Expanding Cultural Understanding

This week's Notes from the Director is written by a special guest contributor and SSN piano faculty member, Elizabeth Hodges.

Spring is a time of celebration and promise.  Nature provides us with warmth and color as well as hope for the seasons to come.  For the last few weeks, Suzuki School of Newton students have performed in solo and group recitals that showcased beautiful music and rewarded the joint efforts of students, families, and teachers. This year, we also created the First Annual Multicultural Festival, inviting families to join us in exploring the global diversity of music with its promise of better understanding cultures different from our own.

Throughout the past year, our teachers have met to discuss culture. They have introduced different musics in group classes, asked children to share folk songs and customs with each other, and have even taught “Twinkle” in languages spoken in children’s homes.

Our school is an international community in itself.  In my classes alone I have met twenty-two different cultures.  I have learned about languages, holidays, recipes, and favorite songs. Children are excited about sharing, and because they learn so well from each other, we can see interest and respect growing even in our beginners.  They know that there is music in each person, sometimes different from our own but beautiful in its own way.  Musically, they are stepping beyond the western music that our curriculum emphasizes. They are learning that as our families sing folk songs, community musicians pass complex rhythms and different tonal systems from generation to generation in other cultures. They learn that our own favorites are popular in other countries, too. The famous “Twinkle” is loved around the world, even if the lyrics change a bit.   

Dr. Suzuki firmly believed in the power of the family to create a supportive musical environment.  He encouraged listening and response in instrumental practice, singing, movement, and visual arts. He emphasized that the parent, above all, was a teacher of values. 

So, we are inviting you, as the most important teachers, to help us expand cultural understanding through music.   In addition to attending some of the cultural festivals offered in the Boston area or participating in a drum circle, there are many other resources available. Older family members or neighbors may be willing to share childhood favorites, special instruments, or a few dance steps. Students may learn that “Cuckoo” is just one of many bird songs in the world. String students might be surprised to hear an ancient Aztec instrument that sounds like a jaguar. 

Technology can help with a quick listening activity during vacation travel. The Smithsonian Folkways recordings, YouTube performances of Irish and Appalachian fiddle music, Mama Lisa’s World, Puntamayo Kids Presents Playground and Puntamayo Presents Dreamland are readily available on the internet. The youngest students might enjoy viewing YouTube animated versions of “Twinkle” in a variety of languages from Swedish to Japanese. Older students might research local music when sightseeing.

Even a little bit of time spent learning about “new” music will benefit our musicians. As we grow in our knowledge of different musics, we can better understand the role of music in our own community. Dr. Suzuki believed that all of us can learn both music and the importance of what is unique and valuable in our global society. Making music together can be both a celebration and a for a kinder, more peaceful world.