In the young child, every step along the path of learning how to play an instrument can be akin to going to a playground or taking a gymnastics class. Each lesson is a discovery. We set the tone of the environment for the child, and the expert Suzuki teacher guides the student step by step towards making their first sound on the instrument.  If a child were at the playground, the experience of going down the slide might be scary.   We guide the child to climb the stairs or we even climb alongside the child.  We hold their hand, we guide them down, and we catch them at the bottom with cheers and a smile.  This step by step is essential in building the confidence of the child to learn new things.  It is also the same step-by-step we offer in Suzuki lessons.

We can be sensitive to students' learning needs and styles, but the main goal is guiding them through a process that allows them to succeed at complex skills, like playing an instrument or tying shoelaces. When a student realizes their success, it brings joy to learning. Progress is gradual, and we should celebrate accomplishments. The Suzuki Book graduation is a celebration of hard work, not merely a way to say, "I finished a Suzuki book in one year." Slow progress, especially through Book One, lays the foundation for learning.

Music is like this, too.  We teach our students that they can create beautiful tone one note at a time.  From silence we play our first note. Dr. Suzuki teaches that we must play this one note beautifully, with our hearts and from our inner humanity.  We do not seek to play lots of notes moving our fingers technically and proficiently without the spirit that comes from inside us.  Dr. Suzuki said "Beautiful heart, beautiful tone."  As Suzuki teachers we value the student as a person first.  We need to educate our students to have a good heart, to be kind, to be respectful, to care for one another as priorities.  From there, we can play beautiful music.  We repeat the work of our pieces in very small details and subtleties that go beyond just the notes. We must take time in this process so that the music can be felt deeply and without technical barriers.  "The real essence of art turned out to be not something high up and far off--it was right inside my ordinary daily self.  If a musician wants to become a finer artist, he must first become a finer person." - Dr. Shinichi Suzuki (Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, Waltraud Suzuki (1983). “Nurtured by Love: The Classic Approach to Talent Education”, p.82, Alfred Music.)

In our Musicianship program, students learn the basics of ear training, note reading, music theory, and composition. Recently I have heard from a few parents that they are so excited because their children are writing their own music!  It is truly the epitome of creating something from nothing. When a student learns to write their own music, it is their own inner being released through the expression of their music.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suzuki!

To have the ability to sing, we must realize the vocal cords for singing are actually a muscle. We have two vocal cords that are very thin, and by using them, we learn how to sing.  This fall we have started our Suzuki Voice Department with two excellent teachers, Rose Hegele and Nicholas Ford.  Moreover, we want all students to sing!  We want them to sing in Musicianship class, in their lessons, and at home!  As a child, I would sing American folk songs while my mother played the piano.  We want to celebrate the joy that singing can bring, but also develop better musicians by requiring them to sing.  All persons learn how to speak using their vocal cords.  It only takes a little more training, to learn how to sing---and what  a wonderful way to take part in a very human connection with our peers, our families, and our community.

Sleep is very important to us. It is important for well-being and learning.  During these times that our society is faced with many challenges, I have noticed the high stress level around me. Due to our very busy schedules and the very busy schedules of our children, people are not getting enough sleep. This is not productive in the long run, because not only is the work quality going to go down, it will also take longer. It will not be as efficient because the memory process is being hindered by lack of sleep. Similar to my laptop that slows down when the memory is full, we human beings slow down when we are tired. 

During these days when sunlight is lessened and days are shortening, it is the best time to think about getting more sleep. We need to take advantage of breaks and rather than plan more activities, think about our own well being and that of our children by getting more sleep.

If music becomes the environment in which our children live, they will feel the natural draw to pick up the instrument and make the sounds that they have learned and play the pieces they have accomplished. We use the term "review" in our Suzuki lessons, but what we really want is for our students to enjoy the repertoire they have learned and make music with these pieces because they have been mastered. If they share this music daily with those around them, they learn how to better communicate through music. 

 We adults must become the fans of our students' music--eager and enthusiastic to hear their songs over and over again. I like to describe the important role of the Suzuki parent for their child, is really being the "cheerleader" and not the coach. As a cheerleader, if our team has a set-back, they are the ones who encourage the players to keep trying, to pick themselves up and keep going!

Music takes up time and space.  The sounds we hear are vibrations that pass through the air in real time.  The notes on the page are like dots on a graph and going from the first note to the last note in a composition takes up time.  If one only has 24 hours in a day, then some minutes of that day should be allocated to music. While we can listen to music while doing other things (like doing homework or driving in a car) practicing takes complete focus and takes time.  If we are learning a 3 minutes piece and play it perfectly 5 times in a row, it will take up a minimum of 15 minutes.  If we are practicing a piece and make mistakes, then we have to start over, fix the mistake, and practice small spots several times. In this case, practicing takes 30 minutes.  That is, we need 15 minutes to do the small parts and then another 15 minutes to be able to play through pieces just to see if the working piece can be played smoothly. The rest of the time one should play their review pieces so that playing is enjoyable and smooth. These 30 minutes can be longer or shorter depending upon the individual's level, but they are necessary to be programmed into the day.  If a person is also listening daily to the music they are learning, the practicing is more efficient and will take up less time.

As parents, do we also think it is okay for our children to just "be happy"?

‘Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.’ – Guillaume Apollinaire

As parents, we are concerned to give our children the best education, the best skills, so that they can pursue good careers and make a living so that they can be happy, not struggle, not worry about the future and essentially, become happy.  But as the quote implies, I believe we must allow ourselves and our children to be in the present moment and just experience happiness.

In a Suzuki lesson there is a moment in the lesson where we play through a piece.  It is a moment when the student, the parent, and the teacher can be happy because the student has come so far.  The journey is never over, but appreciating and being happy in that moment is an important part of the Suzuki lesson. I try to take a moment when we play through a piece and then make a positive comment without asking for anything more. We know that improving our music is an ongoing process and that our pieces can have more things to work on. In my Suzuki training, I learned it was also important to simply show the joy of the music and not add more corrections as a part of the daily lesson or practice. Showing encouragement will result in more practicing.  Giving suggestions for improvement can lead to less enthusiasm to practicing if not accompanied by a moment in the session when only praise--specific positive feedback--is given.

Do we sometimes skip exercising? Finding self-motivation can be hard, and  some exercises, like running, are better with a partner or a group. Do we sometimes skip warming-up with Twinkle Variations and our bow hold exercises? I hope not, as these are so important to be part of our daily routine. While we are very eager to practice the newest piece and advance towards the end of the book, we need to realize that "exercising" and feeling the exchange of oxygen as we play our learned pieces leads to greater freedom. Using our muscles and our time to enjoy the ease with which we can play our learned repertoire is like going out for that easy jog in the morning. It helps us connect to our bodies and gets our blood flowing. We come back from our walk or run, ready to face the activity and challenges of the day.

Attending this event, where the attendees are not the same professionals with whom I usually interact, brings this perspective clearly into view. While one hears questions asking how we can support more housing, better transportation and reducing carbon emissions and global warming, one worries that asking for funding to support childcare costs and free concerts may be a lost cause. I know the cultural sector alone is a $25.8 billion industry in the state of Massachusetts. That is larger than the real estate industry. The benefits of a strong cultural sector are not limited to the performing, visual, and literary arts: culture also attracts tourism to the area, boosts spending at hotels and restaurants, and similarly strengthens retail business. Culture supports 4.6 million jobs, and payroll is the Suzuki School of Newton's single largest expense. And yet, funding for the arts is usually the first to be cut. This is not only true for government funding and private donations, but also for school budgets and in family spending.

When we teach using the Suzuki pedagogy, even with our youngest beginners, we use analogies to help produce the sounds and tone colors on our instruments.  Light staccato on the piano may sound like popcorn popping, or long legato sounds may sound like melting chocolate!  Many of these stimulate the imagination and trigger the part of the brain that is emotional and sensitive.  In the Suzuki pedagogy we are teaching through these senses. We rely on hearing the music, using the body, and feeling emotion even at the earliest stages of learning. 

This is very different from the traditional way of teaching classical music which starts with reading. By looking at the notes on the page, one is using a different part of the brain. Focusing on reading makes it much harder for the beginning student (child or adult) to hear the music, listen to their own playing, and feel how their body is producing the sounds on the instrument. When I tell my students to feel how their arm is heavy to produce a deeper tone, I say to pretend they are holding a five pound bag of oranges hung from their arm---food again! We are imagining and feeling our bodies, not looking at the f for forte on the printed page and thinking we need to play loudly. As we play a deep legato tone, a teacher might say "imagine some creamy fudge for this phrase."

We are a community of learners. The Suzuki School has two main programs, our music school and our Suzuki Preschool. According to the philosophy of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, we believe that talent is developed through a nurturing environment created by expert teachers, caring adults, and an encouraging peer group. It is a combination of these conditions that make our learning environment successful, but also a true community. Our teachers are excellent musicians and early childhood specialists, and our leaders are made up of experienced professionals who bring this expertise in guiding faculty and staff. We, the adults, are always learning and improving. Our board of directors play an active role in this and so do the parents of the students in our school. Without all of you, we are not the Suzuki School of Newton. For that, I am so grateful.

I am a Newton resident, and one of the aspects of living here has always been the spirit of volunteerism in the community. People are active and busy, but they also are even finding the time to volunteer.  Our Suzuki School community--many from far away towns--are also very generous with their time. I am so grateful to all of you who have been helping us for so many years!

Sleep is also extremely important for brain function and mental health. We are now a society that often does not have adequate nor consistent nightly sleep patterns. For learning (and memorizing music) sleep is essential to giving the brain time for processing and filtering information. Memory is dependent upon this filtering process each night, and when sleep patterns are disturbed it is harder to remember essential information. Dr. Suzuki is quoted as saying "without hurry, without rest" meaning that consistency is very important. However, he did not say to skip sleep nor to overlap too many activities.

We spend time in our music lessons and musicianship classes to understand how music notation works. When we look at notation, the goal of our curriculum is to teach the students how to hear the notes in their head. Imagine Beethoven in the years when he was composing as he became deaf, how important a skill that was for him! When I first started teaching, and as a piano student, I would often go to music stores to purchase sheet music. I also went there to peruse music scores and piano method books to find new and interesting pieces. I do not need to play pieces on the piano to hear them. I can see the notes and hear them in my head. This is the inner-hearing skill we teach and develop when we ask children to sing our musicianship exercises. By seeing the notes and then being able to sing the notes correctly, a person must hear the pitch in their head and understand the symbols that give us the rhythm and meter of a piece.

I believe that we can acknowledge that the excess of performance evaluations, winning or losing, and the emphasis on just the end product may not be leading to the best results overall in having confident and empathetic adults. Likewise, these opportunities may be learning and growth opportunities when supported by warmth and love. Most of all, a supportive environment that focuses on the process and a shared journey can be the most beneficial to all--to the students, for the parents, and for our society as a whole.

I spoke with Congressman Auchincloss to share my views on the importance of cultural exchanges to bring people together. Congressman Auchincloss is already aware of how the arts were badly hit during the pandemic. Nonetheless, cities and towns have started leaning on the performing arts to play a major role in revitalizing local businesses and commercial districts.  It is music and the arts that draw people together.

This was Dr. Suzuki's message in post-World War II Japan.  We need to nurture our children with music, so that they will cultivate beauty in their hearts and deepen their humanity. When this is a part of our children's education and they become leaders, perhaps we can sustain a peaceful world and believe in a brighter future.

As Dr. Suzuki was training teachers in his Institute in Matsumoto, he would encourage others to seek their best by not only working a lot, practicing, devoting themselves to numerous repetitions of exercises, but he would encourage human behavior to be reflective, to be kind, and to be caring. These were as important as just practicing. In the preface to his book, Nurtured by Love, Dr. Suzuki says "I cannot deny the thing called fate. This is because the very fact that any of us are born into this world, like the fact that we will eventually die, is something about which we can do nothing...And thus, the unavoidable question arises about how we ought to live. Ability that has not been fostered, is something we must create on our own...We must not give up; nor is there any need to give up. This is something which is within the reach of every person, each in his or her own way." (p. 2-3, Nurtured by Love by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki)

Like the roots of a tree, our roots go deep. This time of year, there are many religious and cultural celebrations.  Ramadan has started, Holi (the Hindi Festival of Colors) was on March 25th, Easter and Passover are coming up. We are busy planning our Multicultural Festival to be celebrated outdoors on our lawn on Saturday, May 11th, 2024. We are bringing multiple art forms and events to celebrate together including World Music and Klezmer, Odaiko Japanese drumming and the Chinese art of paper cutting.  We will have our Suzuki violins and our Preschool art show that same afternoon, and a new exhibit from the Newton Art Association. Thinking about the many cultures we represent in our school, we have very rich stories to tell and to share.  These are our roots.

There is also a new undercurrent among all of us—change is in the air.  We want to be more inclusive via usage of multiple languages and also inclusive of other styles of music outside Western classical music. Perhaps it is the influence of ASTA, but we are hearing fiddling, jazz, alternative styles and jam sessions! At the Suzuki piano masterclass, for example, we heard Beethoven, Handel, and Oscar Peterson!