Last week I attended the British Suzuki Music Association's Gala 2023 Concert in Royal Albert Hall where 1300 children from 31 countries came together for a grand Suzuki concert.  This is a rare and gigantic undertaking and was only the second concert organized by the BSMA.  In the spirit of Dr. Suzuki's philosophy, music was the common language that brought together so many children to be able to perform together no matter their spoken language or other differences. I was proud to have two of our SSN students perform at this event, Sydney and Neil. We were brought together to share in our belief that our children can learn, be creative, and be supportive of others--when given a positive environment. Making music together is very uplifting to our hearts.

Through the Suzuki method, we have a common repertoire that was developed and researched before being published in the Suzuki books. By sharing a common repertoire, Suzuki students from around the world can come together peacefully and harmoniously. The Suzuki repertoire consists of carefully chosen pieces that create the Suzuki pedagogy's roadmap towards building skills.  Professional teacher courses are required to be a Suzuki teacher and in these courses we develop the ability to be better teachers with precise and graduated curricula with which to ensure our students' progress. It is not just the notes that make the Suzuki method work, but the approach we take in using this repertoire.  The goal of the BSMA Gala was to raise money to support the teacher training courses so that new Suzuki teachers would not have such a huge financial burden in pursuing Suzuki training.  Suzuki teachers are always learning, and our Suzuki School of Newton teachers are no exception. Both myself and our newest teacher trainer Blancamaria Montecinos will be conducting teacher courses for ongoing teacher development.  Many of our teachers attended a teacher development course over the February break.

On April 29th, we will be holding two events. The first concert at 2:15 pm, the Pianos Galore concert, will bring together our piano groups who share in both our common Suzuki repertoire and special pieces chosen by the SSN faculty.  Our second concert is at 6 p.m. and is a Scholarship Benefit Concert where we support both future scholarship music students and our teachers for continued professional development. These are special events that embrace our belief that music is an important way to build our community and share in supporting our students' learning.

In May we will have several other community events including providing music for the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast for Racial Harmony and Waban Village Day. Providing music in the community is part of our volunteer effort to enliven the spirit of our neighbors and others.  I am so grateful for the parents of all our students who have to juggle their schedules to not only attend lessons and classes with their children, practice at home, but also make room in their schedules to allow students to attend these events.

Our school's environment is only possible by the wonderful work of our teachers, parents, students and staff who all share in the belief and values of nurturing by love and nurturing one another.

Sachiko Isihara