Buffalo Suzuki Strings 50th Anniversary

Celebrating Our Past
Pioneer Suzuki teacher and founder of Buffalo Suzuki
Strings, Mary Cay Neal, first met Dr. Shinichi Suzuki in
1969 at Syracuse University, where she attended her first
of many teacher training seminars with him. Dr. Suzuki
had recently introduced to the United States his Talent
Education philosophy for teaching very young children to
play the violin. Hundreds of high-level student musicians
in Japan were being taught using his ideas. Mary Cay was
captivated by this and by the pedagogical concept that all
children have musical potential if taught in a nurturing
way, developing the three components of the Suzuki Triangle: student, parent, and teacher.
Mary Cay began teaching Suzuki violin in 1969 from her
home in Buffalo, NY, with three students. As she developed
Buffalo Suzuki Strings, Mary Cay pursued many media
opportunities to spread the news about this new and very
special music education resource for the children of Western
New York. Mary Cay’s studio grew so rapidly that she needed
to hire additional violin teachers to work with her.
Buffalo Suzuki Strings soon outgrew Mary Cay’s home.
As enrollment increased and cello and viola students were
added, a series of rental facilities could no longer accommodate the program. In 2001, BSS was fortunate to receive
its very own home at 4 Webster Street through the generous
support of The Paul F. and Margaret M. Wutz Foundation.
With Mary Cay’s continuous drive and vision, BSS expanded to add piano, classical
guitar, Suzuki Early Childhood Education
and harp to the program.
During a moving speech to teachers, Dr.
Suzuki shared his vision that all children in
the world deserve to have happiness through
music. He asked that each teacher share his
message, and it was at that moment that
Mary Cay’s vision for the BSS Friendship
Touring Ensemble was born. In the spring of
1984 Mary Cay made her first international
trip with the ensemble, sharing Dr. Suzuki’s
vision and BSS’s message of “World Harmony
Through Music.” Over the past 35 years,
the BSS Friendship Touring Ensemble has
traveled to 22 countries on six continents.
50th Anniversary Celebration
Our celebration year began in splendid
style on Dr. Suzuki’s birthday with a visit
from renowned violinist, Suzuki teacher,
and treasured friend of BSS, Brian Lewis. He
shared memories of personal experiences

with Dr. Suzuki, and delighted
our students by playing two pieces: Dr. Suzuki’s own “Prelude and
Berceuse” and Brian’s signature
“The Hot Canary.”
Our 50th year coincided with
the 40th year of the Viva Vivaldi
Festival in Buffalo. We celebrated
by playing a Vivaldi concerto with
conductor Mary Louise Nanna
and the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra as we have done for each
of their 40 years, an ongoing
legacy of musical collaboration.
Our 50th Anniversary String
Spring Concert was a joyous
celebration dedicated to Mary
Cay, who also was the recipient of
our Patricia K. Terranova Award
for dedication, enthusiasm, and
loyalty. The traditional concert
finale of folk songs brought
together all current students
and many alumni to share this
special moment.
The culmination of the 50th
year was a gala weekend of
sharing the joy of BSS together.
It featured an informal “PlayTogether” and party for alumni
and their children, and a formal
concert presented by professional
alumni musicians. This was followed by a fabulous celebration
with wine tasting stations, a
basket auction, and a sampling
of traditional Buffalo foods and
ethnic foods prepared by our
families along with fun activities
for the kids.
Inspiring Our Future
As we look towards the coming
50 years, our next generation
of students is our inspiration. It
is also meaningful to see Buffalo Suzuki Strings’ graduates
bring their own children back
to BSS to have the same positive
experiences they had growing
up. In addition to consistent
and excellent teaching, BSS also
provides a positive environment
for students and parents through
old-fashioned personal customer
service, modern technology and
a nurturing and loving community. To paraphrase Dr. Suzuki,
teaching music is not our main
purpose: we want to nurture
noble hearts and make good
citizens. The outstanding faculty
and administrative team of Buffalo Suzuki Strings, along with
our alumni and current families,
are committed to continuing the
legacy of Dr. Suzuki and the vision
of Mary Cay Neal.
Anniversary Message from
Mary Cay
50 years! I have vivid memories
of lessons in my living room with
my first two students, Lisa and
Chris, and their moms, Joan
Calkin and Sue Vasquez. I had
been hearing about the amazing
violin teacher in Japan, Shinichi Suzuki, who was teaching

very young children to play difficult pieces based on his
observation and belief that all children are born with
great potential, and that it is up to the teacher to find
age appropriate ways to teach them to play violin “so
high.” My quest to meet this amazing teacher took me to
Syracuse University in 1969. I heard him proclaim that we
can teach young children to play violin in the same way
they learn their native language—by the “Mother Tongue
Method.” By first listening, then building on their innate
memory, children incorporate what they hear into a strong
foundation of violin skills beginning with tone. He said,
“Tone has a living soul,” then he outlined each tiny step to
teaching tone.
Dr. Suzuki inspired me to believe that I could help every
child learn to play violin “so high” and enjoy music in their
lives. This philosophy resonated with me because I had
grown up in a musical family and had enjoyed playing in
orchestras with my friends at school. Our teachers had even
held Saturday morning orchestra rehearsals and had taken
us out into the community to play music for the happiness
of others. I had lived the basic components of the Suzuki
method without knowing that it would be my future. I came
away from that first encounter with Dr. Suzuki inspired
by his philosophy and excited to have learned his recipe
for success. Best of all, I learned that his goals were not to
create prodigies. Rather, they were to teach the life lessons,
using music as a tool, that would help each child develop
a “noble heart.”
I came back to Buffalo excited to share Dr. Suzuki’s vision
with the Western New York community. I had the good
fortune to begin with two moms who shared my excitement
about Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy and my belief that together
we could teach their children to play violin “so high.” Buffalo Suzuki Strings was born! One small step at a time, we
built a community of parents, students and teachers who
embraced the opportunity to work together to help children develop musically and personally. Noticing that our
children played beautifully, the Buffalo music community
quickly began to support and encourage BSS. Over the years
we have enjoyed collaborations with all of the orchestras in
the area and 40 years of joyful and inspiring performances
with the Ars Nova Musicians in their Viva Vivaldi Festivals.
I had the good fortune to be in the audience of teachers
at the Suzuki World Convention in 1983 when Dr. Suzuki
gave a moving speech about how all children of the world
deserve to have “happiness through music.” He entreated
us to go out and share his message throughout the world.
Again I was inspired to bring Dr. Suzuki’s vision to Western
New York, and our BSS Friendship Touring Ensemble was
born. The experience of working hard in Buffalo, perfecting the gift of music to be shared with people of different
cultures in different countries who are part of our world
family, has been profound for so many BSS students.

Our mission is to express Dr. Suzuki’s belief that “music can bring
peace to the world,” so our motto is
“World Harmony Through Music.”
We were the first US Suzuki group to
tour internationally. Dr. Suzuki had
a picture of our first 1984 Friendship
Touring Ensemble on the wall in his
Matsumoto studio. That first tour
was three weeks long, and we visited
Holland, Switzerland, France, Austria, and Germany. In Lyon, France,
we performed at the first European
Suzuki Convention and had a week
of lessons and interactions with Dr.
Suzuki. W hat an inspiring way to
begin our 35 years, 22 countries, and
six continents of international tours
that have taken Dr. Suzuki’s message
around the world.
What a joyful journey this has been
for me! After 50 years, the very best
part continues to be the look of pride
and confidence on the faces of young
students as they take a bow before they
walk off the stage, and watching the
teenagers perform difficult music with
beauty, grace, and poise after many
years of diligent practice.
This 50th Anniversary Celebration
was a gathering of people who made
this community of Buffalo Suzuki
Strings possible. Thank you to our
alumni, current students and families,
and friends for sharing this journey
with me. Together we have created a
community of support and encouragement for learning where children are
nurtured by love.

Mary Cay Neal, Lauren Eastlack, David
Levine, and Linda Ross are part of the administrative team at Buffalo Suzuki Strings.
Mary Cay Neal is founder, co-executive
director, and co-music director as well as
a violin instructor. Lauren Eastlack is coexecutive director and a violin instructor.
David Levine is co-music director and a
violin/viola instructor. Linda Ross is administrative director and a piano instructor.