Directors Share Plans for Institute Season

A year ago, most Suzuki Institute directors didn’t have the term “social distancing” in their vocabulary. They were charging forward with plans for fulfilling summer institutes inside classrooms, auditoriums, and cabins that would have been filled to the brim with eager students. Then, the world changed. 

The directors of several institutes shared their tentative plans for Summer 2021. Whether providing an in-person or online institute, each director stressed that safety was of utmost importance.

Susan Locke, co-artistic and executive director of the Columbus Music Institute

Initially, we were hopeful that we would be able to have an in-person institute by June of 2021, having postponed our institute last year. By mid-fall, it was obvious that the pandemic was not under control. 

In our pajamas with a lot of tea and chocolate, my husband, Doug, and I started planning. We wanted to create a fun, worthwhile remote learning experience that encourages community.

We decided to only offer morning classes, with a large group play along and solo recitals after lunch. This schedule allows the littlest people to choose whether or not to attend afternoon activities. And by doing them each day, students can choose to run around outside one day and join in the next. Each evening we will host a family or teen activity so people feel socially connected. Finally, after the kids head to bed, parents are encouraged to attend our Whine and Wine events to talk with teachers and other parents. I feel confident that we can still do teacher training. With no travel costs or room and board, it will make teacher training much more accessible.

After our brainstorming phase, we had to figure out how to do all of this. We tested Zoom programming at our recitals, and realized that we underestimated how complicated it would be to get everyone to the proper break out rooms with over 200 people to move around! Fortunately, our families were understanding. The good news is that we still have time to work out the kinks before the institute.

Following months of wondering whether or not we could do this, we now know the answer: of course! The keys were hiring a fantastic faculty, giving students the chance to play a lot of music together, and creating opportunities to make new friends while reconnecting with old ones. Will it go smoothly in June? Probably not. But does an Institute ever run perfectly smooth? Absolutely not. We cannot possibly plan for every eventuality. The good news is that Doug and I are great at thinking on our feet. We have incredible and creative colleagues who help make everything work, and we love all of our students. For more information, please visit our website at [url=https://www.suzukimusiccolumbus.org/institute]https://www.suzukimusiccolumbus.org/institute[/url].

Mark Biesterfeld, co-executive director of the Colorado Institute of Music

As was the case with many summer institutes last year, we were heartbroken that we had to cancel our June 2020 Colorado Suzuki Institute. Coming to make music in the mountains of Colorado is such a huge highlight of the year for our Suzuki families. We know that meeting like-minded Suzuki people from all over the world is a special experience not just for the children but for the whole family. For us, it was especially disappointing because we were just coming off a successful re-launch of the Institute after the retirement of our longtime director, Gail Seay, and we were excited to build upon the success of our 2019 institute.

This summer we are excited to move our Institute back to Beaver Creek Resort where, in addition to the beautiful scenery, we will have use of the Vilar Performing Arts Center; one of the most beautiful and modern performance halls in the Rocky Mountains! We are planning a smaller institute with fewer student openings than we have had in years past to accommodate social distancing. This will likely mean that we reach full capacity. We are offering student instruction in Cello, Viola, Violin, Piano, and Guitar as well as Teacher Training Workshops in Piano Books 1, 2, and 3. If we are unable to meet in person this summer, we will offer a virtual institute. We are also working on backup dates in August. Our fingers remain crossed that we will be able to meet together in the mountains of Colorado this June!

Rolando Freitag, director of the Florida Music Institute

Here in Central Florida, we chose to postpone the 2020 institute rather than offer an online event. We also run a Winter Workshop in early February, and we decided to offer an online fiddling workshop in 2021 instead of a traditional Suzuki workshop. 

We plan on offering an in-person institute with student and teacher training events on June 6 – 9, 2021, if the current health guidelines for our area permit. The planned venue for the 2021 Summer institute offers outdoor spaces as well as large classrooms which will ensure enough room for us to meet safely. 

We are closely following studies to better understand how COVID-19 spreads and consulting with health professionals to learn about which preventive practices are most effective against this virus. Based on what we have learned, mask-wearing, proper distancing, and good airflow are the three most effective ways to prevent the virus from spreading. We feel comfortable planning ahead for an in-person student institute, especially given that we cater mostly to our local community. We chose to offer teacher training courses online-only to reduce the number of in-person participants.

It has been hard to stay apart from one another. If all goes according to plan, we look forward to stitching our community back together.

Debbie Hynes, Connie Hadlock, and Bronwen Godfrey, co-directors of the Idaho Suzuki Institute

As with many Institutes during the summer of 2020, the Idaho Suzuki Institute was unfortunately canceled. A quote of Dr. Suzuki comes to mind as we live through this pandemic,  “To make a resolution and act accordingly is to live with hope. There may be difficulties and hardships, but not disappointment or despair if you follow the path steadily.” From the Rocky Mountains in Idaho we have hope that these times are going to pass. We love our Suzuki family and will continue to support Dr. Suzuki’s dream of happiness for all children.  

We are moving forward in 2021 with Virtual Teacher Training from June 21-25. We are very excited to offer Violin Unit 3 with Cathryn Lee, Cello Unit 3 with Priscilla Jones, Piano Unit 3 with Rae Kate Shen, and Violin Book 5-8 Overview with Allen Lieb.

Since 1974 the Idaho Suzuki Institute has featured top-notch teachers and outstanding guest artists. It has always been the aim of the ISA to offer a high-quality enriching experience for students and keep fees low to enable as many young people as possible to participate. Although there will not be a student platform in 2021, we look to the summer of 2022 to provide further Teacher Training and welcome back String and Piano students.

Sarah Cummings and Natalie Coots, co-directors of the Ithaca Suzuki Institutes

On the last day of the 2020 Virtual Ithaca Suzuki Experience, at our closing ceremonies, we had this to say to our 150 participants and their families: “I wish we could promise you today that next year we will be in-person for the Ithaca Suzuki Institute, but I just can’t. There are still too many unknowns. But I can promise you this: we can do this camp virtually again if we have to because we just did it!”

Little did we know at that moment how many more months of uncertainty still lay ahead. We spent all summer and fall planning for an in-person institute in 2021, but as we crept ever-closer to our registration opening date, it became clear that another virtual institute would be the safest choice.   

We learned so much from our virtual experiences last year. Our biggest surprise was how much joy and sense of community it was possible to cultivate on the online platform. Kids shared virtual lunches, parents bonded over inspiration from twice-daily parent talks, teens begged for more time in their evening virtual hangout rooms, and kids formed friendships all across the country. We were all enormously inspired by our guest artists (Kevin Olusola, Nick Kendall, Yumi Kendal, and Katie Lansdale) and appreciated the chance to talk with them up-close and personal in their own homes.

This year we are thrilled to bring back several programs for advanced students (June 27-July 9), as well as a one-week Student Institute (July 4-9). Teacher Training will also run during both weeks. Once again, we will be featuring an exciting array of guest artists who will inspire us with their performances, interactive workshops, and master classes. We hope to see you this summer!  More information can be found at [url=http://www.ithaca.edu/suzuki]www.ithaca.edu/suzuki[/url].

Yasmin Craig Vitalius and Wendy Sawicki, co-directors of the New England Suzuki Institute

The New England Suzuki Institute is turning 40 years old this summer! Going back to 1981, it would have been unfathomable to consider that institutes could take place in a virtual world. Amazingly, master classes, group classes, and enrichment classes can continue successfully, despite our inability to be together in-person. Because of our continued concern for the health and safety of our community, the 40th year of the New England Suzuki Institute will be held online. Through innovative programming and community-building opportunities, we will carry on the learning and joy of music-making together. We are confident that this version of our institute will be held with the same excellence and quality that NESI is known for.

Our institute will run from June 27 to July 2. We offer opportunities for the youngest pre-twinklers all the way to advanced students. Because we are online, we can present engaging programs from talented instructors from all over North America. 

While we dearly miss having our whole community together at our new home at Colby College, we are thrilled for these new opportunities and look forward to seeing new and familiar faces at our online institute.

The New England Suzuki Institute is open to students of violin, viola, cello, piano, and guitar.  Registration opens March 1st:  [url=http://www.newenglandsuzukiinstitute.org/]www.newenglandsuzukiinstitute.org[/url]

In March of 2020, the San Diego Suzuki Institute was well on its way to what was looking like a record number of enrolled students for that year. Our institute was established in 2017 and is young compared to most of the landmark institutes that paved the way decades ago. Every year it was a struggle to scrape together a few dozen students and cover all the expenses. So 2020 was going to be our year! Unfortunately, that did not happen…

Several people suggested that we attempt an online program for 2020. I decided against this. We were at the peak of online everything and I didn’t want to add to the burden of more screen time stress. I know that several of my director colleagues pulled off some online experiences. But since our institute still lacks an established reputation, I did not want to have to worry about yet again scrambling to find enough students.

Now we have entered 2021. Compared to this time last year, the institute landscape has changed considerably. There are still a vast number of unknowns that make it impossible to be completely prepared. With so many teachers both teaching and taking online courses, one can’t help but wonder where in-person training is going as we move forward.

After a short, panicked moment where I did the mental equivalent of screaming at the cosmos (I’m sure we’ve all been there at some point this past year), I decided that my moving forward motto would be to “stay relevant.” If online training is the new medium of choice, that’s what we need to offer. If in the future, people like having the option to attend in-person or remotely, we need to offer both types of platforms.

The San Diego Suzuki Institute is going to attempt an in-person institute for the summer of 2021. How this institute will look is still up in the air. What’s important is that we use this time to learn and take advantage of all these new online tools. Our goal should not be to go back “to the way things were.” Rather, we should be taking what we are learning right now and use it to make music education more accessible.