Expressing Gratitude

A picture from last week's solo recitals held at the Union Church in Waban

Every day we have the gift of our community and of the people around us, especially our families. I want to express my gratitude to all the teachers and staff who work at the Suzuki School of Newton. We are a small non-profit, and we have an amazing team of people who work tirelessly multi-tasking every day. Teachers are so often the front-line workers that live with daily risk but who also make such a difference in our lives.

For those of you with children, sometimes we forget to express our gratitude to our children. It is often said that Suzuki teachers, educators, or parents always have a "but" in their praise. So often we say, "I love the way you played with dynamics, but what about your intonation?" Or maybe we would say: "That is great how you got all the notes, but what about the fingering you used?" There is so often an expression of positive feedback immediately followed with something to fix. How does this sometimes emerge as parenting habits: "That's great you did your homework, but now go practice." Dr. Suzuki often suggested it was more important to express our gratitude without asking for something in return by adding a request. Perhaps we could say: "I love how you played with vibrato -- thank you so much for that beautiful tone!"

I think that we can express so much gratitude for the blessings we have from our students and from our children. We can express gratitude for our friends, and for our family who are attentive to us.

The Suzuki School is a wonderful place, and I am so grateful for the care from the teachers and staff, the Suzuki Board of Directors, and the Suzuki parents.

To all of you -- my heartfelt thanks!