War and Peace
I have been thinking about books lately. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy comes to mind as a book I would like to re-read. It is like two books intertwined into one: the first is a love story and novel set in the early 1800's and the second is an account of the ravages of the Napoleonic Wars as French forces approach and fight the Russians. Heralded as one of the masterpieces of literature it reminds us that war is terrible for all people upon whose soil a war is fought and for the repercussions this has on family and friends. War is tragic.
Pablo Casals, a world famous cellist in the 20th century is attributed as saying "Perhaps music can save the world" after he heard a concert of students who had been trained via the Suzuki method. Dr. Suzuki was inspired after World War II to bring beauty back into the lives of children who were traumatized and experienced immense suffering during the bombing and dwindling resources of Imperial Japan. He went on to establish his "learning by ear" method with the emphasis that it would be through music that children would relearn beauty and love through sharing their music. Such are the aspirations that we share in our global Suzuki community. We want to spread peace through music.
The initiatives instigated by our Suzuki teachers and others around the world seek to inspire our students to continue to practice, work hard, and learn the love of music. Festivals and workshops bring people together. Some students are participating in the Suzuki Piano Practice Challenge "World Tour" put together as a joint project of Mexican and North American Suzuki teachers. This weekend is the annual Massachusetts Suzuki Festival being held virtually due to the lingering pandemic. Music is meant to share culture and art together.
Two Suzuki teachers in Europe have put together this crowdfunding project to support Suzuki teachers in the Ukraine who have lost all their income due to the war: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/suzukiukraine Ruth Miura is a friend of mine, one of the creators of this project. I know there are other worthy causes also in support of refugees and people in need.
Let us use music as a way to educate our students and future generations that beauty comes from within and can grow to mean so much to others. In times of war, music can uplift the spirit. In times of peace, it can bring us all together joyfully. If we use our energy towards making music, perhaps we can unite people through the commonality of beautiful music and overcome our differences.
In our Suzuki School, I am so grateful to the teachers who share their love of music and their love of their students by giving so much of their energy and time even beyond their normal teaching day. For this generous spirit of our teachers, I am forever grateful!