David Gerry Memorial Scholarship

The David Gerry Memorial Scholarship is awarded to an individual studying Suzuki flute teacher training.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, David earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in flute performance from the University of Toronto. In 1989 he received the Sir Ernest MacMillan bursary from the Canada Council for the Arts to support his eight-month residence in Matsumoto to study the Suzuki flute method with Mr. Toshio Takahashi and Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. He was appointed a teacher trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the International Suzuki Association in 1992.

In 2008, along with his doctoral advisor Laurel Trainor, he received an award from the Grammy Foundation to support a research project focusing on the Suzuki ECE program (SECE). This research earned him a PhD in music cognition from McMaster University’s Institute for Music and the Mind (MIMM). In addition to his work as a Suzuki flute teacher and trainer, he was Assistant Professor of Music Education at McMaster’s School of the Arts.

With his joyful and humorous approach, David inspired countless teachers, parents, and students around the globe. He was recognized with numerous teaching awards, including the 2014 “Excellence in Teaching” Award for the Humanities from the McMaster University Students’ Union, and a Creating Learning Community Award from the SAA in 2017. The latter was awarded in recognition of David’s “Unique Contributions to Suzuki Teaching”. He died at Dr. Bob Kemp hospice in Hamilton after a month-long battle with adenocarcinoma.