. We are also making plans for our upcoming Christmas show which is a spectacular production.

Introducing Dr. Richard K. Miller

August 1, 2007 / ASJ 35.4 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview / by Christie Felsing

It is with great pleasure that I introduce SAA Honorary Board member Dr. Richard K. Miller, founding president of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA. A former Suzuki parent, Dr. Miller has incorporated many aspects of the Suzuki philosophy into the studies and daily life at Olin College.

Interview with Jung-Ho Pak

May 1, 2007 / ASJ 35.3 / Topics: Honorary Board, Interview / by Jung-Ho Pak, Paul Salerni

It is my pleasure to introduce new SAA Honorary Board member, Jung-Ho Pak. One of the most able and flexible conductors of his generation, Jung-Ho is a passionate advocate for reinvigorating classical musical audiences of all ages, and he works miracles inspiring young musicians to play in orchestra with both discipline and love.