Meeting Reports

Present: Frank, Mary Lou, Bill, Dave, Andrea, Seth, Mychal

Trainers Report from the Boston Conference

Mychal says it was great, and the other committee members who attended agree. Mychal mentions that meeting Mr. Toyoda was a particular pleasure. Dave says it was great and inspiring. Mary Lou mentions that the sense of Japanese philosophy and culture coming from the Japanese teachers was very affecting. Just the bow itself had deep meaning, and the respect it engendered spread through the rest of the things going on there.

The guitar trainers at the conference got a lot done on the new Guitar Teacher Trainer Syllabus, with attention to each book in turn. A higher playing level will be required for trainees at each higher level of teacher training. The syllabus is now being finalized and email exchanges are being made to get this done. The syllabus in intended as an ISA syllabus, not just SAA. One suggestion being considered is to have different books to be read for each training level, for example, Nurtured by Love for Book 1, and Ability Development From Age Zero for Book 2.

Progress on the Book 8 and 9 Recordings

Frank says that he has been sending in edit requests. The committee expresses its thanks to Frank for the work he is doing on the recordings.

Argentina/South American Developments

Mary Lou reports that many more trainees in South America are now joining the SAA.

Present at this meeting:

Frank Longay, Andy Lafrienere, Seth Himmelhoch, Mary Lou Roberts, Andrea Cannon

New Teacher Trainer

Congratulations again to Joe Pecoraro who is now a Teacher Trainer.

Progress on Recordings of Volumes 8 and 9

Frank Longay traveled to Los Angeles to supervise the recordings of Volume 8 and 9 at Penguin Recording. Bill Kanengiser was easy and cooperative to work with and was receptive to ideas. It was great to work with such an artist. Editing is now in place and an ETA of the finished product is expected by the first of the year.

Guitar Foundation of America…

Read more of SAA Guitar Committee Conference Call Notes, July 26, 2009 »

The entire Committee was present for the call: Andrea Cannon, Mychal Gendron, Seth Himmelhoch, Bill Kossler, Andy Lafreniere, Frank Longay, David Madsen, Mary Lou Roberts

Welcome to the Guitar Committee new members Mary Lou Roberts and Mychal Gendron!

Agenda

1. The SAA Virtual Retreat online during April
2. Suzuki Guitar at GFA
3. Continuation of the printed newsletter
4. South American progress report on Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Paraguay, and Peru, Mexico
5. Suzuki Guitar in Brazil
6. Suzuki Guitar in Japan
7. Additional miscellaneous topics

Discussion

1. The SAA Virtual Retreat online during April

   Andrea offered the following information concerning the Retreat:

   • the deadline for registration has…

Read more of SAA Guitar Committee Conference Call Notes, March 22, 2009 »

1. Work continuing re: flutist on Honorary Board
2. Committee name: Flute Community Council
   Purpose:
   • to foster community
   • to be a sounding board for flute issues and take on projects as appropriate
3. Conference: exploring possibility of a Council panel/session and updates from flute teachers throughout the Americas
4. Flute pages on SAA website: ongoing work to improve content & ease of use
5. Supplementary Flute Repertoire website is up and running: www.suzukifluterep.com
6. Mixed-Level Ensembles publication
   • exploring paper and web-based options
   • copyright issues are a big consideration and potential expense

Festival Report

Frank Longay reports that the International Suzuki Festival planning is going well. He is encouraging teachers from out of town to bring their students and make the festival more diverse. Dave Madsen and Andy Lafreneniere are organizing kids to come.

Book 7, 9 Report

Frank Longay reports that the revisions are done for Book 9’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra and that he is starting in on Capricho Arabe. Bill Kossler and Seth Himmelhoch finished going over the details of the Book 9 Sor Opus 9. The recording for the Book 7 CD is still in progress, George Sakellariou is the guitarist. The Committee is looking to find a player for Book 9, several suggestions are made.

Committee Membership

Frank Longay suggests that the Committee should start revising Book 1 after Book 9 is done. Previous discussions concerning committee membership included the idea of rotating membership among guitar teacher trainers. The decision was made that the current membership of 5 was manageable for conference calls, but that more members would make the calls unwieldy. Frank Longay wants to rotate off the committee after Book 1 revision work is done.

SAA Conference Update

At this point there are 3 soloists and one ensemble are set to play for Ben Verdery. There is a session set for Ben V. and Ben needs a topic for his talk.

Session topic suggestions for Ben include 1) how to support students who play advanced repertoire (psychological support) and 2) favorite teaching techniques, what does he rely on? Andrea Cannon did an interview with Ben and a topic came up which excited him, namely balancing all his three jobs, teacher, composer, player. All SAA Guitar Committee members plan to do their best to attend this conference.

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
September 28-30, 2007
Boulder, CO

Members present: Pam Brasch, Lamar Blum, Teri Einfeldt, Christie Felsing, Gail Lange, Ruth Engle Larner, Dave Madsen, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Carol Ourada, Diane Schroeder, Beth Titterington, and Betty Wahlig.

The meeting was called to order at 9:20 a.m. by Diane Schroeder, Chair.

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, September 28-30, 2007 »

The Flute Committee met by conference call on Sunday, Sept. 9 regarding our commitment to increase the visibility of Suzuki flute. We discussed the following needs:

1. We discussed the use of the current Suzuki Flute CD recordings and want to hear more from Suzuki flute teachers about what recordings they use with their Suzuki students.
2. An important addition to the SAA honorary board is to have a prominent flutist visible.
3. We all realize the need to have published collection of ensembles used for Suzuki students.
4. We want to add a curved head flute to the SAA publicity posters.

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
April 12-14, 2007

Members present: Pam Brasch, Lamar Blum, Teri Einfeldt, Christie Felsing, Gail Lange, Dave Madsen, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Dee Martz, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Paul Salerni, and Betty Wahlig. Late arrival: Diane Schroeder. Absent: Beth Titterington.

The meeting was called to order at 9:25 a.m. by Paul Salerni, Chair.

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, April 12-14, 2007 »

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
SAA Headquarters, Boulder, CO
January 12-14, 2007

Members present: Pam Brasch, Lamar Blum, Teri Einfeldt, Christie Felsing, Gail Lange, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Dee Martz, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Paul Salerni, Diane Schroeder, Beth Titterington and Betty Wahlig. Late arrival: Dave Madsen

The meeting was called to order at 8:55 a.m. on January 12 by Paul Salerni, Chair.

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, January 12-14, 2007 »

All members were present.

The first topic was a publication update. It is reported that Book 8 is going into production. It should be on the shelves in a couple of weeks. The Bach minuets have been fixed according to our recent discussions.

George Sakellariou will be re-recording the Vivaldi concerto on 1/7/07. Prominent members of major orchestras participated in the project. The committee will review the previous version to make suggestions about tempo and performance details in the new version. The committee will respond with its comments ASAP.

The committee is reviewing the SAA training syllabus. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

Several questions are raised concerning the screening of videos for Institute workshops. Is there an appeal process for rejected videos? Who are the screeners? It is suggested that there should be an appeal process for those whose videos have been initially rejected.

Good news! Ben Verdery has agreed to serve on the honorary board.

Our next call is scheduled for 2/4/07 at 8:00 EST

Members of the Suzuki Guitar community who have concerns that they would like to see discussed at SAA Guitar Committee conference calls should contact one of the committee members.

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
The Hampton Inn, Ithaca, NY
September 14-16, 2006

Members present: Pam Brasch, Lamar Blum, Christie Felsing, Gail Lange, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Dave Madsen, Dee Martz, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Paul Salerni, Diane Schroeder, Beth Titterington and Betty Wahlig

The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. on September 14 by Paul Salerni, Chair.

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, September 14-16, 2006 »

The subject of committee function and organization is discussed and it is decided that the committee does not need to change now. According to SAA, we can do what we want to within reason.

William Kossler submits these points concerning committee membership:

1. Membership limited to 6.
2. A degree in music is required (this can be overlooked by majority vote of the committee members).
3. Set up a rotation schedule. 2 committee members would move off the committee in September for the period of one year. Committee size is limited to 6; therefore every 4th year 2 people will have a one-year break.

Some…

Read more of SAA Guitar Committee Conference Call Notes, May 7, 2006 »

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
Courtyard by Marriott, Arlington Heights, IL
April 7-9, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 8:59 a.m. by Paul Salerni, Chair.

Members present: Pam Brasch, Teri Einfeldt, Christie Felsing, Gail Lange, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Dave Madsen, Dee Martz, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Paul Salerni, Diane Schroeder, Betty Wahlig, and Carol Waldvogel

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, April 7-9, 2006 »

SAA Board of Directors Meeting
Homewood Suites, Boulder, CO
January 13-15, 2006

Present: Pam Brasch, Teri Einfeldt, Christie Felsing, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Dave Madsen, Dee Martz, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Paul Salerni, Betty Wahlig, Carol Waldvogel

The meeting was called to order on Friday January 13 at 9:10 a.m. by Paul Salerni, Chair. Betty was welcomed to the Board.

Read more of Board Meeting Minutes, January 13-15, 2006 »

Refer by last names; all present except Andy.

Book 5 Update

Longay wants to get started updating Book 5. He will send materials to the committee to get the ball rolling.

Guitars—finding better small instruments

Longay is getting advanced youngsters who need higher quality instruments. He says if there is someone willing to pay for it there should be a fine instrument available for them. He says Eduardo Moreno Moore has a better quality small guitar he made for his daughter and he is sending it to him as a sample.

Recordings for teacher trainee status

Question: should we have three levels of…

Read more of SAA Guitar Committee Conference Call Notes, November 7, 2004 »